A Complete Disaster

shiby1510

shiby1510

Member
Well all today I worked on hard plumbing my overflow to fuge... it was looking great I glued certain pieces and all... and I gave it more than enough time to cure itself.. tonight I set everything up and it was a complete disaster... the overflow is now way too slow for my mag... I only have a 29g and it is a mag 3 ...
I have the hard plumb like this:
connector... to pvc ... 90... pvc... 90 and then down in the overflow compartment of the fuge... the water then travels through a series of baffles and then into the return on the other side... I know that some members do not recommended to have the fuge in the middle but I had to do it this way... the the sump/fuge is a total 30" ...
and then not to mention I found a small leak in the fuge.. I spent $100 for the pieces of acrylic glue.. etc.. put it all together and leak tested it a bunch of times and found a small leak... it is high up on the return part of the fuge... so it should not matter much because the water level should not even be that high for my return section...
In addition I have a drilled bulkhead at the low side of the return section... I did not know exactly how I would plumb this since the hole is 1" and the mag's are not 1"... so I just glued an endcap... but it still is leaking water a bit in there too....
I am just completely frustrated and do not know what to do... someone please help... I am about ready to just trash the whole sump/fuge with overflow... although I do not want to do this because I put a lot of money into it. :help: :notsure: :mad:
:help:
 
beachrat

beachrat

New Member
You should get a ball valve and put it after your mag output and open it halfway. That will reduce the flow into your tank. I am in the process of building and plumbing a sump/fuge for 2 tanks, a 29 and a 55. My flow rate needs to be less for the 29 than the 55. My LFS owner informed me to use these ball valves just before the outgoing water to the tank to regulate flow. Hope I helped.
 
shiby1510

shiby1510

Member
I thought about that but it takes away my gph then right?? would it be better to just get a lower gph pump?
 
bigb

bigb

Member
Any way/ room to add another overflow?
Make sure the leak "high up in the fuge" is above your max fill line or try to repair it. In the event of power loss tank will drain into fuge and possibly up to this leak.
If possible try some teflon tape and silicon around your drilled bulkhead to stop those leaks.
 
bigb

bigb

Member
Yeah- I'm not a big fan of using them to restrict water flow. They are essential and should be used to stop water flow to change out a pump or do repairs. Place one both before and after the pump if possible.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Originally Posted by fromoe
keep in mind that a ball valve will shorten the life of your pump.
:happy:
How much will they shorten the life of the pump????? I don't see a problem with them being "throttled down" on the output side as long as it's nothing drastic
 
Y

yeffre kix

Guest
I'd say don't decrease your pump flow but improve the gravity feed. Are you saying your using the same U-tube overflow as before, and these problems occured with the plumbing?
I would try a larger pvc pipe, or vinyl tubing works well. With the smaller system I had I drilled a hole in the back of my tank up high at water level and put a bulk head with strainer into the tank. To keep the flow quiet I took a 90 bend PVC corner and aimed it down into the water. (Worked like a Durso standpipe.) Then I adjusted the downflow with a ball valve instead of reducing flow to the tank.
The DIY sumps are a royal pain in the rump. Working with acrylic takes a lot of practice to perfect. I ordered a DIY 90 Gal sump for my tank and the thing was junk! I ended up ordering a sump made by a pro. Cost a few bucks more but I don't have to worry about it failing and causing all kinds of problems. Flooding damage, pump burned up from runnning dry, livestock killed... Spend the money on a good sump.
 
sw65galma

sw65galma

Active Member
Heres a tip, get rid of all the 90 deg bends and put 2 45's instead, that'll give you roughly 10% more flow per 90 you take out..
 
shiby1510

shiby1510

Member
Thanks for that... But I think it has something to do with the way these stupid baffles are cut... this is what it looks like..
the baffles are have a hole... about 1" from the top they hare 1" wide and about 5" long ... i'm thinking that there is not enough flow being allowed through these.. I have no idea and its my only thought by now... notice how the water has to cross all the way over from one side to the other... Its pretty much has nothing to do with my plumbing tho.. because i've tried every way possible with this and it still does not work..
Before I got this refugium.. I had a rubbermaid that was about the same length (30") but it held less water.. and it worked fine... I'm just soo frustrated.
 
bigb

bigb

Member
Originally Posted by shiby1510
Before I got this refugium.. I had a rubbermaid that was about the same length (30") but it held less water.. and it worked fine... I'm just soo frustrated.
Did you use exact same plumbing as when you had the rubbermaid? If so one possibility could be that you don't have enough water running through the entire system.
 
shiby1510

shiby1510

Member
Yes same exact plumbing.. I am going to try filling the refugium up even more... it was already pretty high I guess I just won't have room for a power outtage :eek:
Oh well i'm gonna give it a try
 
shiby1510

shiby1510

Member
The problem has been fixed!! :jumping: It just needed to be filled up more... It just felt like it would be filled up too high.. but i guess not... THANK YOU ALL FOR THE GREAT HELP!! I greatly appreciate it and there cannot be a message board better than this one. :joy: :joy:
P.S. I would just like to humor everyone with something... so how about yesterday I went in to talk to my lfs .. they told me that I would most likely have to drill another hole in my overflow box to have 2 lines running to keep up with the flow... I thought that was hilarious.. could you believe that!! I was like um... I have a 30g tank.. and I'm only using a mag 3.. not to mention the overflow is U tube and it is 1" bulkhead... He's like well that has nothing to do with it...
oh yeah and I can't leave this one out either.. he also said that it could be the size of the sump and that I probably need a bigger one that is why it isn't working right or something like that... I think that is just soo funny! :D :hilarious
 
bigb

bigb

Member
Sometimes we tend to overthink and in turn overrule the simple problem. Good luck with your tank :joy:
 
bigb

bigb

Member
Originally Posted by shiby1510
Yes same exact plumbing.. I am going to try filling the refugium up even more... it was already pretty high I guess I just won't have room for a power outtage :eek:
Oh well i'm gonna give it a try
Hold on... When you turn off the pump and stop the overflow your sump will fill to what is called the max fill line, you should mark this with a sharpee or even a piece of tape. If you are running the system above this line you will/can run into flooding issues. Since I see you've got it running now, when you try turning everything off be prepared with some buckets and something else to bail water if it starts getting too high.
After you get the proper water flowing through system it is a good idea to make another mark for this amount. Ex.- I keep water level in sump about2-3in above bulkhead for external pump and max fill line is about 6-8in higher than that.
 
shiby1510

shiby1510

Member
Well I stopped everything and filled the sump up so it should be fine.. and there was some uneeded water in the return chamber so i just scooped some out.. however .. you return yours externally.. I have a mag.. and was thinking about doing this.. however it is a 1" bulkhead.. and the mags.. as i recall are 3/4" how do you do this?
 
bigb

bigb

Member
Originally Posted by shiby1510
Well I stopped everything and filled the sump up so it should be fine.. and there was some uneeded water in the return chamber so i just scooped some out.. however .. you return yours externally.. I have a mag.. and was thinking about doing this.. however it is a 1" bulkhead.. and the mags.. as i recall are 3/4" how do you do this?
Go to home depot or lowes/ local hardware store and get a female/female pvc connector one side 3/4" the other end 1". Or if you need male to female same thing just make sure you get the right size on the ends you need they are usually ~.50 each.
 
snailheave

snailheave

Active Member
really sorry to hear about what happened to you
my projected could've ended up that way. luckily most of the things turned out okay and the one minor leak and the water noise were fixed by pvc glue and durso standpipe respectfully.
bigB, my setup is going well, so far :happy:
 
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