Wtf

[Jrodriguez682]

excuse my language. tank has been up n running over a week now. added a couple clowns and some cuc thursday evening. friday night the water level in my tank dropped out of nowhere. one minute all was well the next i walked back in the room and saw it had dropped almost 2 inches. i played around with my large collection of caps i made for my durso pipe, after trying a few with different size holes the one that worked was a different cap than the one that was originally on. so i played around with it some more this morning and found out both the original and the new one were working fine. i left the new one on though. heres where it gets strange...same thing happened just now almost exactly 24 hrs later (it might even be exactly 24 hrs) somewhere between 3-330 am both times...two nights in a row. WTF is it a full moon or something. is my house haunted? after playing with all the caps again it was the same one that was already on that worked perfectly, and has been for 45 minutes now. at first i thought it was my cieling fan thats over the tank, but it was on both nights for hours before the water level changes. anybody have any clue whats going on, im so lost. how could it run problem free for days, then... BAM!? thought last night was a freak occurence now i cant sleep,

 

[DanSreef]

Gremlins!

Perhaps someone pictures of your setup would help. The only thing I can think is there is not enough air getting into you overflow...and a siphon is occurring which is pulling too much water from your tank....until the level drops to a point and the siphon breaks. This could be because salt build up is blocking things or a snail...or something else that is blocking the hole in the top of your durso. I have heard of some people having to insert a rigid airline tube into that hole leaving a inch or so above the top of the durso and an inch or so into it. If that makes sense...

I am not sure this is the cause or cure...but maybe something to try.

Good luck.

 

[Kevin Says]

I will guess that your return pump is going bad.

 

[OpTiCz]

That was my guess too. I had chaeto in mine and it was making my impeller stuck. Make sure it's free from debris.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

 

[Smitty]

Sorry to hear that bro...I'm agreeing with everyone else on the return pump, but did you double check to make sure you don't have a small/slow drip anywhere, or a wet spot anywhere on the floor?

 

[Jrodriguez682]

the reutn pump was bought in mid december (ehiem 1260) i got it from another member couple weeks ago. i do have a really really slow drip but its on the overflow pipe under the tank just above the sump, so it drips into the sump. what about air bubbles? if they get into return pump could that be a problem? right now my sump has no baffles, just an open 20 gallon with my heater, ehiem 1260, mag 5 for HOB protien skimmer, couple media bags filled with live rock rubble. ill see if i can get a picture.

 

[BADGUS]

That's a weird problem,another problem is that u did not cycle ur tank,just added fish right away.

 

[Kevin Says]

If your water level suddenly drops by 2 inches that is indicative of an equipment failure. My money is on your return pump.

 

[taylor t]

Is it possible there's something in the pump causing a little blockage, not a full blockage? If so, can you screen it to prevent future blockage? I'm using eheim 1260 & 1262 pumps for years with out even cleaning them, they still go. I'm not using the sponge it comes with either.

If you get rid of the durso/cap contraption, and live with loud overflow for a day, does it still happen?

 

[Jrodriguez682]

why would that be a problem if ive been testing my water, and getting it tested at two different places(both places were telling me to put fish in a couple days earlier than i did), and starting with 70+#'s of live rock, 120 #s of live sand, from an established aquarium, also adding some live bacteria from one of the places i later had my water tested at?

 

[Kevin Says]

Is it possible there's something in the pump causing a little blockage, not a full blockage? If so, can you screen it to prevent future blockage? I'm using eheim 1260 & 1262 pumps for years with out even cleaning them, they still go. I'm not using the sponge it comes with either.

If you get rid of the durso/cap contraption, and live with loud overflow for a day, does it still happen?

This is definitely possible. Taking the pump out and thoroughly cleaning it would be a good idea. But I do not think it has anything to do with the durso setup because that would affect the water level in the sump not the display.

 

[Jrodriguez682]

took the return pump apart, no blockage, sponge was a little dirty, but i dont think that it was dirty enough to cause blockage. also noticed when i went to get pump out of the sump, some pretty big air bubbles came out of the pump. could this be a problem, too much air getting in pump? or is air in the pump normal. ive only had biocubes and never got to really see the pump in action so never noticed if it also collected air.

when the water level did drop the return was still pumping water back to the display. i think it was just draining to the sump too fast, but not fast enough were i heard the flow increase. the last time it happened i was sitting three feet away and didnt notice till it was already almost down to the bottom of the intake on the durso

 

[SkullV]

Sounds like your durso was flushing. Do you have your drain in an overflow box or just in the tank? How deep under the water in the sump does your drain go? Only let it go ~1" under water to reduce backpressure and flushing.

Also remove the sponge from your return pump immediately. They clog very quickly and reduce flow which leads to increased heat in the impeller magnet. I have been running my 1262 for 7 months now without the sponge.

 

[taylor t]

Can you post a picture? While 1260 pumps aren't self priming, when I do a water change with mine, it will pump many bubbles from pulling air, tank fills with tons of "foam" looking bubbles, and clears itself and runs normal once water is added to the correct levels.

With my tanks, I've found my levels are equalized with 2 things. Return, and overflow. If you can't get consistant levels, one of them is off. If the pump works and seems to run smooth, that only leaves one other option.

 

[Jrodriguez682]

This is definitely possible. Taking the pump out and thoroughly cleaning it would be a good idea. But I do not think it has anything to do with the durso setup because that would affect the water level in the sump not the display.

well when the disply level goes down, the sump level fills to almost capacity, i personally feel its the durso cap, or something restricting flow from retun pump(but i checked that out, cleaned it up and dont see a problem with blockage). not sure what to do, cause i dont want to play with it if its working (which it has been now all day) if it happens @ 3:00am again, im moving out. isnt that the devils hour according to ghost hunters :wacko:

 

[Jrodriguez682]

Sounds like your durso was flushing. Do you have your drain in an overflow box or just in the tank? How deep under the water in the sump does your drain go? Only let it go ~1" under water to reduce backpressure and flushing.

Also remove the sponge from your return pump immediately. They clog very quickly and reduce flow which leads to increased heat in the impeller magnet. I have been running my 1262 for 7 months now without the sponge.

durso is just in tank, no overflow box. i actually have it closer to 2-3" under the water level in sump.
thanx for the tip about the sponge, removing it now

 

[SkullV]

That is your problem then. Guaranteed. Flushing.

http://www.dursostandpipes.com/faq/45-flushing-effect-why-does-the-water-level-go-up-and-down

 

[Jrodriguez682]

pics tomorrow when my buddy brings his camera over