plumbing issue

[Workaholic]

Ok, So i've had my new display up and running for a few weeks now. For some reason it appears that the return pump cant keep up with the drain anymore.

The drain is a 1" w/ durso stand pipe and a ball valve
The return is a oddyssea wp500 500gph return pump flowing through 3/4"

The issue i'm having for the past couple days is that the water in the overflow will drain down just enough that the durso starts to "slurp" but the water still flows through it. I've closed up the ball valve part way (about %60) and this has helped the situation but not solved it. For the past few weeks I've had the ball vavle on the drain wide open and never had any issues. I don't see any way that something could be clogging either line due to lack of access for anything that large to get there.

Any Ideas?

Thanks,
Tom

 

[gas4544]

Perhaps the impeller magnet on your return pump has become calcified and as a result it is not spinning as fast, dropping the flow through the pump.

g

 

[trido]

How old is the pump?

I recently had to retire a mag 18 due to old age. Even clean, it only pumped about 500GPH. My new 1100GPH pump blows it away. I was shocked.

 

[Workaholic]

Hmm, well I ordered a new one as I was going to use it on my frag system for the new sump and such that is getting installed on it. I guess i'll install it on the display and see how it fares.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[braddo]

FWIW neither my mag7 or Eheim 1260 are able to keep up with the 1" drain on my tank.

 

[Workaholic]

FWIW neither my mag7 or Eheim 1260 are able to keep up with the 1" drain on my tank.

The thing is this pump kept up with it just fine for the past 2 weeks though....

Tom

 

[OCDreefer]

I believe the problem does not lie in the pump but in the durso stand pipe. The air hole is ether to small or to big.... both with result in slurping. Double check your stand pipe. Is the stand pipe home made? My Mag (3?) keeps up fine with my 1" stand pipe.

 

[braddo]

OCD beat me to my next suggestion, check the air vent on the Durso. Even a very slight change in air restriction can have a pretty noticeable affect on the efficiency of the drain.

 

[Skimmy]

also, is it possible for snails to go down the return??? or any other type of debis that might clog the line from the pump up?

theoretically a drain shouldnt be flowing any more water than is being pumped back into the main display.

it does sound like your durso is out of adjustment, especially if it's surging.
what helps alot is an air valve in the hole at the top of the durso to make fine adjustments.

 

[lizardarm]

Pretty much redundant at this point, but...
+1 more on checking the air hole.

 

[Workaholic]

Hmm, we'll i'll check it out further. Currently there is nothing in the tank as its cycling so there aren't any snails or anything that could have gotten into the durso. As for the air hole I dont think it got bigger as its been working fine for a couple weeks like this. If anything somehow something got lodged into the piping. I'll see if I can find anything and report back.

Thanks,
Tom

 

[lizardarm]

I've had salt creep build up on/in the holes that. Coraline also.

 

[vinny2261]

Why are you putting a ball valve on the drain side of your tank?? You can only drain as much as pumped in. You should have a free flowing drain or you could end up with a flooded floor. The slurping sound is the air that is needed for the "drain" to occur. If the air is not allowed to pass with the water then the water will not drain, it will back up and overflow. Make sure you are allowing enough air to mix with the water for a proper drainage. I agrre wuith the comment above about checking for salt creep in the air opening of the stand pipe. Sometimes when you first start a tank up you will have a little bit of surging as the water flow in and out catches up yo its self. I am sorry I did not catch the setup info, bu it sounds like you need a bigger return pump. I do not believe you are flowing enough water through you system.

 

[Workaholic]

Why are you putting a ball valve on the drain side of your tank?? You can only drain as much as pumped in. You should have a free flowing drain or you could end up with a flooded floor. The slurping sound is the air that is needed for the "drain" to occur. If the air is not allowed to pass with the water then the water will not drain, it will back up and overflow. Make sure you are allowing enough air to mix with the water for a proper drainage. I agrre wuith the comment above about checking for salt creep in the air opening of the stand pipe. Sometimes when you first start a tank up you will have a little bit of surging as the water flow in and out catches up yo its self. I am sorry I did not catch the setup info, bu it sounds like you need a bigger return pump. I do not believe you are flowing enough water through you system.

There is plenty of water flow as the tank also has a closed loop. I personally like to have allot of dwell time running through my sump. The slurping sound it was making was because the overflow was running low of water and the siphon that had been created was acting as a vacuum "slurping" the water until it would surge again.

BUT, with all that said for some reason as of this morning its working fine. so I honestly have no idea why it decided to have an attitude for a couple days....

Tom

 

[roblou]

I would agree that you shouldn't have a need for a ball valve on the drain to your sump. The flow from the drain to the sump should never need to be restricted. On the other hand, a ball valve on the return line from the sump back to the display may be necessary if the return pump produces more flow than the drain can handle. Then, you would need to restrict the amount of flow going back into the display. I have a ball valve on the return in my setup...

Good luck, hopefully the problem doesn't resurface

Rob

 

[vinny2261]

Just a quick add to your reply. Some pumps need or require some back pressure for the pump to work effeciently. This is also a reason for a valve on the return line.

 

[iroll253]

I have a valve on my drop so theres not so much flow to create bubbles. My returns have valves also but are fully open.

 

[diverphil71]

Nothing wrong with having the valve.. Btw.... Tom, it's Phil from work! Has that problem came back yet?

 

[Workaholic]

Nothing wrong with having the valve.. Btw.... Tom, it's Phil from work! Has that problem came back yet?

lol, hey phil. Yeah It came back but I did some more trial and error and found that it was salt creep and the vent hole in the top of the durso.

Tom

 

[RAJOD]

It has to be your return pump.

Maybe a dirty impellar or just old.

Yea I agree Mag pumps are weak. I have a new 9.5 Magdrive, its a piece of junk compared to my little giant pumps which cost almost the same. Its only saving grace is it can be run in the sump.