Wetdry questions.

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[enjoyable_attempt]

[enjoyable_attempt]

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Aug 19, 2008
1,397
1
68
Cleveland Ohio
Bought a 125 today and a sump came with it. No pump came with the sump nor did a overflow box. So I go out, we get a box, and get a pump for this sump. The pump is rated at 700gph. Ran into a few problems along the way.

First the sump runs to high, it seems like the overflow box is pulling more then the pump can keep up with. Secondly when we do get it running correctly you hear a god awful suction noise from the prefilter box...anything I can do to reduce that?

Thanks in advanced, and any additional information is welcome.
 
"First the sump runs to high, it seems like the overflow box is pulling more then the pump can keep up "

The key word is 'overflow', the overflow sets the height of the water level in the tank, its supposed to pull more (much more) than the pump.

If the sump level is too high remove some water.
 
yif the over flow is flowing more then the sump can handle thats good!
just reduse the water in the main tank, this way the pump will fill the tank and that water will raise the wl in th tank enough to OVERFLOW through the over flow, even if the tank doesnt fill as quick as it empties the volume of water will on leave as the pump replaces it, it like a tounge twister bout i hope that helps maybe some one can word it better

as for the noise theres a few options, you can build a durso type overflow,
or you could use a ball valve to restrick the flow, the back preesure will make it more silenent( this will also help slow down the amount being removed from the tank

just do a search on our forums or google and you will find many solutions to making overflows quiteir,

also a pix of the overflow will help find the best method,

fright now an on off ball valve closed slightly in th return line sounds like your best/easiest fix
 
It sounds like your pump is underpowered if your sump fills faster than the pump can pump it out. What kind of pump is it? You can't always go by claimed pump performance from the mfgs. Perhaps you filled the sump level too high on start up? But if your sump level gets higher over time, then for sure the pump is not up to the job. It should stay at a steady level. You could use a valve on the drain line to throttle the flow back, or get a stronger pump. The latter would be your best bet. It's a balance. I have always used Durso standpipes on my built in overflow boxes to prevent the flushing sounds of water exiting the box at once. I have no experience with hang ons.
 
A over flow will only flow as much as the pump is putting in the tank. Thats the whole purpose of the box thats in the tank. The oppisite of your problem would be if the sump is emptying and the tank is trying to spill over in the floor because the over flow box can't handle the gph that the pump is putting out.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------you can have a over flow box rated at 2000 gallons and hour and a 100 gallon per hour pump running in your tank with no problem. But you can't do the opposite.
 
Alright well I guess what was happening is I didnt wait for the tanks water lvl to get lvl with the overfow box, hence it was draining faster then the pump was returning it. After toying around with it for a bit we have that figured out.

The problems I have now are the noise of the water falling into the pipe in the prefilter box, and theres a small leak at the bottom of the box where the pvc comes out to connect to a hose. Theres two rubber gaskets and still a small leak.
 
Make sure that the gaskets aren't being smashed by the PVC. Having the fitting too tight will cause them to leak.
 
I would remove the gaskets, clean them and the box, and reassemble it. Sometimes foreign matter as small as a grain of sand can cause a leak.
 
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