overflow! 15 gallon through the floor!

[mvogel2]

Ok, so i think i have a good sump system going, then bam a 15 gallon overflow... so i revamped the system... Now i have a syphon to a 15 gallon sump under the aquarium... then another overflow box to take it to a wet/dry. But now the wet/dry pumps the water out faster than the 15 gallon sump can replace it...
I am beyond frustrated with this damned thing... i really need to make some progress to it or the baseball bat comin out. Ok not really.
Can you run a sump and a wet/dry with two individual overflow boxes and two individual pump? I originally didn't think so, because one pump or overflow box may work harder than the other creating another overflow... any advice or am i going to through my wet/dry in the trash.
thanks all

 

[david s]

how big is your sump. check your return line if it is moveable move it up so it does not siphon so much water back to the sump. If the returns are hard piped then look at were the water level is and drill a small hole in the return just under the water line to break the siphon. if you take care in this you should not have a large rise in water when power is off

 

[mvogel2]

I just drilled that hole, thanks for the info.
My sump is 15 gallons. I wanted to run that sump with a wet/dry i used on my old 75 gallon setup. Do you think i can run two overflows at the same time?
thanks
matt

 

[broomer5]

Anytime you run two overflows to TWO different vessels underneath the tank - two different vessels that are NOT connected sharing the same waterlevel - you will have problems.
You can run them together - but you must connect them together.
Drilling a hole in the bottom of each and connecting the two together with a length of PVC pipe will allow water to move from one to the other horizontally. Their water levels will equalize then. Even with two different pumps in them - their water levels will try to stay the same naturally.
One pump in the wet/dry, returning water to the display tank, with it's overflow draining water back down to the wet/dry.
Another pump in the sump returning water to the display tank with it's overflow draining back down to the sump.
But the sump and the wet/dry MUST be connected somehow - allowing water to move from one to the other laterally.
Then it will work.
Otherwise .. you'll always risk one level being different from the other over a period of time ........... and having a wet floor.
Another way to resolve this would be to place the wet/dry IN the sump - and cut a hole in the wet/dry acrylic to allow water to run out into the sump.
Of course you end up with a hole in the wet/dry, that would make it hard to sell in the future if you wanted to ......... but it will work.
I cut off the sump portion of the wet/dry and just used the drip plate tower. It sits in my sump and is fed by it's own overflow.
The sump then receives tankwater from another overflow drain.
If you don't have the room to do this ......... you'd need to connect the sump and wet/dry with say 1-1/2 inch PVC w/bulkheads.
Glue it up and let'er rip.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by mvogel2
I just drilled that hole, thanks for the info.
My sump is 15 gallons. I wanted to run that sump with a wet/dry i used on my old 75 gallon setup. Do you think i can run two overflows at the same time?
thanks
matt
I'm confused here. Where is the hole drilled? I thought the idea was to design an overflow that would only allow a limited amount of water to drain out. With the rest still being in the display. And the overflow would be able to handle a very high flow rate.

 

[hurricanedrift]

Excellent advice from Broomer5. Connecting together with pvc as he suggests would indeed seem to be the solution.

 

[squidd]

Originally posted by beaslbob
I'm confused here. Where is the hole drilled? I thought the idea was to design an overflow that would only allow a limited amount of water to drain out. With the rest still being in the display. And the overflow would be able to handle a very high flow rate.
You are correct in your understanding of the opperation of a "properly" setup overflow.
The "hole" in question is in the "return" line (the one from the pump) When the pump is running the line has positive pressure and the water flows "uphill' to the tank.
If the outlet of the return line is below the normal tank level, when the power goes out the water will reverse direction and siphon out (emptying tank) into sump which "may" overflow.
This is a Bad Thing
To prevent this a small hole is drilled at about normal water tank level...When power goes out and flow reverses it will still drain the tank but only to the level of the hole, which when exposed 'sucks air and breakes the reverse siphon.
This is generally thought of as a Good Thing.