How often do you tune your herbie overflow?

[mrhasan]

Well I tuned my herbie overflow at the beginning of my new tank (20 days ago). I made a small trickle go down the emergency like many suggested. Yesterday night, I found out that the water level in the overflow went down by around an inch. I thought overflows are suppose to get its flow lowered through the pipe in time (thus increasing the level) but mine seems to do the opposite. Anyway, took me a minute again to get to my desired level again.

So I was wondering, how often does herbie needs to be adjusted? Looking for some experience out there :)

[reeferfulton]

Make the trickle down the e drain more. I found that I would tune mine
Until there was a decent flow down the e drain. not enough to to make noise though

If you cut it to close then you will get some variations and that will through your sump level off

I move mine only to cycle it once a month

[Proteus]

What's the point of trickle down the emergency

[mrhasan]

What's the point of trickle down the emergency

Its kinda like a cheat in herbie overflow. With a slight trickle down the emergency, the level remains mostly constant in the return of the sump without any periodic adjustment. Don't know much about it but I had really hard time keeping the level constant so I followed the trickle cheat and it worked fine till I had to readjust yesterday. Funny that the flow increased through the dorso instead of decreasing :razz:

[gregzz4]

Funny that the flow increased through the dorso instead of decreasing :razz:
What do you mean by dorso ? Do you mean Durso ? A Herbie doesn't need a Durso Standpipe. If you're using one, maybe it's fine, but my main and emerg standpipes are just straight open tubes. I don't even use strainers as my box is covered with acrylic, so only what can fit through the slits goes down the pipes

You'll eventually find a balance. You adjust the drain, the level changes, then the sump level changes and that in turn affects the standing water pressure on the return pump. Then it'll seem to go out of whack again ...
As I said, you'll find a balance, and hopefully you don't have to mess with it too much
I don't have to touch mine;

My main standpipe is 4-5" tall, the water level is about 10" above that, and the emerg is dry for another 1" plus
I've never had to adjust my drain gate valve because my pump is too much for the overflow
I instead adjust my return pump flow, but have only had to touch it once in 11 months

[mrhasan]

Ah I thought the other pipe is called durso. Sorry about that :razz:

Thanks for the insights boss :D Yah I didn't have to adjust it for last 20 days and suddenly the drop occurred. Maybe I should just let it settle on its own for week or two and leave it there? (Maybe I shouldn't have adjusted it yesterday?)

What do you mean by dorso ? Do you mean Durso ? A Herbie doesn't need a Durso Standpipe. If you're using one, maybe it's fine, but my main and emerg standpipes are just straight open tubes. I don't even use strainers as my box is covered with acrylic, so only what can fit through the slits goes down the pipes

You'll eventually find a balance. You adjust the drain, the level changes, then the sump level changes and that in turn affects the standing water pressure on the return pump. Then it'll seem to go out of whack again ...
As I said, you'll find a balance, and hopefully you don't have to mess with it too much
I don't have to touch mine;

My main standpipe is 4-5" tall, the water level is about 10" above that, and the emerg is dry for another 1" plus
I've never had to adjust my drain gate valve because my pump is too much for the overflow
I instead adjust my return pump flow, but have only had to touch it once in 11 months

[kien]

1. I have never purposefully let any water trickle down my emergency pipe.
2. If I remeber to I will open up my main drain to flush it out once every 3 months or so. Other than that I don't touch my Herbie. I know it fluctuates but the fluctuations don't bother its operation at all.

[mrhasan]

1. I have never purposefully let any water trickle down my emergency pipe.
2. If I remeber to I will open up my main drain to flush it out once every 3 months or so. Other than that I don't touch my Herbie. I know it fluctuates but the fluctuations don't bother its operation at all.

I guess I will just leave the tuning to where it is now and see how things go along :D Thank Kien :) Oh yah, don't buy all the goodies from concept tomorrow; leave some for others :P

[kien]

I guess I will just leave the tuning to where it is now and see how things go along :D Thank Kien :) Oh yah, don't buy all the goodies from concept tomorrow; leave some for others :P

I am expecting it to be way too busy at the store tomorrow so I won't be there. Go nuts :-)

[mrhasan]

I am expecting it to be way too busy at the store tomorrow so I won't be there. Go nuts :-)

Thanks for being so kind :D

[lastlight]

I use the trickle trick as well. I've never been able to exactly match the return pump's flow so I opt to send some down the emergency rather than let the primary suck any air.

I shut my return off every week for my water change since my return compartment isn't large enough to keep it running. Upon restart I have to adjust the herbie every single time. Week to week tho it never needs tuning.

[Proteus]

I've used the feed mode on my pump a few times now and other time shut it off for sh*ts and giggle and have not needed to play with gate at all

I don't trickle down the emerg and leve runs constant within a inch