cant make overflow work yet

[fasturtle30]

Hi my friends i set up my 55 gal tank 2 days ago (FO tank) i have LS n LR on it, running with 3 powerheads and heater, anyways still cant make my filtration andoverflow work wich is conected to my wet dry then thing is this overflow is suppouse to work up to 600 gph with a max5 or so and the pump i have that returns water through the spout is not a Mag but other brand but its suppouse to work 650 gph, anyways my friend who was helping me with the set up said the pump would be 2 powerful to the overflow since im not getting enough flow to circulate water constantly trought the U shape tube, is that true? if so what I SHOULD DO? get another pump that is less powerful maybe or there is any other trick to make it work? thanxs and i wait 4 answer...

p.s. He made a lil hole on top of the U tube to conect alil tube wich has a cover and blow the water til circulate trhough the U tube and then cover this lil extension and turned the pump on but lost power and the water after lil bit didnt flow through this U tube thing !

[RandyStacyE]

First of all the U tube doesn't require anything to allow it to function. The purpose of the 'siphon overflow' is to transfer the water that is pumped up from your sump back down to your sump.

Think of it this way ... if your return pump pumps 1 gallon up to your display tank ... one gallon should be transfered back down to your sump. It's just a constant cycle.

If your overflow will truely handle 600 gph ... a pump that is rated for 650 gph is not going to overpower the overflow. The reason that is true is because most pumps are rated at 0 head pressure. By the time the pump pushes water up to your display tank, it's not likely coming out a 650 gph ... it's likely at a lower gph rate.

[fasturtle30]

thanks for this comment, so what should I do then? buy another pump the one that return the water to my dispaly tank over the spout? something with less power? any ideas
thanks

[luke33]

fasturtle, most of the off brand utubes are rated at 600 or 1200 gph but can't do that with what they provide you. I have a 1200gph utube and it couldn't handle 1000gph through my sump. So i got frustrated they decided i'd do a simple mod that would be more reliable in the longrun anyhow. I just added 2 more utube's and it worked perfectly....then i saw a few more people who had done the same thing. Add another utube and you should be golden. Don't buy another pump. Your pump is only going to be pushing 400-500gph with the head loss imo.

[fasturtle30]

thanks luke i finally made it work and its pretty good now my tank is processing cycle and im just being patient thanks :) here are some pics of my tanks :
http://es.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joyma2/album?.dir=/dfb9scd