Sump problems

[reefer91]

Hi, well for the past 3 weeks I’ve had trouble with my sump, I have a ball valve on the piping, tweaking it everyday to get it right but when I come down in morning the tank is nearly over flowing so I have to open the valve more then it drains too much… then so on every day I seem to have to do this.
mots a aqua one mini reef 180
I’ve tried and tried posting on other forums also trying for help tried everything. I’m now thinking of taking the sump out completely and putting one of my fx4 on it as it’s a on going battle, and not seeming to get anywhere with it at all.

I’ve also turned my pump down as well to help but still not good

 

[MnFish1]

A picture of your sump would be helpful. The usual cause of this would be debris in the inflow pipe - or your pump is too strong for your outflow - or your weir is not wide enough. What kind of overflow do you have

 

[reefer91]

 

[reefer91]

A picture of your sump would be helpful. The usual cause of this would be debris in the inflow pipe - or your pump is too strong for your outflow - or your weir is not wide enough. What kind of overflow do you have

It’s not when turned right down the pump can’t keep up with the overflow

 

[GoVols]

You need to swap out your ball valve to a good gate valve.

 

[Wasabiroot]

You need to swap out your ball valve to a good gate valve.

Seconded. I installed a ball valve on my drain and regret it. One day I will swap, but Gate valves are designed for the kind of fine tuning required for reef tanks and ball valves are suboptimal. They become gunked up and harder to make fine adjustments with. Another option is if you have a DC return pump, put on maximum return rate and raise water level a bit in sump. This will help reduce any trickling or gurgling. Ensure that when return is off sump can accommodate display volume coming into sump.

 

[MnFish1]

Just curious - when you open the valve completely with the pump turned to the 'max' - what happens? (Besides gurgling)
Does the tank then work normally? I.e. can your weir handle the water flow from your pump when the valve is open. If not - then the valve is not the only problem.

unless you're using a pump that is far outsized compared to that recommended for your tank, you should not have this problem.

If the tank drains 'normally' with the valve open - and assuming you're keeping the valve you have - you should make a very very slight change then wait - lets say 1/2-1 hour to see if the gurgling is acceptable - and see if the high level in the tank persists. It will take time to make these adjustments - and my guess is that you're merely closing the valve too much. The others are completely correct - the gate valve will help make this more adjustable - but if your weir is too small - or if there is some other obstruction in your plumbing - you will still have a problem. Hope this helps