Hello everyone!
I have a setup question. I'm running a 75 gallon display tank with about 20 gallon sump. The sump has three chambers, felt filter sock and skimmer in the first, nothing but live sand in the second for now, and two adjustable speed circulation pumps in the third chamber (one for circulation and a smaller one for the UV sterilizer). The sump was DIY project completed by the rig's previous owner, nothing fancy but gets the job done.
The plumbing from the overflow has a valve on it to adjust speed of the siphon - that is always a fun game trying to find the right speed to match the speed of the pump (almost not liking the adjustable speed pump).
For a little over a week, since my last water change, everything is running smoothly. Every couple days the ATO kicks on and tops off as expected. However, today, I came into my office and the reservoir was almost empty with the ATO pump running dry, and my display tank was just shy of overflowing (worth noting, I checked on my tank and livestock not even 3 hours earlier and all was well). The first two chambers of the sump were at normal level, but the third was low enough to almost expose the pumps. This is not the first time this happened.
The first time it happened, I was able to balance the flow and pump by topping off the water (and adjusting m y ATO to not wait so long) and playing with the valve/pump speed a little until it leveled. The last time it happened, I suspect my sock was clogging because I've been feeding more frozen food than flakes and I'm just adjusting how often to change it; I changed it, did a water change, and its been fine since.
Does anyone have any ideas why my balanced system will randomly go out of whack and almost drain the third chamber? My theory of the water levels didn't pan out given my ATO reservoir emptied into the sump and the display tank nearly overflowed. My sock is only a couple days in now, so I don't think it was a clog causing the issue. Is maybe my circulation pump on the fritz and randomly speeding up even when the controller hasn't changed? I just can't wrap my brain around the cause and how to prevent it. I'm a bit in the coming months, and I'm worried it'll flood my house while I'm not here. Not to mention it just has to be throwing off my salinity and other levels. I'm doing another water change today, so I suspect it'll be good for a bit, but I really have to figure this out before leaving it unattended for more than 3 hours.
All help is appreciated, thanks!
I have a setup question. I'm running a 75 gallon display tank with about 20 gallon sump. The sump has three chambers, felt filter sock and skimmer in the first, nothing but live sand in the second for now, and two adjustable speed circulation pumps in the third chamber (one for circulation and a smaller one for the UV sterilizer). The sump was DIY project completed by the rig's previous owner, nothing fancy but gets the job done.
The plumbing from the overflow has a valve on it to adjust speed of the siphon - that is always a fun game trying to find the right speed to match the speed of the pump (almost not liking the adjustable speed pump).
For a little over a week, since my last water change, everything is running smoothly. Every couple days the ATO kicks on and tops off as expected. However, today, I came into my office and the reservoir was almost empty with the ATO pump running dry, and my display tank was just shy of overflowing (worth noting, I checked on my tank and livestock not even 3 hours earlier and all was well). The first two chambers of the sump were at normal level, but the third was low enough to almost expose the pumps. This is not the first time this happened.
The first time it happened, I was able to balance the flow and pump by topping off the water (and adjusting m y ATO to not wait so long) and playing with the valve/pump speed a little until it leveled. The last time it happened, I suspect my sock was clogging because I've been feeding more frozen food than flakes and I'm just adjusting how often to change it; I changed it, did a water change, and its been fine since.
Does anyone have any ideas why my balanced system will randomly go out of whack and almost drain the third chamber? My theory of the water levels didn't pan out given my ATO reservoir emptied into the sump and the display tank nearly overflowed. My sock is only a couple days in now, so I don't think it was a clog causing the issue. Is maybe my circulation pump on the fritz and randomly speeding up even when the controller hasn't changed? I just can't wrap my brain around the cause and how to prevent it. I'm a bit in the coming months, and I'm worried it'll flood my house while I'm not here. Not to mention it just has to be throwing off my salinity and other levels. I'm doing another water change today, so I suspect it'll be good for a bit, but I really have to figure this out before leaving it unattended for more than 3 hours.
All help is appreciated, thanks!