Rena Failure

[charden]

So bu now most of you know I have been having a terrible time with my canister filters. Started out with a Marineland c-530 and it would not stop blowing micro bubbles. So I opted for a Rena XP4 and a Fluval 405. I hooked up the Fluval last night and it seems to be working fairly well. The Rena on the other hand caused this:


I boxed it back up and went to the LFS and the owner seeing my frustrations with the canisters suggested I try a sump. After he talked me in to it I had this installed and I am hoping it will be sufficient. I am going to keep my Fluval 405 for Mechanical and Chemical filtration and I will be removing the final Emperor in about a month. Here is what I went with:

Eshopps WD-300CS and an Aquatic Life 3700LPH pump.


Any suggestions or comments are welcome.

[fuzzylogic]

Sounds like an awesome plan. Do you plan on leaving the bio-balls in or taking them out, and are they getting water trickled on them. They don't look fully submerged but its hard to see the design of the sump

[fuzzylogic]

I think I would even keep some hornwort or water lettuce in the sump

[charden]

The water is trickling down on the bio balls. From what the guy said they well never be fully submerged. I believe on the box it says something about Wet/Dry.

[charden]

It came with an overflow box . All this is Spanish to me but the lfs said call anytime so I am sure I will..lol

[kyangelsncorys]

im going to be setting up 5 of these only alot bigger sumps with 5 to 10 tanks on each sum . im a green horn when it comes to this type of filteration so i guess it will be trail & error or learn as i go

[charden]

The one I got is rated for 300 gallons so I am hoping that will be all the filtration I need on my 125

[charden]

Hey man if you know anything about these wet/dry filters I have a question. In the u tubes on my overflow box it seems to be carrying in a lot of bubbles and in one of the tubes is a big air pocket. Any ideas how to get the water flowing smoother?

[charden]

No it is getting plenty of flow in the other tube... Here is a pic of what I mean.

[davidtcb1]

I have seen the bubble get so big that the siphon does stop eventually. It's usually created by small bubbles that are created on the tank side of the overflow by the water falling into the box from the tank, that eventually combine to make the one big bubble. Sometimes you can tilt the box and or tube back and get the big bubble to go on over the "falls" and out into the sump. You may also try starting the siphon again (take the U tube out and start the siphon again using a piece of airline tubing inserted in the top of the "U"). If it still builds back up, you can try putting a rigid piece of filter floss in the tank side of the overflow box between the wall of the inlet side of the box and the U tubes. That will break those small bubbles up before they get sucked in to the U tube in the first place.

[charden]

I have sucked and blew on this air tube so much i feel like porn star...lol. Once I get one flowing the other one builds a bubble. I have adjusted the overflow box with the wingnuts down and up...If I put it down too far way too much water flows but up too high and it stops the siphon all together. I have also tried putting some sponges in there to restrict some of the water flow but that didnt work. It appears to be working so maybe I will just let it be and hope it continues to work...Talk about over filtration!

[davidtcb1]

Lol...It's usually one or the other, not both for some reason. I think if you can get some media in there to break those bubbles up, the majority of your problem will be resolved. Of course, that will also trap debris before you really want it trapped, so something else to rinse out and keep clean, etc. Good luck.

[davidtcb1]

Nov 6, 2011 21:11:56 GMT -6 @stoneyredneck said:

Also, I just noticed the heater in that pic. Any reason you don't put that in your sump? Getting that stuff out of your tank is one of the benefits to running a sump system.

True.

[charden]

Nov 6, 2011 21:11:56 GMT -6 @stoneyredneck said:

Also, I just noticed the heater in that pic. Any reason you don't put that in your sump? Getting that stuff out of your tank is one of the benefits to running a sump system.

How would that work? If I put both in the filter with the pump would it pump the warm water in to the tank?

[davidtcb1]

You can put your heater anywhere in the sump that will keep it fully submerged. The chamber between the bio balls and return pump is most common. It will heat the water the same as if the heater was in the main tank.