Technically Challenged in Lynnwood, WA

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Jan

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 23, 2007
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1,800
Location
Lynnwood, WA
Hi Folks,

Well near disaster was averted a couple of times yesterday (except that my husband missed the Superbowl...). We are trying to turn on my skimmer for the first time on my 40 gallon starter tank. It's in a temporary sump/rubbermaid container. The problem is, we can't get the darned overflow to feed the sump!!! We did the thing where you suck the air out of the U-tube using a small narrow hose, and the drain hose will start to drip a little bit, but then it will stop. We tried it over and over again, both getting big mouthfulls of seawater, and finally we admitted we were stumped. We know that the return pump works (Whew!), in fact it will quickly drain the tank if it's turned off and the return nozzle is submerged (Whoops!).

Is anyone in the Seattle north-end/Lynnwood/Edmonds etc., subject to bribes of a good bottle of wine? Anyone needing to rack up some good aquarist karma? Or willing to do a labor exchange? I will feed your pets for you while you're on vacation, or help you move, clean up your yard, whatever. I really need to get the skimmer going.

Thankyou!
 
put the air hose in the U tube from the front. You don't want to try and draw water throught the tube, you want to pull the air out of the tube and the water will follow across. Also make sure the overflow box is primed (full of water). Too bad it isn't Saturday, I was just over there. Good luck
 
put the air hose in the U tube from the front. You don't want to try and draw water throught the tube, you want to pull the air out of the tube and the water will follow across. Also make sure the overflow box is primed (full of water).
Click to expand...

Hi Brian, that's what we did...we drew out the air until the water filled the U-tube, and it did start to flow out the bottom of the drain pipe. The problem was that every time we did this, the water would stop flowing and the U-tube would re-fill with air. We did it again and again, same result. :confused:
 
theres a box on both sides of the tank, one in the tank ,one out back. you need to have both box's full of water and both ends of the u tube need to be under water at all times.

if your do this and the tube is still draining(filling with air) then there is a hole or crack in the u tube
 
Thanks everybody. I haven't read the other thread yet but at this point I think it's possible that the water level was too low in the main tank. We had a couple of close calls with water suddenly getting sucked out of there via the return setup, and it may have ended up too low.
 
I can come over and give you a hand Jan. I have had a couple U-tube overflows before. Plus we are in the same town. :)

We are right above Alderwood Mall, where are you?
 
Also a thanks to everyone else who replied. The post by Krish was especially helpful in finding a couple things we did wrong: 1. no hole in the return nozzle, causing the alarming sucking sound coming out of my main tank, :eek: 2. we didn't withdraw the airline tubing from the U-tube after getting the air out... may have caused the air to come back into the U and stop the syphon...not sure. I think I will pick up more things each time I read that thread.

I feel much relief that Colleen is going to lend some help and moral support!
 
Also a thanks to everyone else who replied. The post by Krish was especially helpful in finding a couple things we did wrong: 1. no hole in the return nozzle, causing the alarming sucking sound coming out of my main tank, 2. we didn't withdraw the airline tubing from the U-tube after getting the air out... may have caused the air to come back into the U and stop the syphon...not sure. I think I will pick up more things each time I read that thread.

I feel much relief that Colleen is going to lend some help and moral support!
Click to expand...

Glad the thread was helpful to you. I'm sure if you still don't get it working properly, Colleen will get you sorted out:)
 
Update:

Well last night I finally got my skimmer-in-sump going. However I have one hurdle left:

I had to use a ball valve to reduce the flow from my GenX adjustable pump because the water level in my main tank kept rising faster than the overflow would take it out. This resulted in 2 problems: 1) there's not a whole lot of flow-through at this point in spite of my new overflow box being rated at 400-500 gph. 2) the noise and vibration caused by the ball valve on the Genx return pump is REALLY BAD. I can not turn it on again or my lone clownfish will bite the big one. The pump is fine at full bore but then my tank floods.

Should I just buy a smaller return pump, like a Mag drive 2? My sump is directly behind my display tank so noise and vibrations tend to carry over to the the animals in the main tank.

If I do go with a smaller return pump, what kind of flow-through can I achieve with that? I'm starting to understand that the skimmer/skimmer pump are not part of the equation for the creation of flow-through in the main tank. It's the water in and water out and I've only been able to achieve equilibrium at a low flow rate.

What am I doing wrong? (By the way, the pipe taking water from my overflow box into my sump is actually submerged in the sump water due to my configuration....)

Thanks again for any help you can give me

Jan
 
You can just tee the output line and allow some of the flow to return to the sump. This will allow the pump to run at full throttle (better for the pump) without flooding the tank. You can put a ball valve on both outs after the tee
to allow you to fine tune how much flow goes to the display vs. back to the sump.
 
I have a few questions? But I see reed posted a good idea also anyway if you still have problems pm me I am home today :)
What is the model # of the gen X so I can look at how fast it is .
And is the valve before the intake or after the output ?
How many u tubes and what diameter and what is the drain size pipe diameter is it the same or bigger?
 
reedman said:
You can just tee the output line and allow some of the flow to return to the sump. This will allow the pump to run at full throttle (better for the pump) without flooding the tank. You can put a ball valve on both outs after the tee
to allow you to fine tune how much flow goes to the display vs. back to the sump.
Click to expand...


Good idea, Reedman. Thankyou....
 
plack said:
I have a few questions? But I see reed posted a good idea also anyway if you still have problems pm me I am home today :)
What is the model # of the gen X so I can look at how fast it is .
And is the valve before the intake or after the output ?
How many u tubes and what diameter and what is the drain size pipe diameter is it the same or bigger?
Click to expand...

Hi Plack,

Thanks for your response. I am at work today so I will need to answer your GenX questions after I get home. The ball valve is installed after the output on that pump. I have just one U-tube on the overflow, I'm guessing it is 1" and also the drain pipe 1" but I will need to confirm later.
 
This link might help when your at home :)

http://reefcentral.com/calc/drain.php

A 1 inch drain allows for a maximum of about 575 gallon per hour.
A 1 1/4 inch drain allows for a maximum of about 900 gallon per hour.
A 1 1/2 inch drain allows for a maximum of about 1300 gallon per hour.
 
That's a cool tool. :cool:

Do you think the fact that the end of my drain pipe is submerged in the sump is effecting the rate that water wants to come out of it? Like is the gravity factor mitigated by the bouyancy of the surrounding water? Not sure if I'm explaining this well but do you understand what I'm asking?
 
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