Plumbing mess

[Kaos]

Hello all,

I'm entirely new to sumps, and decided to install one for the reef tank I'm building in my home tiki bar. I think I have made a serious error plumbing it!

I got the X-Aqua, drilled the holes for it and put it on lined up with the top of the tank. I now believe that may have been an immensely poor decision.

All plumbed, the water level is higher on the unit than I expected, very close to the edge of the tank. The drain line makes a spectacular noise, like a constant flushing. I suspect the water level should actually be higher to better submerge the unit, but that's not really possible. 

The pictures are with the system off - that's the water level without the plumbing on. 

So I have several questions I'm hoping someone can answer:

What may be the best way to make this tank work? Or, do I need to buy a new tank and start over?

Is this likely the cause of my plumbing noise, or is there another issue possibly causing that? I don't have a check valve, the plumbing is fairly simple.

Please help!

[albertareef]

So I will admit that I am not familiar with this unit so hopefully someone else can chime in who knows more about how it is designed.  That said, have you tried trimming back your return flow - it looks like you might have a valve on there.  If the level in the tank is too high when it's running, it suggests you might be overwhelming the capacity of the drain line and possibly getting some surging.  I would try that first before resorting to more desperate measures.

[xmas_one]

+1 to the suggestion above. Slow down the return or pick up a smaller return pump.

[Higher Thinking]

Looks like there are several videos online of people using them. With just a single drain pipe, you'll want to reduce the flow otherwise it'll never be quiet.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[Kaos]

21 hours ago, albertareef said:

So I will admit that I am not familiar with this unit so hopefully someone else can chime in who knows more about how it is designed.  That said, have you tried trimming back your return flow - it looks like you might have a valve on there.  If the level in the tank is too high when it's running, it suggests you might be overwhelming the capacity of the drain line and possibly getting some surging.  I would try that first before resorting to more desperate measures.

That was a much easier fix than I thought! I turned my pump to it's lowest setting and then restricted it further with my ball valve - then I was able to get everything in check. I'm a little worried about pressurizing the system, so another pump might be in order. I may just plumb in another valved pipe to bleed off excess return pump pressure to the refugium - it needs more flow anyway - that ought to reduce my return flow enough to keep the display tank stable. Thank you very much!

[albertareef]

3 hours ago, Kaos said:

That was a much easier fix than I thought! I turned my pump to it's lowest setting and then restricted it further with my ball valve - then I was able to get everything in check. I'm a little worried about pressurizing the system, so another pump might be in order. I may just plumb in another valved pipe to bleed off excess return pump pressure to the refugium - it needs more flow anyway - that ought to reduce my return flow enough to keep the display tank stable. Thank you very much!

Glad you were able to get that sorted!  Yeah, probably not good to have to restrict the flow on the pump too aggressively for too long but diverting some to the refugium seems line a good way to help with that as long as you don't create too much turbulence - that can be detrimental to the integrity of the macro algae.  In the long run, might be good to downsize your return pump as you suggest.  Good luck!