I have a mystery I need solved

[garydm]

Well here is the deal......My sump is runing good just added some fish and some more clean up crew
This is where it gets odd......During the day the water level in the sump and tank are fine I have been fine tuning a bit on the flow but for the most part the overflow is wide open and the pump is wide open I have a mag7 pump and a octo 150 skimmer and a overflow that does 6 or 7oo gph......Now like I I stated daytime fine at night its lights out and next morning my pump side of the sump is almost run dry????? Cant figure it out.....During the day flows fine and everything seems ok but I go to bed and the sump tries to go dry on me.....any thoughts

 

[yote]

The return section of the sump is where your going to see the evaporation.
Just keep it topped off and see how that works.

 

[dcantucson]

I would suggest getting an Auto Top Off unit to keep your water level consistent.

 

[Wes888]

Is it possible that the pump is just a bit too fast than the overflow. Maybe just barely make it so that you won't notice it until many hours later. On top of water evaporation, it may just happen to seem that way.

 

[Ted]

from what you said I dont think you are talking evaporation. Are the lights on the same plug/strip. You might be getting a power fluctuation which is causing the pump to pump more at night. Would be a small difference but over time at night could be the difference. I would get a different strip or use a different plug on a different circuit. At least that way you can narrow it down. :D

 

[Wes888]

Yea, that's what I was thinking as well. Night time power is a bit higher and the pump runs a little bit faster. Not much, but over night, it might have happened like you mentioned.

 

[garydm]

from what you said I dont think you are talking evaporation. Are the lights on the same plug/strip. You might be getting a power fluctuation which is causing the pump to pump more at night. Would be a small difference but over ??time at night could be the difference. I would get a different strip or use a different plug on a different circuit. At least that way you can narrow it down. :D

Never thought of that......Ill try switching during the day when I can watch it Thanks.....and a auto top off, do you need to drill anything for that

 

[yote]

Never thought of that......Ill try switching during the day when I can watch it Thanks.....and a auto top off, do you need to drill anything for that

Not unless you just want to.

 

[garydm]

Ok on to the next odd ball thing.....I finally get rid of the cyno and my tank breaks out in alge
what do I need to get this under control
all my testing says the water is good except phosphate wich is at 0.5 and I can fix that with a water change
pics

and the new add to the tank

my fuge with the new resident

and the cleaning crew at work

 

[Rcpilot]

Let's see a picture of the whole sump.

The Mag7 is only rated for 700GPH. If you have even a little bit of plumbing or head it's going to loose gph pretty quick. Mine has 4' of head and a bunch of fittings. It's only about 400-420gph when it gets back to the tank.

You sure about that overflow? What are the dimensions of the overflow? L x W x H ?? How wide are the teeth spaced?

What size is your overflow pipe? You got valves on the overflow pipe? Did you shut them down a bit to control flow?

Let's see some pics of the sump and plumbing. If you really want to fix this, we need more information.

 

[messiah023]

Gary,

A few things to ponder :

1.) I think you need more flow in that tank. All I could see was (1) powerhead. I have TONS of movement in my 30g nano from multiple hi-rated powerheads. This is the reasoning for the cyano and possibly your green algae.

2.) Phosphate feeds your algae. You may only read .5, but that's after the algae is eating it up and spreading. Are you using RO/DI water? Are you using tap water? Green algae is definitely a water quality issue.

3.) Lighting. How long are your lights on in that tank? You should have your lighting on a 6-8 hour schedule to help control algae. More light, more breeding of algae.

4.) How is your feeding schedule? Too much feeding will increase the bioload and increase your algae breakouts. I feed my tank 2-3 times per week only.

Good luck.

 

[project5k]

+1 to the above, thats about exactly what i was thinking... on all of it...

you should have NO flow restrictions on the down hill plumbing from the overflow to the sump.. if you do, its just a matter of time till you have a flood.

 

[garydm]

Gary,

A few things to ponder :

1.) I think you need more flow in that tank. All I could see was (1) powerhead. I have TONS of movement in my 30g nano from multiple hi-rated powerheads. This is the reasoning for the cyano and possibly your green algae.
I have a k2 and 2 k3's one is shooting down the backside of the rocks and one is at the top blowing down the front of the glass and one is at the top and blowing down the top side of the glass

2.) Phosphate feeds your algae. You may only read .5, but that's after the algae is eating it up and spreading. Are you using RO/DI water? Are you using tap water? Green algae is definitely a water quality issue.
Im not using ro/di but a ro water that I buy at a local grocery store

3.) Lighting. How long are your lights on in that tank? You should have your lighting on a 6-8 hour schedule to help control algae. More light, more breeding of algae.
Im running a 10 to 12 hours depending on when im home...Ill try a 8 hour

4.) How is your feeding schedule? Too much feeding will increase the bioload and increase your algae breakouts. I feed my tank 2-3 times per week only.
Im feeding just a 1/4 of a myss cube a day...My clown eats a ton...I rarely see any hit the sand

Good luck.

Thanks for your help

 

[project5k]

if i may, i think i cought something here...

about the flow...

not saying you have enough, or too much or just right, or maybe they need to be aimed a little different, but.....

you said "rarely hits the sand" that tells me that it can happen, and you may not have the flow quite right... in theory, the water should be moving enought to keep stuff from setteling on the bottom at all... you want to have enough, and have it so that stuff stays in suspension so that it can get to the skimmer and whatnot, and not just land on the bottom and sit there and rot...

not preaching, just putting a theory out there....

 

[winyfrog]

remember just because your fish eats everything you give them, also means that their going o poop it out (high nutrients)

the ro water from the store may also have high TDS maybe your lfs cancheck it fr you.

once your calurpa starts growing your algae will start to die.

as far as the light cycle goes until you have coral in there its no big deal but the sun is up for about 12 hours

 

[garydm]

Yea I spent a saterday with my arm in my tank trying to do just that.....I was ether blowing sand and making a hole or up to far where there was no movement....This is the ONE good thing about cyno is watcing flow rate as it flaps in the tank and seeing if its getting all the way to the other end of the tank.....