sump help how to level out tank and sump

[Mr.Dropp]

I just got a 90 gallon with a sump I looked up and found you're suppose fill the tank just as it starts to over flow then fill the sump up to the top and turn on the pump. well my problem is either it almost over flows the tank or it starves the pump for water. what am I doing wrong? I can get it on the fill line on the sump with out disaster???

[lefty o]

i guess a lot depends on how the sump is designed. for sure the tank needs to be full. i would think the sump likely needs to be half- 3/4 full. are there any valves to adjust flow rate?

[HH Morant]

I am planning to set up a new tank with a sump, so I am very interested in any help anyone can give to Mr Dropp. I think the pumps are adjustable-flow on mine.

[Mr.Dropp]

On 6/13/2021 at 7:39 PM, lefty o said:

i guess a lot depends on how the sump is designed. for sure the tank needs to be full. i would think the sump likely needs to be half- 3/4 full. are there any valves to adjust flow rate?

I'm new to sumps but I think I just figured it out ! just keeping a close eye on it now. I feel dumb I had my return line higher than the overflow its self seems to be working fine and water level is at the line marked

[lefty o]

its all good, pays to be cautious when not wanting to have large overflows of water.

[tolstoy21]

Glad to hear you figured it out. Typically you have to adjust the rate of the water flowing out of the tank to match the rate that the sump pump is putting water back into the tank. If one is mismatched you tend to experience what you detailed  

[Andy's Fish Den]

@tolstoy21has it above. You have to be sure that the pump you have returning the water to the display tank is not pumping more water than the overflow can handle. The easiest way is to get one of the newer controllable DC powered pumps, they will let you control how much water is being pumped. Otherwise, you have to do some plumbing work with a valve or two to control how much water goes to the display. 

[Mr.Dropp]

Thanks everyone I’m pretty sure I got it all figured out. I’m going to continue to keep a close eye on it but so far everything has been fine through the night, I hope I don’t come home to a flooded house after work lol. Anyone else willing to keep sharing they’re knowledge for others or for me to take it is greatly appreciate it. 

[tolstoy21]

On 6/14/2021 at 6:35 AM, Andy's Fish Den said:

he easiest way is to get one of the newer controllable DC powered pumps, they will let you control how much water is being pumped. Otherwise, you have to do some plumbing work with a valve or two to control how much water goes to the display. 

Exactly. This is the best setup if your designing this from scratch, or modifying an existing one.

In fact, it’s good to have gate a valve on the plumbing leading into the sump so you can adjust not only the flow rate of the DC return pump (these typically have a super fine adjustment for flow rate), but you can also tweak the rate of return out of the tank and back into the sump.

@Mr.Dropp Again, glad to hear you got it all setup. Sumps are great! And for freshwater setups, they can be fairly simplistic, easy to maintain and cost effective, while adding overall volume to your tank’s total capacity. 

Edited June 14, 2021 by tolstoy21

[Scott C]

might have a ball/ gate valve on the drain into the tank that is used to control flow rate based on how fast your pump is sending the water into the tank, there is going to be an initial balance to find depending on the overflow style (Durso, Herbie, or Bean Animal Overflows). many diagrams online that can explain better than i can in text.