sump problems

My 3 metre tank was drilled with a 40mm hole and therfore has a 40mm feed from the overflow into the sump.

i put in a 4500ltr/ph pump and 25mm return pipe and this was draining the sump too quickly .


then tried a 3000 ltr per hour pump with a 25mm return pipe and still had the same problem,

now i am running a 3500ltr per hour pump ,with 20mm pipe and that seems to be fine .

my question is, is this rate of filtration enough, considering that the tank is 1200 ltrs of water ?

i also run two 1200ltr per hour internal power heads with filters.

please help as i have a free day today and would like to fix this and have the tank fully operational today .

Thanks

 

What size is the sump?

 

sump is a 1m long x 500 high

 

width?

 

sorry , having one of those days

width is 500 as well

 

ok, so a water volume of 200-250litres?

 

yes that is correct ,and tank is about 1100 ltres of water

 

And how many compartments and what media? even post a pick if possible....

 

I might be wrong but
Check your overflow pipes they must be blocked or something the overflow should still be way faster
I've run my tank with two 5000lph returns on one 50mm overflow and not had that problem .

 

Without seeing your sump and setup I would take a guess that your sump compartment with the return pump is too small.

Try this and see what happens: Turn the sump pump off (should cause the water to overflow into the sump until it cant anymore). This is basically doing a trial should the power go out.

Your sump should be very full, water level in the sump should now be at its max almost filling the sump completely. If its not then you dont have enough water in your system. Then add more water to bring the sump level up to its max. Then turn on the sump pump.

If you still have a problem, then the 40mm pipe must be blocked.

Hope this helps

 

A pic or two would help. No matter the size of your return pump (within some limits of course), your return pump (or the compartment) should not dry out. I had a similar problem which was resolved by:
1. Check the volume of water in the tank and sump. (the design of your downpipe and sump should be that there is enough water to prevent either from overfilling)
2. There are no physical obstructions in the inlets/outlets (dead plant matter, etc etc)
3. The water does not meet with extreme resistance in the sump (I had a problem where I placed the filter media so compact that it obstructed the water flow. This is important when using dense materials for filtration such as those filter mats etc.)

If all works well, there should be an "equilibrium" between the water draining from your tank to the sump, and from the sump back into the tank.
"What goes in must come out"
HTH

 

hi guys . thanks for all the help, stripped everything yesterday only to realise that the tank builder , used a conneter that only had a 10mm flow out of the overflow , so even though the pipe into the sump was 40mm , it was only being fed from a 10mm outlet.

went and got all the fittings yesterday , and going to fit them today, but going to be a mission as i have a brace just above the overflow with no access into the overflow itself, but i have a plan.

lesson well learnt , the cheapest quote is not always the best.

 

Glad you found the problem

They did this when they built my 1.8m. I had to remove the brace and have it cut to allow access to the overflow and then I put it back on. Unnecessary if you ask me.

 

i thought about removing the brace , but the tank is full alread so not sure , did you replace your brace in its orignal position or do you now have access to your overflow and put in a brace in another place.

 

I wouldnt remove the brace with the tank full, its a disaster waiting to happen. I
basically had the brace cut shorter by +- 170mm and installed it in its original position. Not sure if you can see it in this pics below. Will try to get a better one tonight.

 

my problem is that its 1200 ltrs of water thats just been cycled and my fish are already in there, so emptying the tank is a problem, i am going to try and install a gaurd in from of the overflow ,so that no extra food and things go into the overflow and block it , if i ever have to empty the tank for whatever reason i will then redo the brace .

 

Ok then what filtration are you using if you not going to use the sump

 

will still be using the sump , the fitting i am going to install has a nut which will fit into the overflow, so going to drop that into the over flow, and manouvre it into place from the drillled hole at the bottom, will then silicone the nut in place over the hole , and screw in the fitting ,if you know what i mean, the gaurd will be a temporary measure , to make sure that i dont ahve to do too much cleaning of the overflow, and nothing can get down there to block the sump ,until i can have the brace redone .

 

Ok cool, goodluck and post some pics of the tank and overflow.