Sump on a nano ?

[Acipenser]

I am having a Heck of a time trying to get the flow balanced out from my 15G to the sump and back. My thoughts are that the tolerances are just too small . I have 2 - 1/2" drains and a Eheim 1000 pump with 1/2" return from my 5 gallon sump. on the drains I have 2 ball valves so I can adjust the flow. I cant seam to find the proper balance and am questioning weather I should just not plan for a sump on such a small tank - Thoughts ?

[Nano]

Eheim 1000 as in 1000gph? Lol might be a stupid question. Half inch is pretty small but for a small tank shouldn't be a huge difference to 1 1/2" on a large tank.

[Myka]

The Eheim 1000 is 1000 lph, not gph. :D

I have an Eheim 1000 on my 50-gallon tank, and I have a ball valve cranking it back a bit because it is too much flow through the sump. I think that return pump is quite a bit too large for a 15-gallon tank. You need to look for something closer to 100 gph at whatever head height you have imo. Be careful with small pumps like that where they might be rated for very low head height.

1/2" is pretty small for drains even if you have low flow, I think you would have a much easier time if you used 3/4" drains instead.

Also, why do you have two ball valves? Are you trying to do a Herbie drain? If so, you should only have one valve on the main drain. The emergency drain should not have a valve. The main drain should have a gate valve, not a ball valve. You need to be able to make very small adjustments and that is very difficult to achieve with a ball valve.

[Acipenser]

That is exactly the info I was looking for , thank you .

[Acipenser]

With both 1/2 drains open fully they easily out flow the return line - actually with 1 closed all the way and the other fully open the Eheim can not keep up.

[windcoast reefs]

With both 1/2 drains open fully they easily out flow the return line - actually with 1 closed all the way and the other fully open the Eheim can not keep up.

Isn't that kinda ideal? If the pump can't keep up to the drain then you should be in balance at some point. It may require adding or subtracting some water.

How exactly is it not in balance? Is it gurgling, or is the sump overflowing, or is the tank running to full?

[Acipenser]

It's gurgling , I can live with the noise. I have adjusted it to the point where it's pretty close now. But I think I now need to add a float switch for the return pump, and am considering adding a bigger return pump or a second one at least.

[windcoast reefs]

Adding more pumps might just make the problem worse, I think you need to have a larger drain with a valve. I had half inch on a nano and it was noisy until I upgraded to 1 inch durso style standpipe.

[Acipenser]

O.k. so I believe I have the problem solved - However I am unsure of the BEST solution. I believe that the return pump is under powered for the amount that the drains are flowing into the sump. I have 2 x 1/2" drain lines flowing into the sump, The Eheim return pump at full volume cannot keep up to dual 1/2" drains. I have fitted 2 ball valves into the drains to dial back the flow. I realize this is the wrong method but it was the cheapest and works to the point where I can adjust the drains to match what the Eheim can return. At this point after 12 hours the display tank level and sump stay the same.

The proper method would be for me to either add a second Eheim pump or 1 larger pump and have a diverted return line with a proper gate valve back into the sump.

Thoughts ?