Tank overflowed (Very Long) HELP!!!

[tara]

It's me again, with another problem.
My aquarium room is finally complete, Hard wood floor, painted, wallpaper all finished, put in my new stereo and recliner on Sat.
Tank is set up and cycling, Had home made overflow and it sounded like a toilet flushing so I ordered a cpr50 overflow box, it arrived yesterday and I installed it last night at around 6PM. (This is where it starts to get interesting) at 6:30 it is up and running and I am so impressed by how quiet it is!!! I am still a little scared about this overflow thing so I stay in my "new" room and watch, jumping out of my chair and checking things out with every little noise I hear. around 10PM I feel that it is going to work just fine, BUT I still choose to sleep in the aquarium room just in case, around 11PM I crash with alarm clock next to me and have it set to wake me up on the half hour, 12:30 AM and all is well, 1:30 all is well, 2:30 all is well,3:30 all
is well, at the 3:30 alarm I figured I was just being stupid and everything would be fine........WRONG!!!!!!! at 4:45 I work up to a nasty smell (no it was not me) it smelled like burning wires YIKES!!!!!! I jumped up and SLIPPED ON THE WATER that had flooded my NEW AQUARIUM ROOM!!! and felt a really sharp pain in my thumb, (more on that later) I opened the door to my stand and it was filled with smoke!! I unpluged the power strips from the wall and turned on the lights, the overflow box had quit working and water flowed down the back of the aquarium and into the stand and on to the power strips (that I had mounted on the side of the stand to prevent this) the breakers on the power strips never kicked off!?! they look like black bananas now!! Sat down and had cigarette, tried to figure out what to do first and this is what I did.
got mop and bucket and started to dry floor (holding back tears......it is a new hardwood floor after all) decided that water was under the stand and tank would need to be moved, It's 5:30 in the morning and I don't think any of my friends would help me move this tank and stand, at 5:30AM the last thing friends want to do is lift 800LBS of water and stand, especially when you tell them about water, electricity and burning wires (would you want to?) Thank God for Walmart 24/7 I went across town and got Two 55Gal trash cans and Two new power strips (I wonder what the check-out people were thinking) got back home and drained my tank put rock, water, powerheads and heaters in cans. Moved aquarium still very very heavy (Lots-o-sand) with the use of towles, mop hair drier and perspiration everything is dry and put back into place, 8:10 AM call into work and tell them I am not coming in today AND DON'T ASK WHY!! Put water, rock, powerheads back into tank, fill sump (let me tell you it takes alot of courage to fill a sump after this) and checked everything one by one to make sure they work (pump, skimmer,heaters ect.) nothing had burned up!
Started the overflow and pump and tried to figure out what went wrong and this is what I came up with.
I think my overflow is getting an air lock in it and slowing it down, at best it is draining about 75 GPH. I have an air line from the over flow box hooked to a power head to solve this problem (obviously this did not work) Correct me if I am wrong in my thinking, the air line I am using is clear so I can see whats going on and it does not look like there is enough suction from the powerhead to the over flow box, the air line is half full of water and the power head is not blowing any air out at all, I am led to think that when the power head is turned on it should evacuate all of the air out of the U tube on the overflow box and then start to suck water out, Does this sound right?
Is there any way to fix this problem? There is no LFS in this part of the country (120 miles away) everything I do is mail order, so a DYI project is needed.
PLEASE HELP!!!
P.S. I sprained my thumb in the fall and it is swollen up to the size of my wrist (starting to doubt my dedication to this hobby) on the lighter side my "clean up crew" I ordered from SWF.com will be here today (yea!) if I can keep from burning my home down.

 

[fixitdude2001]

Hi, boy you have had a day.. let me get this right you have a power head delivering the water to your overflow box?? On both of my set ups one a 72 with overflow box the water is fed with only a syphone no power head, and control the return water by a powerhead with a valve to adjust amount of water going back to tank, works great no problems. second tank is 200 with overflow holes drilled in bottom of overflow box water falls through slits in top of overflow down to sump and returned with powerhead tp tank, have had a few power faliures this year and no problems water can only flow over the box that the slits allow and, this amount should not overflow your sump.. I dont understand the powerhead hooked to the overflow. and how much water is in your sump at all times?? let me know...fixit

 

[tara]

Mr. Fix
On a cpr50 there is a "

[hr]
" on the top of the U tube and you run a line from there to a powerhead to keep air from getting trapped in the top of the overflow box,
My sump is 20 gal. and it is about half full, so I had about 10 gal +or- pumped on my floor, I have raise the height of my return pump so it can't over flow the tank but now if somthing were to happen with water return the pump would run dry.
Sorry for the confusion, Thanks "T"

 

[fixitdude2001]

Hi tara, you should have a valve on the intake side of your return pump, this way your pump is not straining. then you should be able to adjust the flow to match the overflow. if you put the valve on the return side of the pump your pump will have back pressure and shorten your pumps life considerable. hope this helps, sounds to me your return is to fast..fixit

 

[tara]

Mr. Fix
My overflow box is rated at 300GPH. At the amount of head and the Three 90 degree turns my return line has it is aprox. 200 GPH returning to the tank.
In theory it should work fine?

 

[pat]

ok i have the same type overflow, just 800 gph. i would try and suck all of the air from the overflow by mouth, leaving no question that there is no bubbles. then pinch the airline tube to not let any air in, the least ammount of air the better. then keepint it pinched till it was on the already running powerhead. that should start a suphon kind of deal and make sure you have no air. sounds like you tried to start the overflow with the powerhead right??? anyways, keep at it, hope everything turns out.

