Herbie overflow tuning

[mrhasan]

So my new tank came with herbie overflow and I am having an extremely hard time to tune it to a constant level. No matter what, water level always goes down or goes up over hours. This is going to be a big pain with ATO.

So herbie overflow experts, please help

[subman]

Are you using a ball or gate valve?
The key is making tiny adjustments and waiting 30min

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by subman

Are you using a ball or gate valve?
The key is making tiny adjustments and waiting 30min

Gate valve for the adjustment. So I adjust the valve and wait for 30mins and adjust accordingly? Do I have to do it everytime I turn on/off the return? And how often do I have to adjust it?

[subman]

once you find the sweet spot it should be good. I find I need to open it fully once a month and flush it out.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by subman

once you find the sweet spot it should be good. I find I need to open it fully once a month and flush it out.

Great; that's a relief :P Thanks for the info

[The Guy]

Originally Posted by subman

once you find the sweet spot it should be good. I find I need to open it fully once a month and flush it out.

I find when your sock filter starts to get dirty it ups the level in the overflow, change the sock for a clean one and it's all good. Agree with the sweet spot comment. Also make your adjustments small and like was mentioned wait 30 mins. to see where you end up.

[Myka]

Could you take a pic of it? It shouldn't be that hard to adjust. I'm wondering there is something odd about the way it is set up.

[spit.fire]

The lower the gate valve is the easier it will be to adjust, mine sits 1" above the water level in the sump, without an ATo you'll find yourself adjusting it as the sump level goes down as it changes the flow, also barometric pressure will affect it, all minor things but something to consider, on my 8' tank with ato I never adjust it, my 75 with baffles I'm constantly adjusting it

I usually go with a bare tank and ATo for a sump if I'm running a herbie.

[HaZRaTTy]

Your first chamber would freak me the F out everyday, I wouldn't be able to not check the tank 1000 times a day. Water level being right to the black edging.

When I tuned my Herbie in I had no problems what so ever, I also used my emergency drain to drain into my refugium, maybe try to turn your overflow box up to the top of your Emergency drain and let it take the extra water back into your sump. It seems your 1.5 PVC can't handle the amount of GPH your return pump puts out, by routing down your emergency drain just a little it would make up for this downfall.

[George]

Originally Posted by HaZRaTTy

...
When I tuned my Herbie in I had no problems what so ever, I also used my emergency drain to drain into my refugium, maybe try to turn your overflow box up to the top of your Emergency drain and let it take the extra water back into your sump. It seems your 1.5 PVC can't handle the amount of GPH your return pump puts out, by routing down your emergency drain just a little it would make up for this downfall.

Don't use emergency drain for anything else other than emergency situation only. The emergency drain should remain dry under normal operation. Doing it otherwise will defeat the purposes of the herbie system, i.e. fail-safe and silence.