SC Aquarium euro-braced 150. 1st official day of being wet. I’m beside myself with excitement.
25 months in the making
- Thread starter wantsummora acropora
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Pictures or it didn't happen.
Yes my friend, it did. But I realized something, I'm an equipment junkie! I feel like I need to be in a 12 step program.Took you long enough
I'm only a month past my deadline to be fair to myself. I'm still not done on the equipment side of things but they are planned for and not needed at this stage. This is (almost) my dream setup so I wanted to do it right. Last winter I was tripping the breaker with just the lights, TV, sound bar and space heater so I had an electrician run two dedicated circuits. Two because all it cost me was the wire and extra breaker. Both at 20amps. FUTURE PROOFING! I'm still not getting the drainage flow I want without water gushing through the secondary. @Shawn I would appreciate your opinion if you have time to drop by. I need to rent the par meter also. The sump and equipment cabinet will eventually have tinted polycarbonate panels. I like looking at the sump, it gives me peace of mind Apex not withstanding. The equipment panel is 100% extruded aluminum, keeping the industrial look of the entire system I was going for. The wires I wanted somewhat visible but not a hot mess. I'm happy with the results. Here are the pictures but they really don't do it justice. It just doesn't look the same.
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Excellent! Looks very clean, love it!
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I’ll grab the meter from @jcook54 as soon as I can and get with you regarding reading brother!
Could you describe what is happening with your overflow in a little more detail?
It does look like a fairly small overflow box but you should be able to adjust the water level with the gate valve. A good set of pics of the inside of the box with the return off and on will help too.
*Edit* Also list the amount flow you're shooting for through the system.
Thank you my friend. I appreciate all the help and advice that you've given me.
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Looks amazing!
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I have a 16" Reef Synergy Shadow Overflow which starts as 1 1/2" pipe that I reduced to 1". All piping on my system is 1". I have a gate valve on the main drain that is wide open. It terminates in a gen 2 Clarisea. The max flow I can get with minimal spillage into the secondary is 30% which the flow meter says is 513 GPH. That should be good enough but I think I should get better. Pic #1 flow is running. Pic #2 flow is off. Pic #3 overflow has been manually drained.
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The elbow closest to the front of the pic is the main drain. You do not want to have a hole in the top of that one. That hole stops the pipe from going full syphon until it is completely covered with water. The 2nd drain is the only one that should have that hole on top as it allows the trickle.
As a test tape off the hole on the main. Then you'll be able to close the gate after the syphon has started and use it to set the level that you just have a trickle in the 2nd.
Nope, no change. At no time does the main drain suck air without the hole being clogged which means it's at full syphon...I think. The only possibilities I can think of is the reduction from 1 1/2" pipe to 1" pipe, the gate valve but it's wide open, the flow meter but it's installed in the right direction, or the Clarisea which I see no problems. Am I at the design limits of a 1" drain?
No, I don't think so. I've seen Red Sea 750XXL's work just fine with 1" pipes.
A full syphon with the gate valve wide open should drain the overflow box pretty quickly. It'll then suck air and make a pronounced gurgling noise. It may even fill up a little and go full syphon repeatedly. Makes me think there's either air getting in somewhere or something is causing back pressure. Actually the more I think about it I belive it's the Clarisea. The bottom end of the drain line needs to be 1-2" below the water line in the sump to pull a syphon correctly. I can't see the sump end of drain line in your pics to see what's happening there.
There is also no point to having a flow meter on a drain line. You should have it on the return line. I plan on putting a float switch in my overflow box to alert me to a rise in level which would mean a clog on the main drain.
The clarisea is exactly 3" from the bottom of the sump. I've read that about the flow sensors but I put the flow meter on the drain as a convenience of knowing my exact flow to the sump prior to any problems. Could be flawed thinking. I have optical sensors to monitor high/low water levels.
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I want this done the right way and I know pictures don't say everything. If any knowledgeable person wants to stop by and give their opinion it would be appreciated. COVID FREE house I promise. I even plan on surface disinfecting when you leave. lol. I live in Buckhead.
I've never used a Clarisea so I can't comment on it. I have used 7" socks and when they get clogged to the point of overflowing, the syphon would get screwed up. If there's a decent back pressure the unit itself there could be an issue. Another test would be to pull the Clarisea and see how the system runs without it.
With the flow sensor. The flow going through the return is the volume that will come down through the the drain. Snails are notorious for going down drain lines and they got stuck in my gate valve from time to time. All you need to do to clear them is to open the gate valve. In your case they will also get stuck in the flow sensor. The only way to fix that is to disassemble the sensor.
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Good point. Much to learn.
Well, I solved my flow issues and I'm not sure how. I mean, I know how I just don't know why. I changed over from "ON" on my APEX to "Auto". I boosted the flow and now the secondary overflow is only at a trickle. Programming the Apex has been a blast but I ran into an expensive problem; my brand new, never been used salinity probe is dead straight out the box and since I bought it 14 months ago stockpiling equipment it is out of warranty.
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