Weird plumbing problem

O

orchidsnfish

I have a strange (to me) plumbing problem. My tank has two drains. One is split to feed the fuge and also goes to the skimmer comp. The other goes directly to a bubble tower. Just a minute ago I noticed that there was no flow throught the fuge section. Checked the other end and no flow coming from there either. All the water was going into the bubble tower. I shut the valve to the tower and the other drain starts working. Anybody have any ideas? I would really like them both to work at the same time. Otherwise kinda pointless to have two. Any healp would be appreciated because Im kinda confused.

Thanks
Angela
 
Are they all tied together? Got a picture or a sketch we can review?
 
Like Marc said more info would be helpful but it sounds like the two drains are separate this makes me think that maybe the intake for the bubble tower might be slightly lower than the other intake and it is taking all the water It may be as simple as tweaking the valve to the bubble tower by slowing it enough to raise the water to the level of the other intake or tweak the height of the intakes if they are adjustable. If all else fails you may need a larger pump to supply enough water to make both flow.
 
Yes they are totally seperate. I think I'm going to add some water to the tank and see if that helps because it has the drains that are almost even with the water level. When I turn the bubble tower drain down the others do work. I just would like them all to be able to go full force. I cant get a decent pic of the plumbing. Just kinda shocked me when I saw the fuge wasn't hardly getting any water.

Thanks
Angela
 
Perhaps your tank isn't filling up fast enough, due to an underpowered pump. One overflow box is apparently lower than the other one, so the bulk of the water is draining out that pipe. At least, that is my guess from what you've described.
 
If you slow the flow on the bubble side and the return pump is not draining the sump, then you are still getting full flow. If this is the case, until you have a larger return pump, you are not losing any flow by closing the bubble side a little bit. So then I would get the amount of flow you want through the fuge and not worry about it.
 
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