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3 Foot Nano Tank (1 Viewer)

Help!!! All my planning and it isnt working like I hoped.

I got it all filled and with the pump on full it would overflow with ease. I have a valve on the pump and have it turned down to about 60%. At this flow rate my spinners hardly do anything and there isnt a lot of movement in the water. At 100% they spin nice a smooth and there is a nice wave to the water.

I based my design on the Oceanlife Overflow and Xaqua Inout and they both use one 1" drain and a 1/2" return. The Xaqua recommends using a Eheim 1260 with their overflow so thats what I used.

I however have 2 1" drains and 2 1/2" returns, BUT my returns are Wyed and are coming from the same pump. So I should have twice the drain speed but I don't. What can I do to increase my draining speed. Do I need to add tiny airlines to the top of my drains?? What will increase the speed?

:confused::confused::confused:
 
Eheim 1260. It also makes a lot more noise then I was expecting. Reviewers were saying they couldn't even tell if it was running. At our office we have a indoor water fountain and I can hear the pump running over that.

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I was trying to mimic this

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/05/15/xinout-xaqua-wavemaking-return-device/

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/07/05/xaquas-xinout-gets-a-full-hands-on-and-a-little-bit-of-testing/

Or the Oceanlife
http://reefbuilders.com/2011/12/20/oceanlife-overflow/

Both use 1" drains and 1/2" returns. I used the Eheim 1260 mentioned in the "Hands On" rebuilder article. I however have 2 drains with 1 return wyed for my dual returns. So should mine drain even faster than theirs even at 100% power?!

:confused:
 
I am not a veteran of builds or pump/sump combos. That being said I would consider turning the pump down via the gate valve to match your overflow. Then I would also have a SCWD before the return splits. If you don't know what that is it basically will send all the current to the left then to the right one side at a time. So it should allow your spinners to still rotate as each side will get the 50-60% power needed bit just one side at a time.
 
Your pump will also get louder, and die sooner if you throttle it back with a valve. Instead, T off the return line and mount the valve on the line that sprouts off the return. That way you can open the valve and have water go back into the sump, relieve back pressure on the pump, and still be able to control your flow.
 
RyanTurner said:
Your pump will also get louder, and die sooner if you throttle it back with a valve. Instead, T off the return line and mount the valve on the line that sprouts off the return. That way you can open the valve and have water go back into the sump, relieve back pressure on the pump, and still be able to control your flow.
Click to expand...

There you go! I did that on my first sump, made a refugium to help dial back ky sump. I should have thought of that. That would be the easiest. Good job Ryan.
 
You could drill a hole in the top of your drain elbow and glue a rigid air line tube level with the top of the tank for siphon power. This may enable the water to drain much faster.
 
jjwhiteboy said:
You could drill a hole in the top of your drain elbow and glue a rigid air line tube level with the top of the tank for siphon power. This may enable the water to drain much faster.
Click to expand...

This was my thinking as well. I really want my pump at 100% power as it really created nice flow in my tank. Dialing it down made it very anticlimactic.

Anything that will help my drains drain faster is what I'm looking for. If I drill a tiny hole in the top of each elbow and insert the tubing will I need to silicone or super glue, or something else to keep it water tight? I don't want little spurts of water to leak out of this hole.
 
Try some silicone, but make sure it is 100% silicone without mold inhibitors/formaldehyde/arsenic. Make sure the are you are sealing is dry, and then wait 2 days before you get it wet.
 
Is there ever a fear of the airline tubing becoming encrusted with old dried salt inside inhibiting the flow of air? I would be in a world of hurt If my pump was running full tilt for a long time and then one day the tubing became blocked.

Its really frustrating. I see people run these premade style drain/return systems and I figured having TWO drains would be more than enough for safety.
 
eschulist said:
Is there ever a fear of the airline tubing becoming encrusted with old dried salt inside inhibiting the flow of air? I would be in a world of hurt If my pump was running full tilt for a long time and then one day the tubing became blocked.

Its really frustrating. I see people run these premade style drain/return systems and I figured having TWO drains would be more than enough for safety.
Click to expand...

I've had mine running with no issues for over a year. Actually just looked at it, and it's just as clean as day 1.
 
RyanTurner said:
Yes, salt creep could plug it, and yes...that would not be good. lol
Click to expand...

Shibbs said:
I've had mine running with no issues for over a year. Actually just looked at it, and it's just as clean as day 1.
Click to expand...

Thanks guys. Looks like a small trip to the Depot or Lowes tomorrow. On the External Durso they keep saying the size of the hole makes all the difference. Is it the same for this airline tubing since its basically doing the same thing? What size works the best for getting the best low noise and best increase in flow? Right now most of my noise is minimal. If anything is creating noise its my pump or the waterfall as water enters the sump. There is almost zero noise as water enters the bulkheads.
 
I have this same build going on at nano-reef.com. I'm talking to myself over there. And then there are a few other builds with 1,000s of replies.

I'm feeling the love over here.:smileykiss2:
 
Just rigid air line should work. If you get something a smidge bigger it might be better. Just don't go too big or you will hear the drain.
 
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Ok today I refilled the tank. I completely removed both screens and let the water stabilize. I again had to have the pump dialed down to around 60%

I put the screens back on and the water level remained the same. There was no fluctuation after a few hours of leaving them on.

This is really irritating me as the Oceanlife Overflow can handle 500gph, and the XAqua says it can handle 550. Each of my drains are doing less than 250. Tthe Eheim is rated at 635 coming straight from the pump, so with 2-3 feet of travel distance I should be right at 550 or 600gph.

I bought some airline tubing 3/16 or 5/16 - I seemed to be a pretty common size for the durso and standpipe people. I'm still a little reluctant to try it though. The XAqua has no breathing hole. And most standpipes that use them are for quieting the sound. My system is actually very quiet except for some constant white noise from the pump. I've quieted it down a little by placing a small rubber mat under the pump and placing pieces of padding where tubes touch my stand or the doors touch the cabinet.

Im so confused though. A bigger hole and bigger drain would pull more water but both of the systems I'm mimicking say to use 42mm diamond hole saws (which is the same size I used for my 1" bulkheads)

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It is all filled with water now and the people at my office thought it was cool. But there just is no flow to the water. I sprinkle salt into the tank and it goes straight down. I turn the pump up and drop some in and it swirls around and continues to move for a few seconds. The SCWD device mentioned by Odie I was originally going to put into my system but read so many negative reviews on how short they last. It would increase my speed on each spinner by a little while the other is closed, but the SCWD also slows the flow of water going through it so I may just end up with 2 slow returns alternating.

Im afraid to even think about it, but turning one of the drains, however possible, into a siphon is probably a bad idea??? If it ever stopped working and reverted back to the state its in now the other drain wouldn't be able to handle it and would overflow the display.
 
Invest in two MP-10 ES and call it a day. You won't be disappointed.

The reason why I recommend these over the much cheaper Koralias, is because the Vortechs match the "modern/minimalist" approach you are trying to accomplish.
 
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