240g + 300g in wall build

**glarior** · 12-19-2012, 06:22 AM

I removed the cap from the drain pipe and that fixed my problem. After that I turned on the 2nd pump. The pipe will drain the water but it is pushing it. I think I will add some extra type of extra return for that tank.

Been a long night. Moved ~300g of water from the old place to the new place, moved the LR and some sand. The eel put up one heck of a fight! I had him in a 5g bucket, slowly poured the water into the new tank. The eel did its best to stay in the bucket. I then raised the bucked as high as I can physically reach... the eel was still able to hold its self out of the water into the inverted bucket! Finally, after almost falling to the floor I caught him and got him in the tank.

I tested the paint I used... it is amazing! While pumping the water from outside the house to the tank my hose fell spraying water all over the floor. The drains in the floor worked and the rest beaded into small puddles which the shop vac sucked up. I was amazed that the floor was dry by just using the shop vac.

I am sure I have more mishaps but I am to tired to remember them :-)

**Cliff** · 12-19-2012, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by glarior

Water is flowing in the 240g!

One problem... the over flow is going up and down. I am wondering if that 90 degree turn is causing it. The pipe and overflow is 1.5". I have one pump running right now which is ~900-1000gph at the current height including the 90's. I have added a 1/8" drilled hole to the top of the overflow drain pipe but did not make a difference. Also, makes that gurgling sound when it fluctuates... Suggestions?

Sounds like a Duriso standpipe drain. If it is, one thing that can cause uneven flow and loud noise is a improperly sized air hole. You can fix that one of two ways:

Replace the cap and make a adjustable air hole in the size of the cap and adjust by drilling a 1/2" hole through both. Then by turning the cap, you can adjust the size of the air hole until it runs smooth and makes no noise. I did that on my 120 gallon and it works great

http://www.dursostandpipes.com/popul...e-modification

Or... you could replace the cap and re-do the air holes. I would suggest using the smallest drill bit you have and put only one hole in the air. Add another wait 5 minutes to see the difference. Keep adding holes until it runs smooth and makes no noise. I did that on my 180 and it works well also

**glarior** · 12-19-2012, 07:51 PM

Cliff, thanks for the reply

Do you by chance know how to make a full siphon drain?

**Cliff** · 12-19-2012, 08:56 PM

I've never used on myself, but the below link might help

http://www.evillabs.net/wiki/index.p...Sucking_Siphon

**glarior** · 12-19-2012, 09:56 PM

Originally Posted by Cliff

I've never used on myself, but the below link might help

http://www.evillabs.net/wiki/index.p...Sucking_Siphon

Something like that is just what I was looking for. Going to try it and see what happens.

**Cliff** · 12-19-2012, 10:08 PM

Just make sure you size the drain lines to match the flow rate you want. In that example, I think they only used a 3/4 line which will likely be too small for your set-up

**glarior** · 12-20-2012, 12:36 AM

Originally Posted by Cliff

Just make sure you size the drain lines to match the flow rate you want. In that example, I think they only used a 3/4 line which will likely be too small for your set-up

I was going to use it in combination with the 1.5" pipe... least that's the idea

**hockeyhead019** · 12-22-2012, 06:41 AM

Having used a full siphon my only heads up is be careful what you use for your air priming line. If you look at the schematic Cliff provided you'll know what I'm talking about... if/when that seal starts to lose suction you'll lose your siphon since it'll wanna pull the air instead of the water which is really bad.

Also plan for your sump to fully pump into your DT just incase for whatever reason you lose siphon... it's happened to me when you try and drain to much and it pulses and started to almost hiccup where you take a huge amount of water in and then some air and then so on and then you lose your siphon the same way you would if your valve were to fail... anyways I'd stay away from a siphon personally after dealing with one. Unless it's superbly made (and even then you chance failure) it'll be a pita

My two cents though... anybody feel free to challenge it lol

**glarior** · 12-23-2012, 05:34 PM

I finally solved my overflow box problem. thanks for the input Hocky and Cliff.

I did not use a full siphon but bought another cap. I drilled 1/8" holes until the drain was quieter and draining both pumps. So that problem is solved

The latest update... I about lost my eel. I had him in the tank and an insane outbreak of nh3 happened. I contribute it to disturbing all the sand/media. I have him in a trash cran with clean water. Took a 3"pvc, stuffed filter floss, nh3 pad, nitrate pad and carbon pad then put the pump on the top of the pvc. The eel seems 100x better now. It was a close call.

I made a mistake on my sump. The retaining wall after the K1 should have been way shorter. I am building up to much back pressure and the the chamber is not flowing like I want. It can handle two pumps but the 3rd and 4th start pushing the media out of the chamber. Trying to think of some other ideas to make it work.

I am thinking to fill that chamber with LR, put the K1 under the filterpads with a small pump to aggitate the media. Then convert the fuge to a K1 media area as well. Since I will be using a large scrubber I am not to worried about the fuge.

ideas, options, opinions? anything :-)

BTW, Merry Christmas!!!!!!

**Cliff** · 12-23-2012, 06:39 PM

Would it be possible to post a pic of the sump set-up they way it is now ?

I always find it a lot easier to understand if I can look at a pic, but I'm a little old school that way. Hopfuly, I can offer a few good suggestions as well.