Help! What am I doing wrong? Air in overflow pipe
- Thread starter frootloops
- Start date
Just noticed this thread.
2.5 turn over rate is too low for me. You may need less, it all depends on stocking, temps and feeding.
To up the capacity of the overflows you need to start a syphon on one or two of your overflows. Or use larger plumbing, pipes, ect. You already have the 4 lines so lets work with that.
You have 4 pipes:
I would put a 180 fitting on two of the pipes so the opening is below the surface about 2 inches. You got to figure this out so the capacity of your sump can handle the water if you have a power outage. The syphon wont stop until the water level in the tank gets below the opening in the pipe. Your sump needs to be able to hold this capacity. Make it 1 inch below the surface if needed; two is better. The point is to get the water flowing with out the air getting sucked down the pipe and not having the pipe to low to over flow your sump in case of a power outage.
I would put a ball valve on one of these two pipes. Most likely one syphon can run wide open. The other syphon line may need to be throttled back a little? Throttling back the second line will stop the gurgling. The gurgling happens when the syphon starts to fail and switches to drain only. That transition makes noise, like draining a bath tub.
The last two lines I would ball valve too. One ball valve I would leave wide open and this line would be the highest in the tank. Sort of a safety valve just incase something gets clogged this line will give you a drain until you notice the issue and correct it.
The other line will be a throttle. You will need to tweak it once in a while. Ideally you want to maintain the syphon on the first two lines so they draw the water out efficiently /quietly and the left over water goes out this third line. The fourth line is only a fail safe.
2.5 turn over rate is too low for me. You may need less, it all depends on stocking, temps and feeding.
To up the capacity of the overflows you need to start a syphon on one or two of your overflows. Or use larger plumbing, pipes, ect. You already have the 4 lines so lets work with that.
You have 4 pipes:
I would put a 180 fitting on two of the pipes so the opening is below the surface about 2 inches. You got to figure this out so the capacity of your sump can handle the water if you have a power outage. The syphon wont stop until the water level in the tank gets below the opening in the pipe. Your sump needs to be able to hold this capacity. Make it 1 inch below the surface if needed; two is better. The point is to get the water flowing with out the air getting sucked down the pipe and not having the pipe to low to over flow your sump in case of a power outage.
I would put a ball valve on one of these two pipes. Most likely one syphon can run wide open. The other syphon line may need to be throttled back a little? Throttling back the second line will stop the gurgling. The gurgling happens when the syphon starts to fail and switches to drain only. That transition makes noise, like draining a bath tub.
The last two lines I would ball valve too. One ball valve I would leave wide open and this line would be the highest in the tank. Sort of a safety valve just incase something gets clogged this line will give you a drain until you notice the issue and correct it.
The other line will be a throttle. You will need to tweak it once in a while. Ideally you want to maintain the syphon on the first two lines so they draw the water out efficiently /quietly and the left over water goes out this third line. The fourth line is only a fail safe.
I have three systems with low turnovers. My 250g is around 2.5-3.5; my 75g runs at around 1.5-2; and I have a three tank system that is at about 5-6 (if I recall correctly). The 250g and the three tank system (80g) both have drip systems but the 75g doesn't. All are seriously overstocked by American standards (but still have plenty of room by Japanese standards).frootloops;3960466; said:
Both drip systems are running at 1 gph. I had cut back the 250g to .5 gph to study the effects, but there was a visible build up of dissolved organics (yellowing of the water). My mechanical filter change schedule is this (approximately):
250g - changed monthly
75g - every other day
80g three tank system - 9 months to 1 year
^^^^ I agree! I have drip systems also and that is the end all for filtration. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can beat a drip system for filtration.
Gurgling and drain issues however.......are big problems for the OP.
The OP has four 1" lines. Hindsight: one 4" line flows way more than four 1" lines. Hindsight is always 20/20.
So........how to fix the current issue. Lets focus on helping the OP out on noise/gurgling and flow.
Gurgling and drain issues however.......are big problems for the OP.
The OP has four 1" lines. Hindsight: one 4" line flows way more than four 1" lines. Hindsight is always 20/20.
So........how to fix the current issue. Lets focus on helping the OP out on noise/gurgling and flow.
CHOMPERS;3962870; said:
I think I'll try the low turnover rate and try to do what egon suggested. I hope that solves my overflow problems.
What am I missing? I tried this on a single pipe system (no venting) and it was a failure. Why are only two used and the other two not? Mmmmm....the valves...I think I get it now. The inverted "snorkel" pipes flow the bulk of the water and the valved pipes meter out the remainder to keep the water level above the "snorkle" openings. Is that right?Egon;3963951; said:
edit: does the water level bounce up and down over time? It seems like it might.
Exactly! Pipe one should be able to flow wide open. Pipe two ideally should be wide open but none of this is exact science so pipe two you throttle back so it maintains a syphon all the time, no gurgle. Pipe three is right at surface level and will take the extra and allow for fish movement/splashing and so on it will have some noise but not too bad. Pipe four is just above surface for overflow prevention, just incase a lettuce leaf or something clogs one of the pipes. Weird stuff happens lol.
Edit: there's a thread with this exact set up and I can't find it! Its something like" quiet over flow" or "silent over flow???" Most likely it's another forum? I will find it and post the link. A much better explanation and most likely a detail or two I missed
Edit: there's a thread with this exact set up and I can't find it! Its something like" quiet over flow" or "silent over flow???" Most likely it's another forum? I will find it and post the link. A much better explanation and most likely a detail or two I missed
