overflow box

sanababit · 05/10/2007, 09:59 PM

hello guys

i installed an e-sump overflow box today and got it working, siphoned water, everything was working fine, then all of the sudden my refugium filled up with water past the baffles, in my 10 gallon tank, anyways, am i doing something wrong, isnt it suppose to get to a certain level and stop sending water down to my refugium, this is the link on the type of overfolw box i have http://www.eshopps.com/overflowboxes.php, theres a u tube, a piece of pvc pipe, and a foam cilinder, anyone knows where they go exactly, like the u tube has one longer side than the other, where does the longer side go, does it go in the aquarium, or back of aquarium, the foam cilinder where does it go, why isnt water stoping when the water level in my refigium gets to a certain level??? ooooh pipe going from back of overflow box into refugium is all the way to the bottom of ten gal tank, well thanks for your help

sana

sanababit · 05/10/2007, 10:00 PM

i forgot the overflow box is a model pf-300, and i was testing it to see if the power goes off it would stop sending water to fuge.

sana

sanababit · 05/10/2007, 10:23 PM

anyone out there had the same problem????

sana

badfish · 05/10/2007, 10:30 PM

The only thing i can think of is that the over flow box is a higher rated GPH than the return pump.

edit: I dont think that makes sense. If return pump is not keeping up with the over flow, there would be no water to over flow.

sanababit · 05/10/2007, 10:35 PM

badfish, everything is new, i dont even have a pump installed, i was just testing it to see if the water would stop at a certain level, i dont want water all over my floor in case the power goes off to the return pump, and my problem is did i install the overflow box correctly, if you see link then you may have an idea on what im doing wrong, is the foam cilinder placed correctly, is the u tune place correctly, maybe my pipe going down to 10 gal fuge should be at mid height etc. thanks

sana

Ebmorri · 05/10/2007, 10:36 PM

Can you adjust the inside overflow box up higher? This will keep your tanks water level higher in case there is a power failure and keep your sump from floodding. As far as it flowing over your baffles thats ok in case of a power outage. You just want to keep all the water in the sump.

Erick

badfish · 05/10/2007, 10:37 PM

The only time i have had this happen is when i went to Mexico for the weekend. I left my dosing pump on to make up for evaporation. When i came home the sump water was over the baffles.
Is there to much water in the setup?

sanababit · 05/10/2007, 10:42 PM

ebmorri i tried adjusting the box inside the aquarium but that did not work because the u tube keeps siphoning and will lose siphon when the box inside of aquarium runs dry, then im back where i started from no siphon means that pump will kepp pumping into aquarium and it could overflow, well maybe not because pump space is small in the fuge...

sana

Ebmorri · 05/10/2007, 10:47 PM

I know the u tube has a correct adn incorrect way but I'm not sure which it is, looking for that right now. The foam should be on the outside box.

edit: Longer side out side the tank.

edit 2: you may have this already but for refferance. http://www.eshopps.com/Siphon/Self-StartSiphon.pdf

Longer side of u tube should be where 3 is. the foam should fit over 4. Can you take a pic?

sanababit · 05/10/2007, 11:02 PM

that is exactly what i did, i put long side of tube where 3 is, and foam over 1 inch tube and inseted that tube to the bolkhead fitting, ok so far so good, but same problem, water just doesnt stop going into my fuge, eb did u see pic of pf-300, on the transparent box that goes on the back of aquarium theres a baffle, there is where i have the u tube going into, then the water jumps to where the foam is and then it goes down the bulkhead fitting to fuge, but like i said water just doesnt stop going into fuge, to my understanding, an overflow box should stop sending water when the fuge reaches a certain level so the fuge doesnt overflow and you have a big mess on the floor.

sana

sanababit · 05/10/2007, 11:07 PM

come on guys, anyone out there have an overflow box installed in their aquarium, did u test it to see if water stops going into sump or fuge in case power goes off.

