new tank= new sounds

I just set up my new 125 with the proflex 4 sump,with two danner 950 pumps.All plumbing is done with pvc, and it sounds like the water flow is surging.... the flow does not seem to be consistent in the sump, where the water flows into the third chamber, it will speed up then slow down...and you can watch the water level in the overflow areas rise and fall about an inch. But the water level in the 3rd chamber where the pumps are stays the same. This is my first sump system....
Is this normal ?

 

Bumping this for those more versed in sumps.

 

I believe this is because the hole in your durso standpipe drain's cap might not be big enough to let air flow freely. Here is a picture to help you understand what I'm talking about:



Check to see if your overflow chamber level fluctuates as well. If so then there is not enough air going down the standpipe and it is forming a complete siphon. This is sucking water out of the overflow until it drains below the elbow and air can be sucked in.

Luckily, this is a very simple fix. Just drill increasingly larger holes in your standpipe's cap until there is not surging effect in the overflow chamber or sump.

HTH

 

ok that makes sense, but the stand pipes in the overflow areas have a small tube glued into the top of them, should I remove them and then make the holes bigger? And Thank your for your help!!!

 

Yes, this is to prevent the standpipe becoming clogged.
If it is glued into the cap just drill a hole next to it following the same procedure. Slowly increase size until the rise and fall no longer occurs. Then you will be able to reach maximum flow rates-silently!

 

You are running 2 Danner 950's???Why???Thats 1900 gph minus head pressure.
Flow through the sump is usually a huge waste of power.
Pipes will slowly develop a slime coat and noises and surges should settle down after a few days but with that much gph; if that is indeed correct may cause an issue.:-/

 

With 4.5 foot head and 1" hard pvc pipe plumbing, I was told that that would be around 650 -700gph each,so 1300-1400 total and with a 125 tank and 30 gallon sump thats 155 gallons total,and with wanting a 10x turnover I thought that would be about right.? Or is 10x turnover to high I was told thats what you wanted to shoot for....

 

Running 2 pumps is not a good choice. Be better off getting 1 single pump to so the job the 2 are doing and use less electric. A mag 12 would work. Also are you trying to use the return pumps for flow in the tank? If so. That's not always the best option with a return pump off a sump, get some current makers, hydor/korelia, vortech or tunze if you wanna go all out.

 

I was planning on using a couple of power heads, don't know which ones yet, for water flow in the tank, I was told by multiple people at the LFS that that is was the flow rate you needed with a sump.... Is this just another thing that I was told the wrong direction to go in??????? I have had reef tanks for over 7 years,a 65 tall and a couple 20 gallons, But this is my first one with a sump....

 

Your fine, the problem is running two separate pumps to do one job. Thats probably where your seeing the rise and fall of water level in the sump. I personally run a mag7 turned way down on a 40 breeder. Getting maybe 200 gph out of it and everything is fine.