Need some help please

[koga57]

I am helping a friend set up her 100 gallon aquarium bought from the "for sale" forum. I have never set up an aquarium with "overflows".

This may sound stupid and you can make fun later, but how do you get the u-shaped joint to siphon over into the drain part of the overflow?


Never done this one before.


David
Koga57

 

[feasible]

David check this out. Hope it helps.

Mike

@Marc wrote:

 

[koga57]

Thanks for the information. This will definitely be interesting tomorrow morning.

David
Koga57

 

[GraviT]

Wow! All due respect, but that kinda sounds like disaster waiting to happen! :shock: I have 2 overflow boxes in my tank and it wouldn't be possible for one person to start them both in time using that method.

Personally, I use a cup to put plenty of water on both halves of the overflow (inside and outside of the tank), then thread the tubing through the side of the U that will be in the outer half (one side of the U is usually longer than the other, this end should go to the outer half of the overflow assembly). I find it's much easier to thread the tubing through the U when it's outside of the overflow, then insert it back in..making sure there is enough tubing left to get your mouth on the end. The rest is pretty much the same...suck the air out of the U tube (the water will rise from both sides of the U and meet in the middle), at this point, you can remove the flexible tubing and the water should remain in the U. If not, you can try adding more water to both halves of the overflow and try again. If it will not hold water, you have an issue as the U will loose syphon in the event of a power failure...and that would mean a flood when the pumps come back on if nobody is around to get the syphon going again. Once you have water in the U that isn't going anywhere, it should be safe to start the return pump. Be ready to turn it back off just in case something doesn't flow right.

It really sounds much scarier than it is. Don't worry..it will be okay!

 

[Meli]

We usually use a turkey baster to start the suction. It fits nicely enough against the end of the flexible tubing to start the suction.

 

[koga57]

I'm off to attempt this. Will report back.




[/b]SUCCESS

Shortened the u-tube on the aquarium side just a little and it worked very well. Took a few minutes to adjust volume in sump (simulate electrical outage).

Thanks for the assistance

Koga57
DAVID

 

[melev]

Good.

Keep in mind, you do need to look at U tubes daily, just to make sure no air is accumulating at the apex. If they get coated with algae, flow will slow and can even obstruct water movement, as well as obscure your visual indicators. Putting something over them to block light is good, as long as you can lift it for a few seconds to take a peek.

Checking takes seconds, but ignoring it will lead to lots of time cleaning up. :shock:

 

[melev]

@GraviT wrote:

Do you have two overflow boxes with four U-tubes? If so, I agree. Unless you had a ballvalve on the return pump to slow things down until all overflow boxes were up to speed.