sana

Ebmorri · 05/10/2007, 11:19 PM

It sounds like you have it setup correctly. Once you adjust box A you should have water flow through the utube into the small baffled area then ove the baffle to the bulkhead and to the sump, which it seems to be doing right? Let say you has a pump running now that would return the water to the tank. You should now be able to adjust box A so that when your power fails and your pump stops some water will drain back to the sump, but not over flow the sump, the baffles in the sump being over flowed is fine. Now back to the the over flow. With box a adjusted correctly the tank level drops say and inch, which is where the teeth of box a are. Once water stops flowing into box A your water level in box a and the small area of box b should be the same and keep the siphon since the water in both sides should be equal. It can be tricky to get it just right amount. If thats not working I think you may have to talk to e-sumps.

Erick

sanababit · 05/10/2007, 11:25 PM

ahhhhh, i understand now, omg, im new to this and i will try that, maybe my box a is to low inside my aquarium (btw is a 46gal bowfront to and in about 6 months hopefully i will go 150 gal) the thing just keeps siphoning out of my tank, ok will try tomorrow and will let you know, great help, thanks

sana

Ebmorri · 05/10/2007, 11:29 PM

I think if you adjust box a up a little it will stop. A freind also has a 46gl bf with a 10gl sump. He is runnig a mag 7 as a return so he has to have box a pretty low to keep up with it. In test when we unplugged the pump water would full the sump right up to the rim.

Erick

aquarius77 · 05/10/2007, 11:35 PM

The overflow box will only take water that is rising above the mouth of the box, if the power goes out the pump is not running then there is no water to overflow. If your sump is overflowing when you pull the plug you had too much water in your sump to begin with. You have got to allow for the main tank to drain and level out. If it keeps on draining your tank then the only thing that could possibly be happening is a back siphon from your return plumbing. if the outlets from the return are well below the surface of the tank that can be a problem. drilling a small hole in the return plumbing just below your waterline will break that siphon.

05/10/2007, 09:59 PM	#1
sanababit Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Uranus Posts: 3,094	overflow box hello guys i installed an e-sump overflow box today and got it working, siphoned water, everything was working fine, then all of the sudden my refugium filled up with water past the baffles, in my 10 gallon tank, anyways, am i doing something wrong, isnt it suppose to get to a certain level and stop sending water down to my refugium, this is the link on the type of overfolw box i have http://www.eshopps.com/overflowboxes.php, theres a u tube, a piece of pvc pipe, and a foam cilinder, anyone knows where they go exactly, like the u tube has one longer side than the other, where does the longer side go, does it go in the aquarium, or back of aquarium, the foam cilinder where does it go, why isnt water stoping when the water level in my refigium gets to a certain level??? ooooh pipe going from back of overflow box into refugium is all the way to the bottom of ten gal tank, well thanks for your help sana __________________ Senior Member of the "Hardly any Water Changes, Temp Swinging, T5ing, No Qtining, Frag Exchanging for Fish Food Current Tank Info: 90RR inwall, Octopuss Skimmer, 2 MP40 wQD, 1 MP10 WQD, 2 Radions G4 Pro, Apex Doser, Apex Controller, 400w heater, 30 Gal Sump, Biopellets, Carbon, Gfo, Macroalgae

05/10/2007, 10:00 PM	#2
sanababit Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Uranus Posts: 3,094	i forgot the overflow box is a model pf-300, and i was testing it to see if the power goes off it would stop sending water to fuge. sana __________________ Senior Member of the "Hardly any Water Changes, Temp Swinging, T5ing, No Qtining, Frag Exchanging for Fish Food Current Tank Info: 90RR inwall, Octopuss Skimmer, 2 MP40 wQD, 1 MP10 WQD, 2 Radions G4 Pro, Apex Doser, Apex Controller, 400w heater, 30 Gal Sump, Biopellets, Carbon, Gfo, Macroalgae

