taking air pocket out of U-Tube?

[nietzsche]

is there anyway to remove the air pocket in a u-tube? i know its supposed to have all water, but the only way it has all water is if i open up the valves on the pump. this usually causes the water to rise too far up in the aquarium and the overflowbox cant keep up
i have an aqualifter pump, could i use that to take out the air pocket?

 

[tarball]

I lift the U-tube up & then drop it, lift drop, lift drop. Usually takes up to a dozen drops but the action causes the bubble to move a bit & get picked up by the flow.
Just remember not to lift too far & lose siphon of the u-tube
That's how i do it..

Hows things down in the Valley?

 

[wattsupdoc]

You can use the aqua lifter if you want to.

But usually tweaking the BV just right will do the job. Your OF should be able to handle enough flow to keep the u tube clear. Possibly lowering the box inside the tank down a notch will let it keep the level down and let the OF handle the flow.

 

[nietzsche]

thanks for the advice guys. its pretty scary at the level it is now. i put a T after the outlet and split off two houses, 1 going back straight to the sump and the other going straight the return line and both have valves. i opened the valve all the way on the return line but slowed it down a little for the one going to the sump
the waters is pretty much covering my middle brace and pushes water towards teh front, but not enough to spill over. kinda worried still

 

[nietzsche]

i forgot to ask, are there any plastic clamps i can buy from home depot or lowe's? my plumbing has all these metal clamps and i know theyre not going to touch water but i was wondering what if water spills on them and causes it to rust and leaks down the tube and into the sump

 

[joncat24]

the aqua lifter will do the trick just fine.
The plastic hose clamps can be found at the 2 doctors site and marine depot, or you can use tie wraps(zip ties) to secure the hoses. I would not use metal anywhere around my tank at all.

 

[nietzsche]

i went ahead replaced the valve on the return going to the sump from the pump with twist ties since it was the one closet to open water. im going to replace the rest of them later this week. ill go ahead and look into the other places for the clamps, thank you
will the aqua lifter momentarily take away the air pocket or will they just end up building up again?

 

[nietzsche]

lol nm the air pocket went away when i shut the pump off in order to remove the clamps to add twist ties