 

[tara]

Pat
The overflow works great for about 10 min. then it starts slowing way down, at the same time my return pump is still pumping back the same amount of water so it over flows.

 

[pat]

when the tank overflows onto the floor, does it happen out of the main tank, or the back of the overflow (outside the tank)? if it is the main tank, can you look inside the overflow from the side and see why it is slowing down (presence of bubbles, ect) or if it is the back, maybe you need a bigger diameter hose going into the sump. This is why i set everything up outside and run the system with just hose water and when all the bugs are worked out, then move it inside, sorry for not suggesting that earlier. my overflow water level (in the back) will fluctuate a little but never close to overflowing. you might want to try and remove some of the pre-filter from the firring and see if that helps if it is overflowing from the back, that would make it a little louder, but you will have at least siolated it, if that is the case. if it is slowing down through the "U" section, maybe there is some air getting into it from a loose connection in the hose? i dont think that it would get many bubbles from under the lip going into the "U" portion of it.......if this is the case however, maybe a plastic screen might be able to give a surface to "catch" the bubbles and give them something ro rise up on. well, take a real close look and tell me what is happening. first thing to do is figure out why it is slowing down, then make adjustments.... lemme know, ill try and help the best i can
oh yeah, while the tank is somewhat broken down, might wanna look into relocating the powerstrips or surge protectors to where the wont get wet, like maybe right under the tank, like upside down style, or very high up on the stand. dont forget drip loops either. i do ALL my wiring like a harness where every wire goes up from the sump, is quck-tied together, runs right under the lip along the "roof" (for lack of a better term) of the stand, then drip loops, into the surge protector, which is mounted high unger the stand, good luck!!!!!
[ September 20, 2001: Message edited by: Pat ]

 

[fixitdude2001]

Hi tara, it almost sounds like you may have some abstruction in your hose and maybe it runs for a short time then the abs piles up?? when my sump arrived for smaller tank it was packed in them styrophome peanuts, whats the chance some may be in the line???. they would float around for ahwile then the water pressure might pack them together, you might check...cya...fixit

 

[pat]

HEY FIXIT, welcome back, question: in your big tank, you guys have pre-drilled holes in the fery bottom? if so could you explain how that system works, if not, nevermind

 

[dburr]

I had the same problem with air getting in my DIY overflow. I put in a ball valve on the overflow to adjust to the pump, but it would always suck air. I also put a

[hr]
on the u tube w/ a powerhead to suck any air. The powerhead was not powerfull enough to pull air and it was only 3" away. I tried an air line tube to the return pump(it has a veturi valve)-didn't work. At the time I was also thinking about going skimmerless. Do you know that a prizm has a h3ll of a sucktion!!!! I hooked from the

[hr]
of the u tube to the air in of the prizm, stuck it in my sump, been good 2 months and 2 vacations. That new prizm blade makes it quiet to. just wanted to share- good luck!

 

[fixitdude2001]

Hi pat, yes the overflow box is at one end of tank permantly sealed in, about 10 in long by 6in wide. In there is 4 pre drilled holes 2 in 2 out , I think they are 1 and 1/2 in size. small slits in top of box all around for water to flow in. two tubes that go to sump have long tubes that I rap with special enforced padding, works great grabbing medium to big particals. We orderd this tank and they were haveing a shipping problem but we orderd a standerd tank. Well we got sick of waiting and whent back to store to cancell and, I talked them in to selling us there display tank, wich was predrilled. I was very leary of this tho having no experience with this setup. Also this feature cost 500 bucks extra to do. did alot of dealing with him and gave me a great deal, including the giant sump, we bought the hole deal for half price. Any new large tanks that we would buy would have this feature....NO WORRY OF LOOSING SUCTION gravity feed...cya

 

[pat]

does it have to be a closed system from the holes at the bottom??? from what you described your sounds just like mine, maybe.... i got a 200 plexi' from a high end grocery store that was their display tank (they even have valet parking, HA) but i got the tank for free. only problem was nothing came with it, but it does have an overflow on one end, it was in the wall where you can see through, but its got the one overflow that goes the whole width of the tank, and a direct wet/dry with a drain and a return for that section. im still REAL unclear how to work the 2 holes in the bottom (one drain and one return correct?) and every store that ive talked to said that system is outdated, but no one has been clear, so im toying with the idea of plugging those and forgetting all about them. i also wanted to put the tank only like 6-8 inches off the ground and make a bar. any ideas? or should i just do it like normal and put whatever, i dont even know, underneath? if there is a system for that application could you direct me where to find something like that? thanks

 

[fixitdude2001]

Hi pat, First the tank for a bottom of a bar,IT would be to coooool,,,,but its plexy I can see scratching problems in the future but as a glass tank that would look awsume..For your 2 holes I myself would think one for drain to sump and then one return. It shouldnt be that hard to pipe it with all the differant kinds of pvc out there. I would use it since you have it. good luck.....fixit and yes I like haveing all my stuff underneath tank. under my 200 I would say its about a 55 60 gallon sump wich takes up some room but, alot eisier to work with than a small one and, everything fits inside. I still have room on both sides of sump for supplies. I did have a 10 gallon tank on the one side for feeders but the nutritional value for the fish was not appropriate so now and then I will pick up a couple of guppies or goldfish or there favorites [crawdads] and give them once or twice a month. Its too easy to scoop out and dump in, I like to get more personal with my critters and give them a variety, know we feed about 6-7 differant foods...cya .fixit

[ September 21, 2001: Message edited by: fixitdude2001 ]