05/10/2007, 10:23 PM	#3
sanababit Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Uranus Posts: 3,094	anyone out there had the same problem???? sana __________________ Senior Member of the "Hardly any Water Changes, Temp Swinging, T5ing, No Qtining, Frag Exchanging for Fish Food Current Tank Info: 90RR inwall, Octopuss Skimmer, 2 MP40 wQD, 1 MP10 WQD, 2 Radions G4 Pro, Apex Doser, Apex Controller, 400w heater, 30 Gal Sump, Biopellets, Carbon, Gfo, Macroalgae

05/10/2007, 10:30 PM	#4
badfish Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Phx, AZ Posts: 1,970	The only thing i can think of is that the over flow box is a higher rated GPH than the return pump. edit: I dont think that makes sense. If return pump is not keeping up with the over flow, there would be no water to over flow. __________________ "My second home is a third world cantina" RCPM Current Tank Info: Not big enough.

05/10/2007, 10:35 PM	#5
sanababit Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Uranus Posts: 3,094	badfish, everything is new, i dont even have a pump installed, i was just testing it to see if the water would stop at a certain level, i dont want water all over my floor in case the power goes off to the return pump, and my problem is did i install the overflow box correctly, if you see link then you may have an idea on what im doing wrong, is the foam cilinder placed correctly, is the u tune place correctly, maybe my pipe going down to 10 gal fuge should be at mid height etc. thanks sana __________________ Senior Member of the "Hardly any Water Changes, Temp Swinging, T5ing, No Qtining, Frag Exchanging for Fish Food Current Tank Info: 90RR inwall, Octopuss Skimmer, 2 MP40 wQD, 1 MP10 WQD, 2 Radions G4 Pro, Apex Doser, Apex Controller, 400w heater, 30 Gal Sump, Biopellets, Carbon, Gfo, Macroalgae

05/10/2007, 10:36 PM	#6
Ebmorri Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Littleton, CO Posts: 662	Can you adjust the inside overflow box up higher? This will keep your tanks water level higher in case there is a power failure and keep your sump from floodding. As far as it flowing over your baffles thats ok in case of a power outage. You just want to keep all the water in the sump. Erick

05/10/2007, 10:37 PM	#7
badfish Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Phx, AZ Posts: 1,970	The only time i have had this happen is when i went to Mexico for the weekend. I left my dosing pump on to make up for evaporation. When i came home the sump water was over the baffles. Is there to much water in the setup? __________________ "My second home is a third world cantina" RCPM Current Tank Info: Not big enough.

05/10/2007, 10:42 PM	#8
sanababit Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Uranus Posts: 3,094	ebmorri i tried adjusting the box inside the aquarium but that did not work because the u tube keeps siphoning and will lose siphon when the box inside of aquarium runs dry, then im back where i started from no siphon means that pump will kepp pumping into aquarium and it could overflow, well maybe not because pump space is small in the fuge... sana __________________ Senior Member of the "Hardly any Water Changes, Temp Swinging, T5ing, No Qtining, Frag Exchanging for Fish Food Current Tank Info: 90RR inwall, Octopuss Skimmer, 2 MP40 wQD, 1 MP10 WQD, 2 Radions G4 Pro, Apex Doser, Apex Controller, 400w heater, 30 Gal Sump, Biopellets, Carbon, Gfo, Macroalgae

05/10/2007, 10:47 PM	#9
Ebmorri Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Littleton, CO Posts: 662	I know the u tube has a correct adn incorrect way but I'm not sure which it is, looking for that right now. The foam should be on the outside box. edit: Longer side out side the tank. edit 2: you may have this already but for refferance. http://www.eshopps.com/Siphon/Self-StartSiphon.pdf Longer side of u tube should be where 3 is. the foam should fit over 4. Can you take a pic? Last edited by Ebmorri; 05/10/2007 at 10:53 PM.

