So I am setting up my first reef aquarium and have run into a water height issue. I used the eschops eclypse overflow box templet to drill holes, I put the templet as far to the rim as possible. Now that I am doing a water leak test I can't get the water up to the trim in the dt. I have two pumps running parallel and my secondary pump is a back up in case the first one fails. The secondary pump is pretty small, only 350 gph and after the plumbing likely around 100 gph or so which is approx 2x the total water volume. The first pump is a rio 2430 lph pump so it is probs like 400 gph after head pressure loss which is approx 8x total water volume. If I buy a more powerful pump will tbe water level rise to the top of the teeth on the overflow?
Bean Animal Plumbing, pump size and water height
- Thread starter Scottie
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Dang, that is kind of funny but also really sucks. So you don't think a stronger pump will raise the water because - running the smaller one by itself lowers the waterline. The water line sits at about 1/3 up the teeth - getting a super high powered pump should raise it more maybe right? It is just weird that the templet would be so off and that my aquarium's bridge would block the overflow if it was any higher. Do you think siliconing half way up the teeth would be a good fix? I still want like a half inch before the trim as wave insurance.
Pntbll687
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I agree the box is too low on the tank. The top of the box needs to be even with the top of that center brace, should have mounted it to the side of the brace.
You could probably get a piece of acrylic and silicone it half way up the teeth, this would be your best option.
You could also restrict the gate valve on the full siphon line, this could solve the problem BUT I'm not exactly sure what it would do to the plumbing. You may have to redo your secondary line to correct for the water height change in the box.
What template did you use? I see this all the time with the eshopps kits, the template needs to be put under the rim of the tank when installing.
Thanks for the feedback everybody. This community is so helpful. I did use the eshopps template and I guess it is needs to start at the trim. IMO this is counterintuitive because the templet would need to be cut to sit flush for an aquarium with trim when drilling. Well, you live and learn! I just tested blocking off part of the overflow teeth with electrical tape and it brought my water level where I want it and didn't increase noise or seem to impeed flow too much. I will probably use epoxy putty as an easy fix. If it ever clogs in the future it will create a super loud trickle which will be an alarm for me- it shouldn't be a problem because this overflow is for much larger tanks so the teeth are large. I def don't want to get a larger pump because it will mess with the water turnover for my skimmer. Thanks again everybody wouldn't have got here without ya!
Sleepydoc
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A stronger pump will help a bit - simply because it will overwhelm the relatively small overflow area on the internal box. You can also ditch the internal Eshopps box and either make your own box out of acrylic or have some glass cut and make an internal box with that or a coast to coast overflow.
Given the overflow is larger than you need and can handle the flow from your return pump(s) easily, as another poster mentioned, you could make a pretty clean fix by purchasing a relatively small piece of black acrylic and having it cut to size (unless you have a table saw) for your overflow and superglue / use black silicone to raise the bottom of those teeth by installing inside the overflow box. That or start w a new overflow as suggested by another. You have a couple decent options.
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