Need help with Sump

[bguile]

Hey everyone,

I have finally gotten to getting my 90g setup. Last night I was doing a freshwater test to check the flow from the display tank to the sump. I am using the Durso standpipe for the return built to spec. The problem I'm having is two fold but one may be causing the other. When I turn on the pumps I get the water flowing to the display and the water level begins to raise. However, it begins to raise above the street ell level of the standpipe and eventually so that all the water in the tank is even. It looks like the tank would overflow if it had more water (enter problem two). The return area in my sump gets empty long before the water can be returned to it. I figure that I'm not getting the same amount of flow back from the display to keep up with the return pump. Here are my specs:

90g AGA
Mag 9.5 (950gph) - 3/4 return
1 1/4" durso standpipe - 1" flex tube to sump - 1/16" hole in cap

What could the problem be? I re-read the info on the durso and several posts and have searched this site. As one possible solution, I covered the hole in the cap to see if I would get the flushing effect but got nothing. Any suggestions? I can provide pictures if needed.

Thanks.

[Meric]

A picture of your durso pipe could be helpfull.


One thing that you may check is that in order for the siphon to start the water level must rise above the Street Ell by about 1.5", after the siphon starts the water will quickly drop back down to a lower level (Even with the middle of the ell). So if your street Ell is high than the overflow in your 90 Gallon tank you will not get a good siphon started.

The durso should be able to siphon at 800GPH if everything is set correctly. More than enough for the Mag 9.5. However it sound like you are getting low flow from your siphon. This may be from the Street Ell being higher than the overflow, too large of a hole in the top cap causing too much air being mixed with the water, a kink in the intake hose, or a foreign object stuck in the stuck in the standpipe (I once had a large Turbo snail get sucked up into my standpipe. He would fit in the 1.25" Piping but not in the 1" piping. So he was stuck in the reducer between the two pipe sizes, reducing my flow by quite a bit. Took me a while to figure that one out.)
Hope this helps

[bguile]

thanks for responding Meric. Here is a picture of the standpipe.

The middle of the ell is approx 2.5 inches from the lip of the overflow. I bought some new caps to try them out. Let me know if you have any more suggestions. I'll be working awaiting someone's response.

[bguile]

Wow...I thought I updated this thread last night. Guess I didn't click the post button..
Anyways, thanks for your help Meric. I later found that the hole I drilled originally was not 1/16" but 7/64", which is wierd b/c I later ended up drilling the same size hole slightly bigger. The standpipe now begins to flow as the water reaches the top of the ell and slowly moves back to 3/4 of it's height and stays there. The only problem now is that this is 2 1/2" inches below the lip of the overflow so now I have "waterfall" noise coming from the tank. I will raise this later when I get home. So all is well now.

Thanks again.

[Reefland]

Yup, all you need to do is increase the height of the standpipe to reduce the waterfall noises. Glad you got it working!