Way to increase drain flow?

I finally have my sump / fuge up and running! However, I need to increase my drain flow from the main tank. I actually have to have my return pump on the lowest setting and the ball valve turned slightly to maintain a steady flow and not run the return chamber dry. Can I either increase the size of my overflow box and add a second drain line, or just increase the ID of the drain line....right now im only running 5/8" ID, I thought I had bought 3/4". I also noticed that my elbow pipe running from the inside overflow to the outside is filled to the brim, nice no air bubbles...However, from the standpipe to the fuge, it is only about half filled...Is there a way to get rid of that air and would that also increase flow?

 

A durso standpipe will make it quiet and get rid of the air. As far as the drain if you can increase the id of the drain pipe it would help I use a 1" drain pipe and 3/4" for the returns.

 

I ran a small piece of tubing ...like 1/4 about 2 feet long down into my standpipe from the HOB to stop the noise and get rid of air.

 

a return pump to the sump lol

 

As stated above I use 1" overflow and 3/4" return. Are both your over flow and return the same size? If so the return will always be greater as it is pumped and the overflow is only drawn down by gravity.
Jake

 

You hit it my friend...I am using the same size on both....ok then so larger on the drain side, smaller on the return.

 

Is that how the tank is drilled, or is that just what you have. The drain should be bigger. Are your drilled holes the same size?

Anyway, are you using barbed bulk heads, or threaded. I just replaced my barbed to threaded. While my 1" BH is just under 1" I.D. on my threaded..... they were necked down to 3/4" I.D. on the barbed. Big difference.

I put line on the outside and oversized it. I have plenty of flow now.

Here is a link if you want to see what I did.
http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/my-sump-fuge-equipment-closet-build-59007.html

 

The return doesn't necessarily need to be smaller than the overflow. You could use a slightly smaller pump and keep the same overflow. You could also put a T into your return and run a recirculation pipe with a valve back to the sump. It seems like you may already have the valve so all you would need would be a T and a few inches of PVC.

 

Or install a Tee and use it to feed a phosphate reactor..or fuge...lots of possibilites ...when i installed a tee on my return and fed the PO4 reactor it reduced the flow some back to the DT....just a thought

 

I hope this doesn't come across as rude, because I don't mean it that way. If you can divert some of the return or throttle the flow with a valve then it will work just fine. I am a steamfitter and do piping for a living. I just know that any time we have a gravity feed with a pumped return, you want the pumped return to be the limiting factor. Because the overflow can only siphon off what is returned, and no more than that. I guess by diverting some flow or throttling the flow the same effect is accomplished. Also if you could step up the size of the overflow piping then you would also greatly increase your turn over rate, which is never a bad thing.

Jake