wattsupdoc
Active Member
SWEEET!
Help me Make a Sump
- Thread starter drpaul84
- Start date
wattsupdoc
Active Member
Your gonna like the G3
I've got some Enkamat PF4 coming in fri. If you want a piece of it to AMP that baby up with the mesh mod.
Check my thread in the classifieds. It'll skim the chrome off that fish tank.
drpaul84
Member
ok well its all up an running, its loud! and i have to keep that valve for the return to the fuge open or else i get crazy bubbles an the OF makes crazy noise, but so far other then the noise it works good, theres barely any bubbles being made, but then again i have no skimmer, man the initial turn on was scary cause water was goin down an up an it all happened at once lol, then i remembered to check for leaks lol, so far i dont see any...thank god, so yea it all looks good right now, just need tips to get it to quiet down, maybe you can help me make a stockman stand pipe or durso or whatever its called, but again i cant thank you enough for walking me through this process and i will be getting pics up soon, i also gotta move my heater down to the fuge and need to get some caeto , and a little light im not gonna use my 48" light to light up the fuge, that would be a waste..... but as of now it looks good
wattsupdoc
Active Member
Awesome, post up a pic when you get a chance.
Is the noise mostly from the OF? Cause a stocman will fix that!. Also, not having the sump enclosed is going to be a sound issue, but we might be able to work out some of it. Post uop a couple pics so I can get an eyeball on it.
Yeah startup is allways nerve racking. Try it at 4:00 in the morning after doing a 135 gal change out all night long.
wattsupdoc
Active Member
That'll make ya grin!
Stockmans are EEEAAASY! Heres a drawing of a modified stockman I made. You can quite it down quite a bi, just by placing a piece of sponge over the hole in the drsin in the OF. Then place a piece of 1/4" polytube in the hole so it can get some air. Play with that till you get ot just right. You'll need to fasten the polytube so it doesnt slip down through the drain. The sponge acts as a muffler to silence it some. But this wont do the job like a stockman will. The holes in the stockman can be any type you want to cut in it. a dremmel works great for this, but so does a 3/8 in drill bit.The holes should remain up inside the coupling though so the water has to remain above the bottom of the coupling. Adjust the height of the standpipe to be just slightly below the baffle wich insure the syphon doesnt break in the drain compartment of the OF. This is to silence the waterfall sound. Adjust the air hole in the top of the standpipe till you get just the right amount of air.
Those drain lines in the sump could be cut slightly shorter if you get backpressure from the drains. Also you could drill a series of small hole just under the water line. This lets the pressure exscape there, as oppose tho pushing the water in the chamber. Make sense? Actually my 135 drains only needed a small pinhole in them just at the water line. But you get small splashing at the water line this way. I use a small piece of acrylisc placed just above it to stop it from spashing out of the tank.
If you feel that you dont get enough flow in the fuge compartment. Because of the baffle I screwed up on(sorry), put a small powerhead in there. To help tumble the cheato.
Play with it some.
Anyways, Great job there! Sweet fuge! I like the tight look.
Those drain lines in the sump could be cut slightly shorter if you get backpressure from the drains. Also you could drill a series of small hole just under the water line. This lets the pressure exscape there, as oppose tho pushing the water in the chamber. Make sense? Actually my 135 drains only needed a small pinhole in them just at the water line. But you get small splashing at the water line this way. I use a small piece of acrylisc placed just above it to stop it from spashing out of the tank.
If you feel that you dont get enough flow in the fuge compartment. Because of the baffle I screwed up on(sorry), put a small powerhead in there. To help tumble the cheato.
Play with it some.
Anyways, Great job there! Sweet fuge! I like the tight look.
drpaul84
Member
the fuge has plenty of flow, but the skimmer side doesnt seem to be getting as much flow, could be a good thing since we want water to hang around in the skimmer section longer right? also i have a standpipe and a sponge in the OF already helped a bit, but guess ill have to make a stockman standpipe, the pump is loud, its not the pump it self i dont think but the water coming out of it, not sure if i can do anything about it.....
drpaul84
Member
doc need help!!!!
ok i realized that there was pretty much zero flow going back into the tank, its all going to the side of the pump thats pumping back in the fuge, but if i close that valve a little bit the OF makes crazy noise and then the water level in the sump drops down like crazy, an the OF drops quatrillions of bubbles in the sump (all get stopped by the traps though) so i dont know what to do, right now i have it closed a little bit so that there is flow going into the tank, an the sump level is stayin where its at, but lots of bubbles coming from the drains, an lots of noise, what should i do? did i mess somethin up, is this normal, what should i do!!!!!! save me!
ok i realized that there was pretty much zero flow going back into the tank, its all going to the side of the pump thats pumping back in the fuge, but if i close that valve a little bit the OF makes crazy noise and then the water level in the sump drops down like crazy, an the OF drops quatrillions of bubbles in the sump (all get stopped by the traps though) so i dont know what to do, right now i have it closed a little bit so that there is flow going into the tank, an the sump level is stayin where its at, but lots of bubbles coming from the drains, an lots of noise, what should i do? did i mess somethin up, is this normal, what should i do!!!!!! save me!
wattsupdoc
Active Member
You need more water in the system. You need to do the things I've listed above. You can just use the sponges for now. Mix up some SW. Match it of course. Then shut the system down and start adding fresh SW. Dont over flow it of course, also dont add all the SW. Maybe start with a gallon. You want to add a little start it up and see whaere its at, then add some more. I guess you could do this without shutting it down, just close the return pumps BV as you add. (going to the fuge)Add water till you get to a good running state. Really just enough to where it runs. Then shut down(with the syphon break in place) and check for flooding. If it doesnt OF you can add more to stop the waterfall noise in sump. But leave about 1/2 on each baffle to surface skim. BTW,did you get syphon breaks in the return lines? They are just small holes drilled just below the water level, at an angle that wont cause the water to shoot out onto the floor. This breaks the syphon during backwash, as the water drains down during a power outage. YOU HAVE TO HAVE THESE!. One in each line.
drpaul84
Member
yes i put the siphon breaks in, drilled in 1/4" holes in each return line just below water line...the thing is so deafly loud and the OF is making a gulping sound, kinda like if you where bangin a chick from behind an ur balls smacking on her LOL ill take a video of it (not of the banging but of the overflow noise)
wattsupdoc
Active Member
These are all common things that need to be dealt with on startup. You can silence it to where you can hardly hear it.This is the things that typically occur.
Your OF box needs a constant supply of air INTO the pipe. If it doesnt get enough air, the level rises as it backs up in the OF. Then when the pressure gets sufficient the water pushes on through and you get a flushing noise. It sounds like when you got the runs really bad! OVER AND OVER again.
Then the same scenario happens in the pipe where the dumping water hits the standing water. In the sump. This is because your pipe is usually under the water too far, or there are too many restrictions in the line. (90's etc.). This is back pressure. You can relieve this at the sump by cutting the pipe so it is just under the weater line, or drilling the pipe out (perferating it) under the water line, or drilling at the water line. On my 135 I just needed a 1/8in hole right at the water line to relieve it.
You can temporarliy muffle the sound by stuffing a sponge in her mouth....Oh I mean in the drain pipe, dont really stuff it, just lay it in there. Then take a short piece of poly tube and slide it about 1 in into the drain pipe. attach this somehow, so that it doesnt slide into the pipe and go AWOL causing backpressure.
The stockmans will shut it up substantially more than the above temporary fix.
drpaul84
Member
well the OF came with a sponge and a piece of pvc which i have in there right now, it helps but still, like the water goes up then dumps in an obviously its gettin air, its makin kind of a tornado in the OF, oh and if i shut the return to the fuge too much the sump level drops drasticly and the pump doesnt get water, so its almost like the OF isnt putting enough water in right? could this be due to the back pressure? i mean i see the bubbles dumping in plenty so if theres all these bubbles pouring in, theres water pouring in also....
drpaul84
Member
http://drpaul84.com/pics2/fish/100_1218.MOV
right click save as please its 45mb's
right click save as please its 45mb's
wattsupdoc
Active Member
Always match your paramaters with Dt paramaters. SG., Temp and PH.
Now, It looks to me like the water level in the DT can come up a bit, can it? Without overflowing? What size return pump do you have, rated GPH?
Now, It looks to me like the water level in the DT can come up a bit, can it? Without overflowing? What size return pump do you have, rated GPH?
wattsupdoc
Active Member
You can raise the inside box up a little, and let the water come up in the
DT some. But dont let it flood. When you shutdown how much room is left in the sump for more water?
DT some. But dont let it flood. When you shutdown how much room is left in the sump for more water?