water flow issues
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Help
Forum Name: EMERGENCY FORUM
Forum Description: If you have an Emergency post here and you should receive a quick reply.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=47495
Printed Date: July 29 2026 at 6:16am
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Topic: water flow issues
Posted By: bik3rinblack
Subject: water flow issues
Date Posted: March 13 2011 at 10:02am
So here is what is going on..... this morning o woke up to water on the floor  so I checked my sump and it was not overflowing.g...  I then opened my hood and discovered the issue  my overflow is backing up to the point it is making the water flow over the top of my tank  so I have gone through and checked.everything and have noticed that there is still a lot of flow coming out of my overflow back into my sump  but my overflow is still backing up enough to cause this problem... does anyone have anyplace ideas as.to what could be going on I am stumped if u need pics I can take a few with my phone and upload them seeing as to how I have written this whole post up on my phone 
Will be keeping my phone close all day so if u can think of anything please let.me know thank-you ------------- Matt Snow [email protected] 1-801-413-7844 125 fresh aggressive 90 salt fish only 20 aggressive fresh 30 red ear slider |
Replies:
Posted By: bfessler
Date Posted: March 13 2011 at 10:26am
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Some pics of the overflow would be helpful but it sounds like the overflow is barely rated for the amount of water your pump is returning from the sump. If the overflow is partially blocked by a snail, debries or whatever it cannot return sufficient water to prevent the tank from overflowing. First thing I would check is the stand pipe for the overflow. Make sure nothing is blocking water. If you're using a durso you need to remove the stand pipe and make sure a snail isn't in there. If you have a hoffer slide the adjustable fitting down and inspect the holes in the standpipe. Once you have made sure that there is no type of blockage you need to address the amount of water being pumped from the sump. The easiest way to control the amount of flow is to install a ball or gate valve on the return line. Make sure it is on the outlet side of the pump. Now you can throttle back the amount of flow to the tank. This is completely safe for the pump as long as the valve is on the outlet side of the pump. To prevent anything from getting inside your drain lines I suggest you cover them with a course mesh material. This will allow water through and prevent anything from getting inside the stand pipe. Hope this helps and let me know if you have any further questions and if this doesn't prove to be the problem post some pics of the overflow and give us some details of the size of your drain lines and return pump. ------------- Burt An equal opportunity reefer, I support all hobbyists and organizations involved in Marine Aquarium Keeping. [email protected] |
Posted By: tcfab
Date Posted: March 13 2011 at 12:33pm
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What type of tank is it? If it is a standard tank with reef ready overflow they only rate their overflows for 600-700 gph. ------------- Need custom acrylic work? give me a call, www.Elite-Aquatics.net (801)645-6386 |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: March 13 2011 at 5:22pm
This is one of the reasons why my phone number is listed in my signature line and as the emergency hotline in a few friend's signature lines.  Did you find the blockage? ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: DeepFriedOprah
Date Posted: March 14 2011 at 12:25pm
Yes he did, he told me things are running fine now. I gave him some tips on how to prevent this in the future.
Jason ------------- "So, Just right in half? I have a very large one, Like 4" that I would like to frag, as well as a few smaller ones" Cameron |
Mark Peterson wrote:Posted By: Piscavore1
Date Posted: March 15 2011 at 6:39am
| Soooo! what was the problem and what was the fix. I read most of these threads so that hopefully I learn what to do before it is a problem on my setup. Or at least fix it before it before I have the same mess. |
Posted By: bik3rinblack
Date Posted: March 16 2011 at 10:38am
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ok so the isues was that when i move the tank from eagle mountain, there were some bio balls in the over flow, there were about ten bio balls at the bottom of the over flow goin into my return pipe i go from a 4inch to a one inch pipe, so anyways, the bio balls were full of feather worms, and my gobie, he got stuck in the bio balls, and died, so he helped the feathers to put just enough of a block on return pipe, that is was causing my over flow to back up and to put to much water in my tank from my sump and made me have the water comming up over the side wall of my tank and start to flood my floor in my office, !!! so that is were i am at, i took all the bio balls out and cleanded all my pipes out so wer are good!!!, now to get some more crabs, and let them bastatds go to work on all my rock!!!! ------------- Matt Snow [email protected] 1-801-413-7844 125 fresh aggressive 90 salt fish only 20 aggressive fresh 30 red ear slider |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: March 16 2011 at 6:08pm
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Bioballs in the overflow are a problem if you don't have some kind of
screen over the drain. In fact, bioballs can be a big mess. I'd suggest
that you consider the better options. Here are pics of my new overflow.   The Utah rock rubble is on the bottom to block the light, day and night. The netting is something that I found somewhere. It might have unrolled off of an old RO membrane. On the drain line below this is a ball valve that keeps the water at just the right level so water doesn't have to drop so far and air doesn't get sucked down the drain. This is so silent that the whir of the pump is the only sound we hear. Feel free to come see how it's done. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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