Overflow driving me crazy, how can i fix problem?

Redemption · 12-24-2005, 11:37 PM

Hi All,

After my last experience about 3 years ago I tough I never set up a tank again.

I finally did it! Got a tank installed yesterday, I purchased the 144 bow front made by Oceanic.

Now to businness, the tank has 2 overflows, one of them works great however the second is not working properlly. The water on it goes up and down every 5 rto ten secconds or so, then when I look at wet dry filter allot of bubbles are released when te water goes down on the overflow compartment. I called the guy from the fish place and he told me that maybe some air got in the overflow pipes and I needed to adjust the height of the pipe to make sure it matched the other pipe on the good overflow.

Tried up and down and now success, what what else can I do to fix this problem?

Thanks

weabby · 12-25-2005, 01:03 AM

Any chance a snail or something got in there?

tdwyatt · 12-25-2005, 02:04 AM

Make a Durso overflow. search the DIY forum, there should be some plans or a link to plans there

HTH

Redemption · 12-25-2005, 02:56 PM

Hi, no snail, tank is new.

robsmith32 · 12-25-2005, 06:21 PM

i'd follow tom's advice. when you can understand it.
think that is probably the simplest post of his i've seen.
most make my head spin.
question, are you using the perforated plastick oceanic pipes? or do you have megaflows?
Think the megaflows, then you're almost to a durso type. you can view the info on them at www.dursostandpipes.com

Redemption · 12-26-2005, 10:43 AM

The pipes my tank uses look exactly like the durso stand pipes, on top the elbow there is a small air hole. The water does not go down that much, usually about 2 inches but the noise is unbearable.

Making me rethink the decision os starting a tank again

Any other ideas? As mentoned before oinly one of the 2 chambers does this, the other chamber works perfect.

Doug1 · 12-26-2005, 01:12 PM

Well something is obviously wrong with the noisy one, You may have to take it apart to figure it out

tdwyatt · 12-26-2005, 01:45 PM

Sometmes the hole in the top of the durso is either too small ot too large, and nay require the addition of an airvalve if it is too large. Try pacing your finger over the top hole of the noisy durso to see if the flushing stops.

Redemption · 12-26-2005, 02:13 PM

Thanks for the advice, unfortunatelly now both sides started doing the same thing. I contacted petshop store owner and hopefully he can help. I did not spend 4800 to have something that keeps me up at night

I will try covering the holes on top to see what happens.

rick parker · 12-26-2005, 02:28 PM

This may be off the wallbut...is the pump rated to handle these two overflows? It sounds like the effluent is greater than the return???

Redemption · 12-26-2005, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rick parker

This may be off the wallbut...is the pump rated to handle these two overflows? It sounds like the effluent is greater than the return???

Not sure if this is good enough but the pump is a magnetic drive rated at 1800 GPH Not sure if it is good enought but that is what the guy sold me. Been doing some research here and I think guy was out to make a sale, not necesarelly looking out for my best interest. However I can oly blame myself for not doing the due diligence prior to purchase.

Redemption · 12-26-2005, 02:52 PM

This is th epump i have;

http://www.thatpetplace.com/MainPro/...64CX+0364+0124

Viv · 12-26-2005, 02:55 PM

I had the same problem. My problem came from a low amount of water in the display tank itself. I'll try to explain....The overflow slits in my tank are about 1.5-2" long, the water from the display can flow into the overflow box wheather its at the 1" end of the slot or the 2" higher end of the slot. I found I had to add water to the display tank to prevent a drop into the overflow. (Adding water to the sump, just increased the amount of water height in the sump.) This worked for me, it might be worth looking at the tank water height for you too.

Redemption · 12-26-2005, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Viv

I had the same problem. My problem came from a low amount of water in the display tank itself. I'll try to explain....The overflow slits in my tank are about 1.5-2" long, the water from the display can flow into the overflow box wheather its at the 1" end of the slot or the 2" higher end of the slot. I found I had to add water to the display tank to prevent a drop into the overflow. (Adding water to the sump, just increased the amount of water height in the sump.) This worked for me, it might be worth looking at the tank water height for you too.

Thanks for the suggestion, altough I have not added water to the tank. I added 50 pounds of live rock today. I would imagine that this would push the water level higher as it did increase the water in the sump. None the less thanks for the idea.

I am hoping to hear from the aquarium shop owner tomorrow.

rick parker · 12-26-2005, 04:18 PM

This would further my inquiry about the pump not being sufficient....If the pump were large enough you would have the opposite affect, too much water in the display. That is were a ball valve on the return of the pump comes into play.