Overflow ?

This is kind of a nebie question but thought I would look for help here . I have had my stuff in my predrilled 90 for about a month now and I'm still not happy with my drain back to the sump set up it gurgels some . I have instaled kind of a durso drain but with the fall to the basement it still makes some noise it took a 1/2 hose to quiet it down . I'm in the process of taking it apart to add a 1" strainer to the drain . I have a valve on the discharge of the pump throttled down to keep the water from overflowing the top of the dam . Do you guys run the water over the top of that or is the slots in the top and bottom of the dam dictate the amount of water flow ? Thanks for any help .

 

You have it way overloaded with return pump size ,, The water should be about 1/4" above the bottom of the overflow wiers in the column . the little drain grates in the overflow what pump are you using a mag 12 or larger ? Also how is it plumd from bulk head to sump ? A photo or two of that may help if the pump is not to overly large

 

I have a Iwaki MD40R (T) in the basement with a 100G sump I have the discharge of the pump throttled down about a quarter and after that there is a T and some of the water feeding the fuge . So the drain gates determin the flow capacity of the system ? The one inch drain falls straight to the sump it's not the slow down it's the grates and there not pluged . So I guess I need to throttle back the pump some more or send more of the water to the fuge .

 

The size of the drain and drain pipe determines how much water goes through the overflow without gurgling.

Also, the straighter and longer the pipe on the overflow going to the sump, the more noise it will make.

You might want to T the water going to the sump between the sump and refugium. In my experience, refugiums are a lot more productive in "raw" water that has not been skimmed. You can control the flow to the refugium with a simple gate valve off the T.

Also, a gate valve on the return pump will give you fine control of the water flow back to the tank. It is an easy way to increase head pressure, and eliminate gurgling

 

bump for more help from the tangster

 

Hi, the idea of the over flow is one of gravity. Natural gravity dictates the flow rate and our job is to match the return pump flow to allow the natural over flow to occur. If your water is overflowing the dam, your return is not keeping up with the gravity driven drain. You need to have more return flow, keep adjusting it more and more until you match it.