Water Physics Question...

Alright, sorry for posting so many times in such a short time, BUT you where right, there was a bubble and now its out and im back to normal flow in the overflow box...

Should I technically be able to top off the sump now without having the tank water level rise? Or will it still rise if I add water to the sump...?
 
do you have a ball valve on your drain? sometimes when my diy overflow slows down i close the drain but leave the return pump on then open the drain, this causes a "flush" (for lack of a better term) water rushes down the drain and loosens any debris or air bubbles that have been trapped, if that doesn't work I check if there are air bubbles in my U-tube. those are the two things that usualy fix my slow overflow.

also how is your drain situated in the sump? i.e. is the output underwater? if so this will cause a back pressure slowing the drain down, raising it above the water line will help or by using a T at the end, one end of the T underwater and the other above for a vent.
 
just one more thing, with u-tube overflows you want to check for bubbles in the u-tube at least every other day. I've had problems with bubbles and almost overflowed my tank several times, finally got a aqualifter pump for the u-tube and that "solved" my problem (still need to do occasional maintenance but def not every couple of days)
 
alright i will give it a shot... my drain hose is underwater in the sump, its also got a U-Like figure to prevent it from "gurgling" or in other terms sending air bubbles back up the over flow and making noise...
 
Alright, sorry for posting so many times in such a short time, BUT you where right, there was a bubble and now its out and im back to normal flow in the overflow box...

Should I technically be able to top off the sump now without having the tank water level rise? Or will it still rise if I add water to the sump...?

Give it a shot, be at ready to unplug if need be

When I had my first siphon overflow, I pumped about 3 gallons onto the floor when the bubble kept growing. Seems the little bubble accumulate and eventually made a big bubble that broke the siphon.

Well I strongly advise clear U tubes for these overflows, or a small nipple on the top with a hose running to a power head.

You should be fine for the time being. Consider a shutoff switch in the sump also
 
o alright.. ill look into that if this problem keeps happening...
i just want everything to run stable enough to go on vacation... and not have to worry about overflowing or anything else... just simply tell my roomate to feed the live stock and not worry about any of the other stuff going wrong... im about to top off the sump, will let you know how it goes in a few minutes!
 
i already have a shutoff switch in the sump... only problem is it keeps varying levels so its not really active atm.. another thing is instead of the aqualifter pump, can i simply run a hose form the nipple to any of the powerheads in the tank and it will work fine instead of a aqualifter?
 
i already have a shutoff switch in the sump... only problem is it keeps varying levels so its not really active atm.. another thing is instead of the aqualifter pump, can i simply run a hose form the nipple to any of the powerheads in the tank and it will work fine instead of a aqualifter?

It might if the power head is strong enough flow to create a good suction
 
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