Slugworth
04/26/2011, 05:32 PM
I've had my 75g tank for a little over a month now. I have an overflow box with a sump tank, and I can't seem to solve my water flow issues. My return pump should be more than adequate, and I installed a ball valve on the return line. I had issues with the water flow steadily slowing to where I would close the ball valve little by little trying to find the right balance. But, the water level in the return area of my sump would always steadily lower.
I ended up lowering the inner part of the overflow box, and I thought that did the trick. But, I see now that the water level in the return area is still slowly going down, and I've started closing the ball valve more and more. I end up closing it off so much to where there's very little circulation.
I'm new to this, so its most likely a newbie error. But it seems like there has to be an exact balance between the flow down to the sump, and the return pump. If this balance isn't perfect, there will be issues with maintaining the correct flow. I'm getting a lot of brown algae on the sand, which I've read is normal. I also read that increasing water flow helps a little, but that goes back to my problem. This water flow issue is frustrating!
Is there something I'm doing wrong? On top of this frustration, I lost two domino damsels today. Several days ago, I bought two blue damsels, and two domino damsels. Everything was going great until I get home from work today, and the domino damsels are missing. I can't find them anywhere! Could it be that the blue damsels ate them while I was away? Seems unlikely to me.
If anyone can help, I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks!
I ended up lowering the inner part of the overflow box, and I thought that did the trick. But, I see now that the water level in the return area is still slowly going down, and I've started closing the ball valve more and more. I end up closing it off so much to where there's very little circulation.
I'm new to this, so its most likely a newbie error. But it seems like there has to be an exact balance between the flow down to the sump, and the return pump. If this balance isn't perfect, there will be issues with maintaining the correct flow. I'm getting a lot of brown algae on the sand, which I've read is normal. I also read that increasing water flow helps a little, but that goes back to my problem. This water flow issue is frustrating!
Is there something I'm doing wrong? On top of this frustration, I lost two domino damsels today. Several days ago, I bought two blue damsels, and two domino damsels. Everything was going great until I get home from work today, and the domino damsels are missing. I can't find them anywhere! Could it be that the blue damsels ate them while I was away? Seems unlikely to me.
If anyone can help, I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks!