need help w/ wet/dry filter

[jclark]

i have a 150 gallon not reef ready aquarium. im using the proclear 150 wet/dry w/ overflow box. im using a mag 9.5 water pump w/ 3/4" tubing for the return. my problem is that i know that the water is suppose to fall about 1" in the overflow box, but it doesnt its at the same level as the rest of the water in the aquarium. my other problem is that the back part of the overflow box where the water drains into the filter itself makes this gurgeling sound and it looks like the water in this part rises a little then drains which is when i hear this gurgeling sound. the hose draining the water to the filter not bent and is flowing down wards at all time

 

[psusocr1]

that gurgling could be due to the water bieng sucked down,,just get either black foam padding that goes over them or get a piece of stocking or soemthing that would stop this from happening..i had the same thign happen but then i put those pads on their that come with overflows and it stopped! if you need pics let me know

 

[jclark]

Originally Posted by psusocr1
that gurgling could be due to the water bieng sucked down,,just get either black foam padding that goes over them or get a piece of stocking or soemthing that would stop this from happening..i had the same thign happen but then i put those pads on their that come with overflows and it stopped! if you need pics let me know
yeah show me the pics because im using the pad that it comes with and its a new one but it also when it makes that sound it push alot of air in to the filter. what about the water going in to the overflow box thats in the tank? the water does not fall like its suppose to. it is at the same water levelas the rest of my tank

 

[turningtim]

What is your overflow rated for? Do you have a valve at the output of the pump? What size is the drain and plumbing down to the sump? How many u-tubes and what size?

 

[jclark]

Originally Posted by TurningTim
What is your overflow rated for? Do you have a valve at the output of the pump? What size is the drain and plumbing down to the sump? How many u-tubes and what size?
1 U tube, 950 gph but i have 5 ft of head room so i think it comes out to like 550 gph, i dont know what the overflow is rated for, the drain and plumbing is about 1"-1 1/2" but i have the same set up as this pet store but they dont seem to have the same problem and they dont know what im doing wrong

 

[psusocr1]

you see the black pads i have around mine?? is it a similair setup or no?

 

[jclark]

it is similiar but i thought the water in the box which is in the tank was suppose to fall about 1"

 

[rhomer]

I had the same overflow for a while, and I had the same issue. It is quite noisy. I had read some different things to do to resolve the noise some suggestions about putting a air hose down in the tube to other options. Try doing some searches and you might dig something up.
I just lived with the noise.
Rob

 

[rolling_g]

I had the same problem with noise I just put a air hose down the tube and the noise went away

 

[talath]

That's the quick fix. You're getting a vacuum lock. The little air hose will break the lock and make it operate at a more consistent water level with none of that gurgling sound that will drive you crazy.

 

[escape2thewater]

When your overflow is at the same level as your tank water it is on the verge of failing (overflowing). There are many things you can do to fix this. First you must make sure your drain pipe is not obstructed at all and is entering your sump/wet dry ABOVE the water level. (yes you can run it below the water level but for troubleshooting purposes I would reccomend it being above). With that being ok I would look at the teeth spacing on your inner overflow box. I fixed this exact same issue on my eel tank YESTURDAY by removing a couple teeth from the inner box. You can file the openings bigger if you want but its easier to just cut a couple out. I would start with 2 and then test it. You should see an improvement but if you need more then just cut out one more at a time. Be careful not to cut out too many as this will defeat the purpose. I know that sounds crazy and you may not have heard of that anywhere but I just cut 3 teeth out of mine yesturday & it worked great. Before that mod the tank would literally overflow until the return pump sucked all the water out of the sump and was pushing nothing but air bubbles. All I did was remove 3 teeth from the inner overflow box & now it has about a 1.5" drop and flows no problem. That overflow box is VERY small too, so you may not need to do as many on yours. ( I was using a bigger inner box on that tank but I robbed it to use on my reef tank). HTH.
Escape
:happyfish

 

[turningtim]

I agree w/escape, that your pushing the limit on the OF. JMO but I would have to believe that the Mag9.5 (950gph?) is pushing more than 550. I ran a clac on another board for a mag9-5' head and it came up to 640gph. Now with that being said, theres a big difference between a 1" drain and a 1.5" drain. If you have a 600 gph OF w/1" drain than thats all you can flow. It shouldn't matter what teeth you have or don't if its a 1"drain then it will only flow 600gph. Another calc I ran on the mag 9 flow was drain size and it comes out 1.1". Also with a 1" u-tube = 600gph. The drain can bearly keep up with what is being put back in the tank and thats why there is not a difference in water level between the OF and tank.
So what I would do is put a ball valve .75" in your return line and throddle back the pump and see what happens. For the noise do a search for durso standpipe. These can be placed in the back OF box and with a little tweeking will make the noise go away. It you don't have room for a durso then google "gurglebuster", different design same result.
I have a dolphin dp800 with more head than you and a 600gph OF can't handle it. Thats why I have 2

. All of this stuff I mentioned can be purchased at HD/Lowes. PVC really cheap!
Again JMO
HTH
Tim