Tank keeps overflowing

[momof6kids]

I seriously need some help. My 240 overflowed about 2 weeks ago and Doug was home and told me he turned off the pump. I was super busy and thought that with the heater in the main tank and power pumps going the tank would be ok for a few days until I had time to look at it. Three days later I went to work on it and I had lost all but 4 of my fish. Doug hadn't just turned off the pump, he turned off the circuit. No heaters, no power heads... nothing was on. I worked on it and got it running again. Watched it all day, it was fine. Fine overnight too. The next day, I went to babysit for our granddaughter and my daughter calls me to tell me she got home from college at 3 in the afternoon and the tank had overflowed again. What could be the problem?? HELP!!

 

[9supratt4]

Does it have an internal or external overflow?? The pumps were on again when it overflowed again?

 

[Hawkeye]

could it be the auto-top off is pumping too much?

or something is stuck in the overflow causing it to overflow?

 

[magic]

Erna

Sorry to hear that! I'm with Hawk on a blockage in the overflow.

Bob

 

[momof6kids]

No auto top-off. Two internal overflows, and yes the pumps were back on when they overflowed. I do have screens that are covering both overflow pipes. Nothing in either screen. And the system was up and running for more than 24 hours the second time with no issues and then overflowed. Is it possible that small snails were able to get through the screen and have gotten big enough in the pipes to create a problem. And if so, how do you get them out when there is about 30 feet of pipe going to the basement. AAAGGGHH!!!

To top it all off, we lost power this morning and my 150, which I had just filled this week overflowed and dumped 30 gallons of water on my pergo floors.

 

[9supratt4]

Wow...sorry to hear about all your troubles!!

I'm with the other 2 guys...no tank with internal overflows should overflow onto the floor. There must be something plugging up the drains. Can you check the drains in the basement to see if they are in fact draining or not?

 

[Hawkeye]

30 feet....yikes.

Short term fix is to replace the pump with something with less GPH - so much so that either overflow could handle the GPH and if one is clogged - it will still run. What's the pump rated for?

With the 150 - power-out and overflowed sounds like the sump may be too small...?

 

[Phyl]

Try snaking it, Erna (with a new, clean snake, obviously). I would also check the teeth to the overflow chamber to make sure that there's no algae in them. Is it backing up IN the overflow box because it isn't going down the drain fast enough or in the tank side because it isn't getting into the overflow box fast enough? This will be hard to know without watching it (and if it takes more than 24 hours to fail that's awful painful). I would try putting a piece of tape at the low end of each area and see if it rises over a period of a few hours.

Have you checked the outflow of the pipe to make sure that the water seems to be running freely?

Sorry to hear about the 150 overflowing as well. Check your back siphon/siphon breaks on that while you're thinking about it!

 

[ds4x4]

Sorry to hear. The Best and easy thing to do is with the pumps on look and see if you can notice a rise in the water level in your DT. OR watch for a Level drop in the Sump. There may be something that has gotten into the drain(s) and only restricted the flow not stopped it completely which would seem like it is ok for a while and takes time for the water to rise in the DT.

Depending on you drain setup IE how many 90 s in the line i would borrow or buy a pipe Snake for toilets. the long spring like kind should work better than the flat kind.

This type is usually $15-25 fora 25ft section

 

[ds4x4]

mind reader Phyl .. lol

 

[blange3]

Autotopof.com for a float switch to cutoff the pumps if the level goes too high is good a first step.

I get intermittent blockages in the overflows when the tangs sneak a half sheet of nori out of the feeding basket and the float switch prevents disaster until the blockage is cleared.

If you hear the pump cutoff, you might be able to catch what is causing the overflow.

 

[Hawkeye]

haven't heard anything back - hope everything is ok. Pm me if you need someone to actually come by and help out. I'm not all that great but I"m sure I could drag a few others on the board to join in.

 

[momof6kids]

Thanks for the offer Phil. Never did find out what was blocking/causing the problem. The tank is back up and running and hasn't given anymore problems. Possibly a snail backup that worked it's way back down to the sump?? Not sure, but got to start thinking about restocking soon. A 240 with 4 fish in it looks totally empty.

 

[JohnS_323]

Glad to hear your overflow problems are "fixed", Erna. Hopefully it was just a snail. We had a snail get stuck in one of the 3 drain lines in our stock tank and it resulted in about one hundred gallons of water draining onto my basement floor! I couldn't believe how much of a problem it caused since it was only one small snail in one of the three drain lines but it really wreaked havoc.

 

[JRWOHLER]

Glad to hear it resolved itself. Restocking sounds like fun! ;D

 

[jazzsam]

Glad my old tank is back running!