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my sump overflowed?


Planeden

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So when you turned the pump off you filled, raising the already siphoned and broke top tank. You filled it enough to allow it to either raise and go over the overflow or back siphon through the return. You monitored the lower tank and then restarted, only accounting for what was seen in the lower tank rise and not the amount it took to raise the dt before filling the sump.

When you turned off the pump all of it siphoned down and overflowed. You put more water in than you realized?

Just my guess at what happened.

+1, I know with my DT it some times takes a while to "level out" in the sump. And if your return pump is not pumping water back to the DT fast enough (drains faster) maybe even slightly... You have to account for both any 45 and 90 degree angles as well as head pressure to figure out your true GPH on the return.

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you mentioned previously you had excessive gurgling? During this time, or any itme really, have you noticed bubbles, or your durso surging?

Wow, you have a good memory. I fixed that noise by adjusting the hose that was in the top of the durso. Best way I can describe what it sounded like is Harry potter speaking snake tongue, or whatever it was called.

Where would the bubbles have been? I don't remember air bubbles in the overflow, if that is what you mean. There were no bubbles coming out of the top holes. Clearly there were bubbles where it rushed into the sump. Hang, I just noticed there are some small bubbles around the pipes in the overflow. Little ones clumped together like a foam. I'll try to snap a picture and follow this post with it.

Surging would be like glugging a milk jug or something? Flow slowing and quickening? I never noticed anything like that, it always seemed steady to me.

The dripping is slowing down now. And the drops are getting smaller. That and the foamy-type bubble may mean it is near the leak. I may pour a cup of water in the overflow and see if it starts dripping again.

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So when you turned the pump off you filled, raising the already siphoned and broke top tank. You filled it enough to allow it to either raise and go over the overflow or back siphon through the return. You monitored the lower tank and then restarted, only accounting for what was seen in the lower tank rise and not the amount it took to raise the dt before filling the sump.

When you turned off the pump all of it siphoned down and overflowed. You put more water in than you realized?

Just my guess at what happened.

+1, I know with my DT it some times takes a while to "level out" in the sump. And if your return pump is not pumping water back to the DT fast enough (drains faster) maybe even slightly... You have to account for both any 45 and 90 degree angles as well as head pressure to figure out your true GPH on the return.

A while as in 20 hours?

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sadly i was unsuccessful in my attempt to get pictures. probably because the camera was not properly reading my mind and focusing on the pipes instead of the water line. also, most of the bubbles had disappeared by the time i got there. but, they were small and attached together in a single layer. not a lot of them, either. the chain may have been a couple of inches long and very narrow.

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there were a couple of threads on RC about tanks that surge unpredictably, where the gurgling intensifies, or the water rushes too quickly. Most of them have mentioned something very similar, that they had a small leak. The one person who caught his tank doing it in the act, said it was running fine one second, then it gurgled intensely and made a sound similar to a toilet flushing, and water came surging into the sump and overflowed it. Both resolved this issue by T'ing off the adjustment valve to another line that ran below the water level.

Here's a few threads that talk about the T'ing of the valve to compensate for surging.

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-16328.html

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1790662

I would definitely check out that foamy area.

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there were a couple of threads on RC about tanks that surge unpredictably, where the gurgling intensifies, or the water rushes too quickly. Most of them have mentioned something very similar, that they had a small leak. The one person who caught his tank doing it in the act, said it was running fine one second, then it gurgled intensely and made a sound similar to a toilet flushing, and water came surging into the sump and overflowed it. Both resolved this issue by T'ing off the adjustment valve to another line that ran below the water level.

Here's a few threads that talk about the T'ing of the valve to compensate for surging.

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-16328.html

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1790662

I would definitely check out that foamy area.

thanks, i will check those out. and thanks for your help. and, i'm not saying you are wrong...but you got me thinking. there is no way so much water that flowed into the sump than would be from where the tiny "leak" with the foam seems to be. so, i dried out the inside of the overflow and left a dry sheet of toilet paper there. and it got saturated in moments. the drip slowed temporarily, then sped back up after saturation.

i also dumped a cup of water into the overflow and it poured straight through and then started dripping out. the rate of dripping slowed considerably faster. if that makes sense. instead of a steady drip for a couple of hours, the drip rate slowed in minutes.

but, as you can see, with just one cup of water forcing water properly through the overflow, there is no way that sort of leak could have flooded my sump. i mean, i didn't overfill it that dang much. hehehe.

anyway, i'll keep playing with it and make sure i don't have both problems and check out those links. but thanks for all your help. you got me looking in the right place to sort it out.

thanks everyone, i will let you all know how it goes.

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sorry, i should have been more clear, the leak was letting in air, which would then create a vacuum as water rushed past it, which caused the surging. The T fixture keeps air from getting into the line and creating a vacuum. Im glad you're making some headway. Sometimes tanks really try your patience, and force you to become a mechanical/electrical engineer overnight. :)

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Oh, I see what you mean now. I'm not sure there is a leak in my durso anymore. I think I was just dumb. The water level is probably right at the inlet of the durso. But I don't know. If it is it is really close to the inlet so it won't cause a problem that way. And the durso has the tee and I used the tube in one of the holes to silence it. I left the tube long in case there is ome difference between fresh and salt water. That way I can shove it back in if I need to.

I am able to become a mechanical engineer (I kind of am one, actually), but I am hosed if I need to be an electrical engineer.

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