Hello all-
I have a 100g tank with 1 corner overflow and a large sump with a baffle system. I plumbed the tank with PVC tubing and used 3/4" from the main pump back to the tank and 1" to collect water in the overflow. The piece of tubing delivering water from the bottom of the tank under the overflow to the sump below is 3/4". I seem to be having a hard time adjusting the flow so that it is well balanced between the overflow and the sump chamber where the main pump is.
One of two things happens:
1) The vertical pipe in the overflow (which has no holes drilled it but only collects water from the opening at the top, about 2" below the level of the water spill) sucks up a lot of air and is very noisy. The air bubbles below into the sump. The water flow is fine like this in that it stays constant but the overflow is very loud.
2) I tried a "Durso standpipe" approach (
www.dursostandpipes.com to see a picture). I tried this with two different sizes for the submerged intake:
a) 1":This results in water flowing very fast (but also very quietly, no air) down to the level of the submerged intake and then it starts slurping loudly.
b) 3/4" matched to the size of the rest of the tubing (it is actually a bit smaller due to the 90 deg turn) works great but does not drain fast enough and the main pump goes dry.
What shall I do: match the size of the pipe in the overflow (3/4")? with or without durso system? get a less powerful pump? Please help! Thx!!!