HELP wet dry overflow

[aquatic fun]

I have a wet dry I put in my tank several months ago this is not a drilled tank.. and I can not seem to get the flow even every time I turn around its either to low and blowing nasty bubbles in the water or to high and tonight put 4 inches of water in my foyer.. I love my tank but I love my home more I want to keep it but I am at wits end any help would be wonderful

 

[pdawg]

I had the same exact problem, and honestly, your doing it all wrong. What I have on my tank is a hang on overflow. the overflow uses siphon to bring water in the tank. You put the hoses going from the overflow to the wet dry on full blast. This is where you need to empty some water. You let the overflow drain out completely so the siphon stops and no water gets to the overflow. Now what happens is you fill your tank, the water that gets siphoned into your overflow goes into your wet dry, and your wet dry pushes it back out into the main system where the water gets resiphoned into the overflow, and then you add water to your main system in order to add water to your wet dry. and when your water level gets low, it doesnt get low from your main system, but your wet dry will get low.

 

[pdawg]

So overall, you have your overflow, which sucks up the water that goes above its rim, that water goes into your wet dry, which then gets pushed back out to your main system. Right now you have too much water, your water level in your system is going to stay at the same level as long as your running your system. The water from your overflow is going to push all the water it gets into the wet dry, which then re-enters your tank. So what your gonna wanna do is fill your tank up, all the way up to the brim of the overflow, and then fill your wet dry up as high as you want it, and then plug up your return pump and start your siphon. From then on out, your golden. I have an aqualifter on my overflow just to get air bubbles out, and occasionaly it gets clogged with something so I have to blow out the siphon tube and replug it into the aqualifter. Let me know if you have any more questions and if this helps at all!
Steve

 

[DaveK]

I have a wet dry I put in my tank several months ago this is not a drilled tank.. and I can not seem to get the flow even every time I turn around its either to low and blowing nasty bubbles in the water or to high and tonight put 4 inches of water in my foyer.. I love my tank but I love my home more I want to keep it but I am at wits end any help would be wonderful

Please explain exactly what you mean by "I have a wet dry I put in my tank ..." There are several products out there that are "wet dry", and we need to know exactly what your talking about, and how you have it installed, since there are several ways to do this. Pictures of your installation would help.

There are several possible reasons as to why you experienced the flood, so it's a little hard to give you a specific reason at this time.

 

[DaveK]

... I have an aqualifter on my overflow just to get air bubbles out, and occasionaly it gets clogged with something so I have to blow out the siphon tube and replug it into the aqualifter. ...

Long term, such an arrangement is courting disaster. Sooner or later the Aqualifter will get clogged, you won't see it, and the siphon will get filled with air, breaking it and causing a flood.

I highly recommend you modify, or replace your overflow so the Aqualifter isn't required. Exactly what you do will depend upon the type and brand of overflow you have.

 

[pdawg]

Well I have had it going for about 6 months already, and all is well. Blow it out once every 3 or 4 days that takes me 10 secs to do. It works golden for me.

 

[steved13]

Well I have had it going for about 6 months already, and all is well. Blow it out once every 3 or 4 days that takes me 10 secs to do. It works golden for me.

Just to draw a finer point...think about it this way. Was this system designed with a "blow in the hose every few days" design? Why are you blowing in the hose every few days? What if whatever blowing in the hose every few days, prevents, happens a day before the few days is up?

You've been lucky for about 6 months, and you may be lucky forever, but you must know there is a problem, and that you shouldn't have to keep blowing into the hose. Advising someone else to do it the same way doesn't seem logical.

 

[tnwillia]

Welcome to RS!

 

[pdawg]

The siphon just gets clogged every few days, and when it does it still can last about 2 days before losing suction. I could drill a larger hole for the siphon, but then again I feel it would be a wasted of money as I do daily maintenance on my tank and check it while im doing maintenance. Guess it's just preference. I would rather it not get clogged, but then again, is it worth buying another overflow? Guess it depends on the person

 

[DaveK]

Well I have had it going for about 6 months already, and all is well. Blow it out once every 3 or 4 days that takes me 10 secs to do. It works golden for me.

The siphon just gets clogged every few days, and when it does it still can last about 2 days before losing suction... , is it worth buying another overflow? Guess it depends on the person

Well, I guess that all depends on how much you like cleaning up floods. Personally, I've never been that fond of that aspect of the hobby.

6 months is a very short time to be using such an overflow. It's going to be interesting to see how you feel about it in 4 of 5 years.

Is it worth buying another overflow? Speaking from experience, I formally used an overflow system like your currently running right now. After cleaning up multiple floods, over several years, I replaced it. Yes, it certainly is worth replacement cost, even though the replacement cost me twice as much. I happened to own one made by "a famous 3 letter initial company" and I can say that the design had several inherit defects that cause many problems, over and above just loosing it's siphon and causing a flood.

 

[BLAKEJOHN]

Hmmm, replace overflow? Couple hundred bucks at most.
Or replace floor later on, $500-1000.

Not a hard decision for me.

Even cheaper method, drill back of tank.

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[aquatic fun]

wet dry okay here is the senerio in more detail I put in a wet dry system under my tank it is gravity feed siphon into the filter buy the yellow line in pic. there is a 950gph water pump for the return.. the lines have valves on them but they do not adjust very well and my husband put some kind of back flow things in the line but they seem useless because its not back flow its overflow.. my pics are up and in please let me know whats wrong so I can fix it!! some way to control way better or what valves or what to add where to make it work right!! anything else you need to know ill let ya know I relly need to fix this and I KNOW it is NOT a clogged line


and once again this is NOT a drilled tank it has no "overflow"it is all lines... a line in and a line out!!!!
is there some kind of sinsor I can put on the stop and start the pump at levels or some kind of thing that will make the siphon stop if it gets to high in the tank?? anything I can add I will but $500 is too much in my book and the tank will go out the door!! the valves just wont control right turn one way and bam it sucks to hard and the water in the filter get to low and it pulls air blowing 950gph of air bubbles into the tank... turn the other way a fraction and bam again but this time is floods and goes all over the floor.. ps this are brand NEW valves and lines are only a couple months old

 

[steved13]

It looks like you have a hose directly siphoning out of the display tank, and then a seperate line pumping the water from the sump back in. If this is trueyou will probably end up with a flood. When the power goes off the pump will stop but the siphon won't. The siphon will continue until it breaks and sucks air. When the power comes back on the pump will fill/overfill the display tank until it runs dry, and potentially burns out.

You should look into a good overflow box which will make it much easier to avoid these issues. Here is a link to one...these are a little pricey but IMO the best. This will also stabilize your flow better and solve you initial question.
http://www.lifereef.com/siphon.html

 

[aquatic fun]

you are awsome thank you so much for the advice steved13... you hit it right on the head!! we are going to get one and give it a try.. thank you so much

 

[dmatt88]

Lifereef overflow $150-200 and the instructions do say no need to blow or suck on the hose.

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[BLAKEJOHN]

When looking to get an overflow be sure to get one that can handle more than your pump can put out.

If you pump is rated at 950 gph. Then your overflow shaould atleast be rated for 1000 gph.

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