pvc diy overflow = FAIL

[superclown]

I wanted to connect my frag tank and my display tank all in one system. I have a sump and protein skimmer on my frag tank and not so great of flow in my 24g nano made good sense to me to combine the 2 tanks into one system..

I used plans for this overflow and made it exactly as instructed

HERE----> http://www.aquariumlife.net/projects/diy-overflow/120.asp">http://www.aquariumlife.net/projects/diy-overflow/120.asp</a>

I hooked it up and for bout 30 minutes of trying to prime it I was about ready to give up then all of the sudden it kicked in... my first 3 seconds of thought was awesome its working... then my second thought was hey thats lower than my the so called "fail safe" pvc overflow is supposed to drain water out the tank why isn't it stopping... as it drained over the course of about 6 seconds it I realized my sump is going to get overflowed before I can stop it.. I didnt build a shut off valve in between the overflow and the sump for a just in case it doesn't work.... so let me tell you if you have not had something like this happen to you there is nothing that blows more than anything to watch helplessly as your sump over fills with water going everyone...

well I finally got the mess cleaned up... after working on my system that failed most of the day.. now my question is why didn't it stop draining after it got lower than the T like the instructions stated it would

 

[smoothie]

Was the inlet lower than the T?

 

[superclown]

If yo mean inlet of where water leaves the tank through pipe then yes,. Just like it was in the diagram

 

[acroholic]

Couldn't you just have lifted the PVC overflow up and out of the water from where it was hanging on the tank? That would have stopped the water flow.

Did you have a piece of pipe attached to the red and blue elbows that went into the water, or just one piece of pipe attached to the blue elbow?

And did you use a shut off valve with the airline tubing you attached tot he 1/8" hose barb?

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

I'm thinking that you must've installed something incorrectly because by the diagram, there are two siphon breaks built in so as soon as the water level dropped below the opening on the insided elbow of the "red" section.....no more water should have flowed. Shut off valves are a necessary evil in this hobby. You should be able to completely isolate your tank from the sump.

 

[superclown]

Yes two pipes went into tank... i had a piece or airline hooked to top of overflow just like in the diagram i filled the chamber. With water like recommended... i didn't have a pump so i just pulled on airline till i got water then i released and the tank started emptying at that point right in front of me... i did lift the overflow off the tank but it happened so fast i really didn't have time to react... it was kind of hard to remove because i really didn't design it for quick release

 

[superclown]

I have no doubt in my mind that i did do something incorrectly i just can't figure out what

 

[superclown]

I had my drain leaving tank going to my sump from the pvc overflow connected to the drain of my frag tank do you think that caused the main tank to continue to drain from the siphon of the frag tank draining?

 

[superclown]

Here is the one i made

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Here is back tank shot from the left

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Here is shot from the right

 

[superclown]

Deleted accidental double post

 

[hackman72]

A quick look at the instrustions and then your finished model...

The piece that is meant to be the siphon break is the same length as the drain pipe. The siphon break should be shorter than the intake. If it's the same length as the intake, it would essentially be useless as the intake would finally break siphon on it's own. Cut the siphon break shorter and see if that works.

 

[superclown]

Oh i see what u mean now wow .... ima go hi five myself in the forhead doh

 

[acroholic]

Your problem is that you are not supposed to have two pieces of pipe in the water. The illustrations make it look like you should have one coming off the red elbow, but you shouldn't have one there at all. The ONLY pipe that should draw water from the tank is the one attached to the blue pipe. the red elbow remains open and only serves to hook the overflow onto the tank or to fill the "U" shaped tube with water.

Your overflow as you did it is the same as placing a straight siphon in the tank, and it would drain down to the level of the pipes in the water.

Get rid of the unnecessary pipe and you should be fine, the one attached to the red elbow.

 

[superclown]

Thanks guys that makes sense i will try again when i get home from work