@madchef360 I had a hard time at first too. I ended up using a small bit of air tubing like a straw and fed it through until it was on the top. I then had to suck the air out while keep topping off both sides with water. Once primed, mine would hold for about 3 days without any water moving, or ran for months with water moving.
I use a bit of airline tubing to suck the air out.
If you aren't using it right now, turn it upside down with the siphon full of water. Dry the outside off. If it's a leak, you should see a small drop of water form at the leak.
It could also possibly be sucking air bubbles from the surface? Mine has enough flow to sucks a fish through it. I had to put in a gate to keep the fish in the tank.
I have tried oversizeing the drain, I have notched it, the only way I can get it to shut up, is to stick my finger into it.
I am thinking of trying to put a bit of tube suspended over it so air doesn't have to fight it's way out. It just hasn't annoyed me enough yet for me to fuss with it.
What worked for me was to take a piece of media and roll it up and stick the end in the drain, dont stuff it real hard or you will lose water flow. also if you have a ball valve on your return, try and get a good adjustment to keep the water level in the back compartment of your overflow and inch or so above the drain.
i messed around with everthing for an hour or so to get it how i wanted. just takes some tweaking!
OK, I think I see what your doing. Did you leave any of the filter media stick out above? So the water flowed through the media to get into the drain?
I put two drains on mine, 1 size larger then the pump's tubing. I figured one should be enough to handle the pump, but incase one got plugged (fish/plant, etc) the other would be able to handle the flow.
Thanks for the tips, i will try fiddling with mine. Maybe make a video?
One of my green spotted puffer swap over the edge into the overflow box got stuck on the media i had silencing the drain and clogged it (somehow he live through all this). well my tank couldnt handle the flow of water from my sump and water is everywhere.
The whole point of doing a siphon weir is that the siphon won't break when the power goes out. The water will go down to the level of the weir and no further.
Then when the power comes on, the siphon is ready to go and will start working again.
help please .... i cant get mine to prime !!
any help or tips
madchef360 1 year ago
@madchef360 I had a hard time at first too. I ended up using a small bit of air tubing like a straw and fed it through until it was on the top. I then had to suck the air out while keep topping off both sides with water. Once primed, mine would hold for about 3 days without any water moving, or ran for months with water moving.
creuzerm 1 year ago
good luck, mine failed miserably :(
jasonkirchman 2 years ago
Thanks! It took 3 rounds of fixing air leaks, but I finally got it to work well!
creuzerm 2 years ago
mine gradually built up a bubble on the top very scary haha
any pointers?
jasonkirchman 2 years ago
I use a bit of airline tubing to suck the air out.
If you aren't using it right now, turn it upside down with the siphon full of water. Dry the outside off. If it's a leak, you should see a small drop of water form at the leak.
It could also possibly be sucking air bubbles from the surface? Mine has enough flow to sucks a fish through it. I had to put in a gate to keep the fish in the tank.
creuzerm 2 years ago
did the leak check today and it worked! finally got my sump up and running!
jasonkirchman 2 years ago
Great, glad to hear it!
Keep an eye on it for a few days.
creuzerm 2 years ago
haha dont worry, ive been making sure to check it every like 20 minutes.
do you have any good pointers on how to silence the drain?
jasonkirchman 2 years ago
Keep it from sucking air somehow?
Mine gurgles, blubs and well, just sucks.
I have tried oversizeing the drain, I have notched it, the only way I can get it to shut up, is to stick my finger into it.
I am thinking of trying to put a bit of tube suspended over it so air doesn't have to fight it's way out. It just hasn't annoyed me enough yet for me to fuss with it.
creuzerm 2 years ago
hey i put a piece of filter media in it, took some adjusting, but silences it!
jasonkirchman 2 years ago
Really? Oh, do share some details!!!
Did you just cover the drain? Stick the media into the drain? Where/how did you place it?
creuzerm 2 years ago
What worked for me was to take a piece of media and roll it up and stick the end in the drain, dont stuff it real hard or you will lose water flow. also if you have a ball valve on your return, try and get a good adjustment to keep the water level in the back compartment of your overflow and inch or so above the drain.
i messed around with everthing for an hour or so to get it how i wanted. just takes some tweaking!
jasonkirchman 2 years ago
OK, I think I see what your doing. Did you leave any of the filter media stick out above? So the water flowed through the media to get into the drain?
No ball valve on the return.
creuzerm 2 years ago
yea its just the end of the media.
my overflow cant handle the full flow of my pump so i needed a ball valve id rather it handle the flow but the ball valve does come in handy
jasonkirchman 2 years ago
I put two drains on mine, 1 size larger then the pump's tubing. I figured one should be enough to handle the pump, but incase one got plugged (fish/plant, etc) the other would be able to handle the flow.
Thanks for the tips, i will try fiddling with mine. Maybe make a video?
creuzerm 2 years ago
Man i thought i should let you know.
This morning, i woke up to tragedy :(
One of my green spotted puffer swap over the edge into the overflow box got stuck on the media i had silencing the drain and clogged it (somehow he live through all this). well my tank couldnt handle the flow of water from my sump and water is everywhere.
---split in two comments for character count--
jasonkirchman 2 years ago
Some changes i made were putting some gutter guard over the intake so fish cant get in anymore.
i removed the media that i was using for noise.
Now i have a valve on the drain line and it works perfect!
You can make adjustments to put the water level above the level of the drain and it is silent.
Its definatly smart to have two drains like you said you did but mine is now silent and free of danger hopefully.
I also did not add any extra water to my sump after the flood so my tank can handle it
jasonkirchman 2 years ago
Draw lines on the side to prep for glue and dont forget to drill a siphon break or you'll flood the sump when power goes out.
cougar32v 2 years ago
The whole point of doing a siphon weir is that the siphon won't break when the power goes out. The water will go down to the level of the weir and no further.
Then when the power comes on, the siphon is ready to go and will start working again.
creuzerm 2 years ago
shit what kind of silicone did you use before you got the right kind and your over flow box is lookin good
505titan 2 years ago
Actually, I used one of those little 'mini' pouches of silicone. It seemed to work well enough, and didn't kill anything in the tank!
creuzerm 2 years ago