05/10/2007, 11:02 PM	#10
sanababit Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Uranus Posts: 3,094	that is exactly what i did, i put long side of tube where 3 is, and foam over 1 inch tube and inseted that tube to the bolkhead fitting, ok so far so good, but same problem, water just doesnt stop going into my fuge, eb did u see pic of pf-300, on the transparent box that goes on the back of aquarium theres a baffle, there is where i have the u tube going into, then the water jumps to where the foam is and then it goes down the bulkhead fitting to fuge, but like i said water just doesnt stop going into fuge, to my understanding, an overflow box should stop sending water when the fuge reaches a certain level so the fuge doesnt overflow and you have a big mess on the floor. sana __________________ Senior Member of the "Hardly any Water Changes, Temp Swinging, T5ing, No Qtining, Frag Exchanging for Fish Food Current Tank Info: 90RR inwall, Octopuss Skimmer, 2 MP40 wQD, 1 MP10 WQD, 2 Radions G4 Pro, Apex Doser, Apex Controller, 400w heater, 30 Gal Sump, Biopellets, Carbon, Gfo, Macroalgae

05/10/2007, 11:07 PM	#11
sanababit Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Uranus Posts: 3,094	come on guys, anyone out there have an overflow box installed in their aquarium, did u test it to see if water stops going into sump or fuge in case power goes off. sana __________________ Senior Member of the "Hardly any Water Changes, Temp Swinging, T5ing, No Qtining, Frag Exchanging for Fish Food Current Tank Info: 90RR inwall, Octopuss Skimmer, 2 MP40 wQD, 1 MP10 WQD, 2 Radions G4 Pro, Apex Doser, Apex Controller, 400w heater, 30 Gal Sump, Biopellets, Carbon, Gfo, Macroalgae

05/10/2007, 11:19 PM	#12
Ebmorri Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Littleton, CO Posts: 662	It sounds like you have it setup correctly. Once you adjust box A you should have water flow through the utube into the small baffled area then ove the baffle to the bulkhead and to the sump, which it seems to be doing right? Let say you has a pump running now that would return the water to the tank. You should now be able to adjust box A so that when your power fails and your pump stops some water will drain back to the sump, but not over flow the sump, the baffles in the sump being over flowed is fine. Now back to the the over flow. With box a adjusted correctly the tank level drops say and inch, which is where the teeth of box a are. Once water stops flowing into box A your water level in box a and the small area of box b should be the same and keep the siphon since the water in both sides should be equal. It can be tricky to get it just right amount. If thats not working I think you may have to talk to e-sumps. Erick

05/10/2007, 11:25 PM	#13
sanababit Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Uranus Posts: 3,094	ahhhhh, i understand now, omg, im new to this and i will try that, maybe my box a is to low inside my aquarium (btw is a 46gal bowfront to and in about 6 months hopefully i will go 150 gal) the thing just keeps siphoning out of my tank, ok will try tomorrow and will let you know, great help, thanks sana __________________ Senior Member of the "Hardly any Water Changes, Temp Swinging, T5ing, No Qtining, Frag Exchanging for Fish Food Current Tank Info: 90RR inwall, Octopuss Skimmer, 2 MP40 wQD, 1 MP10 WQD, 2 Radions G4 Pro, Apex Doser, Apex Controller, 400w heater, 30 Gal Sump, Biopellets, Carbon, Gfo, Macroalgae

05/10/2007, 11:29 PM	#14
Ebmorri Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Littleton, CO Posts: 662	I think if you adjust box a up a little it will stop. A freind also has a 46gl bf with a 10gl sump. He is runnig a mag 7 as a return so he has to have box a pretty low to keep up with it. In test when we unplugged the pump water would full the sump right up to the rim. Erick

05/10/2007, 11:35 PM	#15
aquarius77 Moved On Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Highland, Il Posts: 2,198	The overflow box will only take water that is rising above the mouth of the box, if the power goes out the pump is not running then there is no water to overflow. If your sump is overflowing when you pull the plug you had too much water in your sump to begin with. You have got to allow for the main tank to drain and level out. If it keeps on draining your tank then the only thing that could possibly be happening is a back siphon from your return plumbing. if the outlets from the return are well below the surface of the tank that can be a problem. drilling a small hole in the return plumbing just below your waterline will break that siphon.