Curly and Moe and the New Pump in my 55 Long.....!!!!

[jessiesgrrl]

Ok, so I have a mystery for you guys, which I am sure one of you can solve fairly easily. Hopefully. Cuz it's eluding me...

I read somewhere in my wanderings that 700 gph is good flow for a 55 loong reef.

So, I talked to a guy online recently and ordered a new overflow and pump. Really nice guy, great shipping, overly great product that was rated at 1090 gph... I have no idea where I went wrong. I ordered the pump and the first overflow from him, and he was nice enough to tell me the first overflow couldn't handle the gph of that particular pump, so I upgraded to the second recommended overflow for that pump:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46310&item=7763583526 (1st Overflow)

http://cgi.ebay.com/AQUARIUM-OVERFL...2515164QQihZ002QQcategoryZ46310QQcmdZViewItem (2nd overflow)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=46312&item=7762779108 (Pump)

So.... I get the stuff in the mail, ultra fast. I talked my poor unsuspecting husband into helping me set it into the tank when I was moving the tank. So, he's on a stool over the tank holding the return hose with the attachment for flow on the end of it over the top of the tank (Pointing in to the tank, along the top of the back wall long ways). I am on the floor ready to flip the switch to turn the pump on, watching the water level in the refugium.

He says, "Turn the pump on!" So I do. Ohmygosh... The fuge emptied, literally in like 2 seconds flat, the overflow was going full on but the fuge was literally dry...Suddenly Kris was screaming, it was literally raining on me from the geyser coming out of the top of the tank, and he goes, "Turn it off!!! Turn it off!!!! LAURIE TURN IT OFF!!!!!" WHich I of course had already done the first time he screamed.

The water jet from the pump (Pumping straight up from the fuge- no slope at all!!!!) had literally blasted all the rock in the tank onto the tank floor, picked up and moved ALL the oolite sand, and then shot up into his face when it came back around the tank and hit the short side wall he was over. Which is why it was raining on me.. I was REALLY lucky none of the corals were in that tank at the time...!

My mystery is, did I really buy the wrong size pump for a 55 reef tank, or did we not do something we should have prior to cutting it on??? I know the SPSers have bigger pumps than that but their tanks about the same size are fine???

:LOL:
Laurie

P.S. Yes, he forgave me, although the pump still earns scowls from him LOL)

 

[Zeppelin]

You can put a ball valve on the return of the pump. That way you can regulate how fast the water is returning to the tank. Are you sure there were no air bubbles in the J tubes of the overflow (the tubes that bring the water over the top of the tank)? That would really slow down the water exiting the tank.

 

[gflat65]

Yeah, if the tubes still have air in them, they won't drain. External overflows can be a PITA... I had a cheap old one on a 55 that broke siphon everytime I shut the tank down. Saran wrap and alot of cussing got it running every time, though. Some incorporate the air lift pumps to remove the air, but I'm not sure how well they do.

If the overflows are draining and it is pulling that much more, a ball valve would be the next step (though you might consider a ball valve and union-or union ball valve- rgeardless for ease of removal). I would suspect that with potentially 1800 gph of overflow and a pump that small (and head loss), you aren't pushing more water than the overflows can handle.