Tank mystery leak (emergency)

[LiLinka]

Can someone assist me. I have no idea what’s going on with my tank. I filled it yesterday and we had a minor leak that was taken care of. Whole system was off overnight and I woke up with about 25g of water on the floor from the sump overfilled. I don’t know how the water got into the sump though. It’s slowly filling as we speak and the tank level is slowly decreasing. Anyone know the cause? I’m afraid it might be an issue with the tank itself. Also there are check valves on the returns.

 

[sc50964]

Did you put a check valve on the return? If not and your return is off, then water will drain to your sump through return.

 

[Reefering1]

You can pull the returns out of water, you will hear it break syphon if it still drawing water to sump. It should be close enough to surface to break syphon, when pump shuts down, without overflowing sump

 

[LiLinka]

You can pull the returns out of water, you will hear it break syphon if it still drawing water to sump. It should be close enough to surface to break syphon, when pump shuts down, without overflowing sump

the thing is that all the return nozzles in the tank are out of water so it’s not siphoning. The only thing still submerged in water is the closed loop on a Vectra running in line. Would it be that that’s leaking?

 

[IKD]

If it was just as siphon I’m surprised it would leak slowly and for so long (12+ hrs?)

can you send a picture? If you have a check valve, this could be not sealing correctly and giving you a small leak back to the sump. Do you see any dripping underneath outside of the pipes?

 

[IKD]

the thing is that all the return nozzles in the tank are out of water so it’s not siphoning. The only thing still submerged in water is the closed loop on a Vectra running in line. Would it be that that’s leaking?

Do you have corner overflows? Wonder if water is continuing to leak into the overflow area and draining down your line

 

[Reefering1]

the thing is that all the return nozzles in the tank are out of water so it’s not siphoning. The only thing still submerged in water is the closed loop on a Vectra running in line. Would it be that that’s leaking?

Pics of plumbing...

 

[LiLinka]

Do you have corner overflows? Wonder if water is continuing to leak into the overflow area and draining down your line

Over flow in middle next message will be attached photos.

 

[LiLinka]

Waters cloudy because sand and that the tank was off all night, didn’t give it a chance to settle.

 

[littlefoxx]

Waters cloudy because sand and that the tank was off all night, didn’t give it a chance to settle.

Any livestock in the tank??

 

[LiLinka]

If it was just as siphon I’m surprised it would leak slowly and for so long (12+ hrs?)

can you send a picture? If you have a check valve, this could be not sealing correctly and giving you a small leak back to the sump. Do you see any dripping underneath outside of the pipes?

There can’t possibly be a siphon. All the nozzles in the tank are out of the water . And it’s still somehow moving from display to sump. It could have been a siphon last night but now that all the nozzles are no longer in the water and it’s still moving idk what to do. I’m completely lost.

 

[LiLinka]

Any livestock in the tank??

No this was just filled last night water is cloudy from sand. Lol

 

[fishyjoes]

Could you could drain the sump and see which line starts making a puddle?

 

[LiLinka]

Could you could drain the sump and see which line starts making a puddle?

Do you think I can just pump it into the DT below the overflow so I don’t waste the water?

 

[sc50964]

Do you think I can just pump it into the DT below the overflow so I don’t waste the water?

Yes and that’s prob the quickest way to check where & how it’s leaking back.

Essentially replicating what you had last night.

 

[LiLinka]

Ok sounds good thank you to everyone who helped me with this issue. I’m going to try what was mentioned above and I’ll get back to everyone with what the issue was. Have a great day!

 

[Jmp998]

Do you actually have it plumbed as a closed loop? I don’t see intake piping to either of the Vectras, looks more like open loop?

 

[IKD]

There can’t possibly be a siphon. All the nozzles in the tank are out of the water . And it’s still somehow moving from display to sump. It could have been a siphon last night but now that all the nozzles are no longer in the water and it’s still moving idk what to do. I’m completely lost.

I was agreeing with you
I think your leak is in the drain line. Do you see a water level difference inside the overflow (black) box in the display? That should be a sealed area from the rest of your display.

 

[IKD]

See if you see dripping from the drain line when everything is off…

 

[LiLinka]

Do you actually have it plumbed as a closed loop? I don’t see intake piping to either of the Vectras, looks more like open loop?

2 of them are sucking water form sump acting as the returns. There is 1 Vectra plumbed in the middle which I suspect is leaking so I turned off the ball valve on it. That one is plumbed in line