GPH Too Strong For Tank [Sump Setup]

[Jon M]

So I got a new mag drive in the mail from bigal's yesterday. Can't ever have too much filtration. Anyhow, I hooked her all up and immediately realized she had too much power for my simple setup. When plugged in the pump pushed the water out of the intake to the tank so hard it was blowing all the way down to the bottom of the tank and blasting sand like a leaf blower. My in tank overflow pushed water so fast it sounded like a waterfall.

So anyhow, I know how I'm going to fix this. I'm going to T pipe the intake in the tank and cut ridges in it so water disperses to the left and right walls and also out the ridges in an even flow. As far as the in take overflow I think I'm going to get a piece of acrylic the length of it, and as tall, to have diagonal in there so when the water comes over the overflow it catches the acrylic and slides down on an angle as opposed to going straight down and splashing.

I was just curious if anyone else ran similar setups and if so how they handled these issues.

 

[Mavrick813]

Split the Mags return with a T set one return to the tank the other back into the sump. Add a Ball valve to the sump side and control the flow to the tank using the valve.

Mike

 

[Jon M]

Hmm. Interesting. Yeah, a ball valve was my first thought but by decreasing the pressure aren't you lowering your gph at the same time?

 

[Mavrick813]

Your basically splitting the return to two locations. One into the sump, other into the tank. Close the return into the sump until you get the desired return pressure to the tank.

No adverse effects on the pump because the flow of water is not being stopped it's just being directed to 2 locations. You never want to slow the return by stopping it because it will put back pressure on the pump and wear it out faster.

And what's it going to hurt if some of the water runs through the sump more then once?

 

[Jon M]

Makes sense. What are your thoughts on just putting a T on the intake in the tank? Also on how to stop the splash effect in the in tank overflow?

For the second part I believe a bit more information or at least a picture of the overflow helps. This picture shows exactly what I'm dealing with. You can imagine since the overflow doesn't fill up and drains before this happens how I'm getting a splash effect. With the second pump running it fills maybe 1.5" on the bottom and creates a very loud splash.

 

[frnchjeep]

There is supposed to be a stand pipe in the overflow. That will keep the water level in the overflow higher, so you don't get the splash. You can put the T in the tank to divert the water two ways, but you need to make sure that you aren't overloading the overflow. Putting the T outside the tank allows you to loop the return back into the sump, which allows you to add mechanical filtration or uv if you wanted to or needed to down the road.

 

[Mavrick813]

There is supposed to be a stand pipe in the overflow. That will keep the water level in the overflow higher, so you don't get the splash. You can put the T in the tank to divert the water two ways, but you need to make sure that you aren't overloading the overflow. Putting the T outside the tank allows you to loop the return back into the sump, which allows you to add mechanical filtration or uv if you wanted to or needed to down the road.

Put a stand pipe into the overflow box about 1/4-1/2" lower then the bottom of the slots cut in the overflow to stop the splash. This will reduce the splash to the sound of a ripple. If that's still too loud for you; you can put a sponge inside the overflow. Then just follow my instructions above for the return.

Mike

 

[Jon M]

As far as overloading the overflow goes, with the design I have now I know that's not an issue. As loud as it was I left it running for a bit to observe and the water level never got higher than 1.5"-2.5" in the bottom so I think I'm okay there.

I'm very curious about this "stand pipe" you guys are talking about. See I acquired this tank from a craigslister who was going to fix it up and use it as a tank but didn't have the money. So I fixed it up for my own. It's my first in tank/w/d sump filtration setup.

I think I did pretty damn good for my first go but I never came across this stand pipe in my research and honestly I wasn't positive how the person that made the tank planned on it to work.

Is there anywhere I can get a design or more information on this stand pipe so I can see exactly what it is?

 

[Mavrick813]

It's just a piece of PVC that slips or screws into your bulkead that will allow the overflow to fill to a higher level. This one has an elbow on it but I've seen others just be a piece of PVC shoved into the bulkhead.

 

[Jon M]

OOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!

That totally makes sense! Okay so I already have this tank all setup and running so I certainly can't go buy new bulkheads that can slip on pipe on the inside so let's see here.

Would it be possible to just snag pvc at Home Depot and have something (not sure what?) on the end that can slip into my bulkhead holes?

There are two drains to my overflow and they are two different sizes.