Newbie help!

[jkeating2005]

Hello everyone,

I am very new to salt water tanks and just purchased my first tank yesterday! I purchased a 46 gallon bowfront. i am having a problem with my filtration system and pump. another note is that i have an over the back overflow!

i set-up everything last night. this morning i went to the LFS and purchased LR and water. after i set everything up and turned on the pump my wet/ dry sump began to fill faster than the pump could get it out!

It is a 500 GPH pump. that is what the fish store recommended for me!

I hope i named everything right! any help would be greatly appreciated!

thanks,
Joe

 

[Bifferwine]

Hi and welcome!

Do you have an overflow box? Or is your tank drilled?

If it's an overflow box, you should be able to raise the box on the edge of the tank until it's just at the very surface of the water. That will reduce how much water gets to the sump.

Your alternative, or if your tank is drilled is to buy a bigger pump. The fish store recommended that one, but probably didn't take into account the head space (distance the water has to travel through pipes and against gravity to get back to your tank). That will greatly decrease the power of the pump.

Would you be able to post a pic of your overflow setup?

 

[jkeating2005]

Thank you for the reply!

It is not a drilled tank. the overflow is over the back. i will adjust the height of the overflow when i get home. I am at work and i dont have a picture on hand but i will post one when i get home!

Thank you again for such a quick reply!

 

[yote]

The overflow should only drain as much water as the pumps returning.
Post a pic when you can,and I think we can figure out whats going on with it.

 

[jhnrb]

Fill the tank up to where the over flow starts to gravity feed the sump. then add water to the sump so that the return pump is submerged. now mark your sump with a marker or something for the level you want to run your sump at remembering to leave enough height in the sump to accept all water in the overflow line. now once you have this done start the pump and see where your water line is in the sump. add enough water to put the water line in the sump at the minimum mark or just above. use another mark to identfy the level of the water in the sump when the pump is running. now you will be able to see at a glance what your water situation is. NOW VERY IMPORTANT ONLY ADD WATER TO THE SUMP, NEVER TO THE TANK AT THIS POINT OR YOU WILL OVERFLOW THE SUMP. HOPE THIS HELPS IF I DID NOT CONFUSE THE ISSUE. LET ME KNOW BY PM IF I DID. OH AND LESS I FORGET. IF YOU ADD ANYTHING TO YOUR TANK I.E. ROCKS, SAND, ETC AFTER THIS ADJUSTMENT YOU MAY NEED TO TAKE SOME WATER OUT OF YOUR SUMP. HENCE, THE MARKS WILL HELP YOU ADJUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF WATER LEVEL.

 

[jkeating2005]

thanks to everyone again! everything seems to be flowing right! i will post pictures as soon as i get some life to my tank!