Help.....Flood

[deyoe757]

I built my own sump with a 10 gallon tank using bio balls and all that jazz. Followed directions give to me by a guy at the LFS. He has them on two 180 gallon tanks in the store but he used 55 gallon sumps. My water level in the sump rises every time I get it going. I am using one overflow cuz two flooded my floor. I have a rio 2500 returning the water to the tank. Questions...Is a 10 gallon too small of a sump and second why is the water rising every time I turn it on?????????????????
HELP PLEASE

 

[10k]

You either have too much water in the system, or the pump doesn't have what it takes to keep up...HTH

 

[10k]

Just a silly question, but you do have the pump hooked up right, right? Not backwards, like your pumping water out of the tank, into the sump?

 

[jester]

After that, install a ball valve on the drain line so you can control the flow coming into the sump.

 

[deyoe757]

The sump is staying at about 3/4 full but the bio balls are mostly submerged so I have a feeling that the O2 is not getting there?
The filter is hooked up correctly pumping H2O into tank not to sump...The water is not flowing that fast into the sump? Huh I will try the valve and see...Thanks for the help

 

[broomer5]

If you've got a standard 125 measuring 72x18x22
The surface area of the tankwater is 72"x18"=1,296 square inches.
1,296/231= 5.6 gallons of water per vertical inch in your tank.
You must start out with enough water in the 10 gallon sump, enough to keep the intake of the Rio2500 covered - but as soon as you turn on the pump and the water rises up to the teeth of the overflow - it starts falling back down to the sump.
One inch change in the tank = 5.5 gallons, plus what you have in the drainlines.
I would not think that a 10 gallon sump with a Rio2500 running on a 125 gallon tank is a good match.
Your sump's too small

 

[oceanjumper]

A ball valve in a drain line is NOT advised!! You CANNOT control the drainflow with a valve. Worse, if you would close the valve the tank still overflows but this time not through the drain but on your floor! It is like going from two overflow boxes to one while not adjusting the amount of water that is being pumped into the main tank.
I find it highly bizarre that your sump water level RISES when you got the "thing" going. In a proper setup, the sump water level only rises when you shut the "thing" off. You need a proper size sump to be able to handle all the water that is drained (but not pumped back). What size you need? See Broomer's post, it is as clear as you could wish for. Having siad this, a 10 gl sump can be used. However, you are largely restricted by the amount/volume of water it can keep when power failures occur. So, with a 10 gl sump, you need to subtract the volume of the equipment in the sump (pump, heater, filter?), subtract the watervolume that "hangs" in your drain line (Broomer! you would be THE man if you can calculate that as well!), what is left is the water volume you can have in your main tank at a HIGHER level than the inlet of your drainline. Broomer calculated this but in reality you "play" with in the inflow. Meaning, you adjust the amount of water that the return pump sends back from the sump to the main tank. Some pumps have a built-in ball valve to do so. I prefer a T on the return line, with a ball valve on the line back to the sump. In any case, a 10 gl sump does not provide a lot of water flow for tanks > 70 gl.
So, starting from a steady-state situation in your case, I can only imagine sump water level to rise, after turning on the power, if -indeed- the pump was not installed properly. I really see no other explanation.