Need some help?? Sump to Sump

[jfenton954]

I designed a sump to sump scrubber. Meaning the water is being pumped out of one sump over my screen. Well the problem I'm having is the flow rate I've tried different pumps and a valve in the pic. But I can never get the water levels balanced. Does anyone have any ideas that I can try?

[Floyd R Turbo]

You will never be able to truly balance the flow rates between 2 sumps. This is pretty much an overflow situation waiting to happen. Pumps will lose flow over time due to various factors, being age, dirty impellers, slime buildup in supply and return piping, etc. This is especially prevalent in scrubber-only systems because of higher concentration of life forms in the water column (which is why you should clean pumps every 6 months, minimum)

If this is the only way you can configure it, then I would run a pipe between the 2 sumps to allow the water level to backfeed either direction to avoid a flood.

Also, I would not use metal shutoff valves. PVC only. You will eventually not be able to adjust those valves, not to mention that you don't want metal in contact with saltwater.

[jfenton954]

I had a plastic valve in there but it was so hard to adjust with the knob, it was very hard to turn so I really couldn't make any fine adjustments. Do you know of any I could try that would be easy to adjust?

[Floyd R Turbo]

You could try using a gate valve, google that. Otherwise I have found that if you take some silicone grease (find it at any hardware store, it is reef safe) and close the ball valve, apply to the ball on both sides, then open and close it a few times, it does a good job of lubricating and it turns quite easily for fine tuning. Plus the silicone lube doesn't dissolve into the water. I use it on all o-rings and gaskets too.

[srusso]

You will never be able to truly balance the flow rates between 2 sumps. This is pretty much an overflow situation waiting to happen. Pumps will lose flow over time due to various factors, being age, dirty impellers, slime buildup in supply and return piping, etc. This is especially prevalent in scrubber-only systems because of higher concentration of life forms in the water column (which is why you should clean pumps every 6 months, minimum)

If this is the only way you can configure it, then I would run a pipe between the 2 sumps to allow the water level to backfeed either direction to avoid a flood.

Also, I would not use metal shutoff valves. PVC only. You will eventually not be able to adjust those valves, not to mention that you don't want metal in contact with saltwater.

+1... you will never get them both to work perfectly together. Also a +1 on connecting the two sumps for back filling... yet another great idea from Floyd...

[jfenton954]

The dumps are 18 to 20 inches high I've tested it for a power out it doesn't over flow.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Power outage is not the problem. Unbalance of flow when the tank overflow feeds sump #1, then pump #1 feeds sump #2, then pump #2 returns to the main tank will eventually go out of balance. If pump #2 fails, then sump #2 may flood unless pump #1 runs dry. If pump #1 fails, sump #2 gets pumped dry and fill up sump #1.

So are you saying that you tested individual pump failure or did you test general power outage conditions (like your whole house loses power)

[jfenton954]

I'll have to test the pump failures thanks never really thought about that.