150g filteration problems. please help

[gnorman]

hey everyone, as some of you may know i got my 150g (60x24x24) lee mar glass tank in a while ago. my dad and i have been working on the plumbing and ran across some problems as we filled the tank. we did the returns on top of the tank. 1 inch piping from the return hole inside the overflow box to a 3/4 PVC along the top brace of the tank to a 1/2 lock-heads for exit of water into the tank. we have 4 returns all together on that circuit, 1 in each corner. then inside the overflow box we have 2 Rios 1200 that pump water in the middle part of the tank coming out of the overflow box, those holes are completely waterproof sealed. the drain is a 2 inch PVC stand pipe. we drilled a hole in the top and seem to have found the right tool to plug it up to keep from the toilet noise. the sump came with 2 socks but we didn't know how to plumb the return to both of them due to lack of space, tools needed, and one other issue which is... if we glued the PVC to the bulkheads of the socks how would we ever be able to change the socks. so thats why we decided to go with just 1 sock. we have a sump/fuge system with the fuge in the middle, a euro-reef RS 250 skimmer in the last chamber then also in the skimmer chamber is the intake to the main external pump wich is a dolphin 5600-4700... the main problem we ran across is that, the water level in the DT is way to high. its at the very top of the slit cuts in the overflow box to drain the water, and only just 2-3 centimeters from the glass supports. we took out some water but that only caused the water in the sump to lower. so when we take water out of the system the water in the DT stays the same ( way to high ) and the water in the sump seems to get lower. i would like the water in the DT to be in the middle of the slits. how do we fix this? is this a big problem or something that can be fixed rather easy.
thanks to all of you for taking time to read this as it is very important to us ( we want to get this tank up and running!), also, i would post pics of the equipment but i dont know how to

. thanks again to all of your help
eric

 

[gnorman]

bump

 

[deric203]

Hey Gnorman,
I cant help with the water problem but will watch for responses as I'm close to putting water in my 135.
No guru on posting pics either but this worked for me. go to photobucket.com and set up a FREE account. upload your pictures into a photobucket album. Pick the picture you want to include in your thread. Single click on the IMG box and it will say "copied". Now go to your thread message. Click on the insert image tab which is located just above the message you are typing. hit paste. The photo wont be in your thread but a line of script (ex. [IMGhttp:2424.photo, ect.ect.) will be. When you submit your thread the photo appears.
Good luck with your tank.

 

[gnorman]

thanks for your help deric. i will make an account and try to get some pics posted.
thanks for your help! good luck with your tank

 

[gnorman]

ok i made my photo bucket album but i dont know how to get the phones to the threads....

:help:

:help:

 

[wattsupdoc]

You need to dail the return pump back a little. Do this with a ball valve in the supply line up to the tank. What's happening is you'r pump is supplying more than you're OF will handle easily. When you dail it back it put back pressure on the pump, but that's not a [problem. As the water level goes up in the DT there is more pressure exerted on the OF, so it handles the volume but the level rises in the DT. Taking water out only reduces you're water volume, wich means you'rs sump/fuge volume is what is lowered. Dont forget you need some heasdroom in the sump/ fuge for backwash when you loose power.
HTH My .02 worth.

 

[gnorman]

thank you for your help. we have 3 ball valves on the return lines but they are all above the OF box on the top glass bracing. the first one is right after the OF box where we took 2 45s to get to the first return hole. is this ball valve ok to use or do we need one underneath the tank right next to the pump?

 

[gnorman]

anyone else have any suggestions on why the water level is so high in the DT?

 

[kogle]

Hmm, I'd say if your return pump was outdoing your overflows then eventually the pump would run the sump dry and overflow the DT. This is just my experience.
If you had hang on back overflows I'd say to lower them to lower the water level in the DT but it sounds like yours are built in so you probably won't be able to do this. If you can cut down the return from the sump as mentioned above then it should solve your problem.
By the way, you're not a famous golfer are you?

 

[gnorman]

haha what? me a famous golfer..... noooo. where did u hear that from?
haha but seriously i have no clue what your talking about. im to young to be famous 18. but i do golf and i love to be outdoors, my favorite is mountain biking. i think if id become famous it would be for MBiking or maybe for my beautiful tank... that is, when i get it up and running.

 

[wattsupdoc]

Originally Posted by KOgle
Hmm, I'd say if your return pump was outdoing your overflows then eventually the pump would run the sump dry and overflow the DT. This is just my experience.
If you had hang on back overflows I'd say to lower them to lower the water level in the DT but it sounds like yours are built in so you probably won't be able to do this. If you can cut down the return from the sump as mentioned above then it should solve your problem.
By the way, you're not a famous golfer are you?

It's not that is out doing it necessarily, but that the force of the water is greater at higher levels. The drain pipes can handle the volume as it has more energy with the additional force. The teeth in the OF only allow so much water to flow through it. You can increase the size of the teeth, wich may or may not do it, or dail it back. If you have seperate valves on the return lines, dailing one closed will increase pressure in the remaining. A sindle valve below the DT would probably be easier to control.

 

[gnorman]

ok well i have 3 valves on top of the tank. i will see if that works when we take care of a leak that we cant seem to fix. ill keep u guys updated
thanks for all of your help