Increasing internal overflow skim

[805hd]

What’s up guys,

I have a 170 gallon with a toothless internal overflow. Trying to increase surface skimming.

Question is, would choking back my drain a bit (reducing flow to sump) raise my water level and create more surface skim? Or would this just fill my overflow?

The surface water flowing over the lip and into the overflow is VERY low. I was thinking if I could increase that it would have more pull on the surface.

The internal overflow is quite tall, 30” tank. 2 standpipe drains, both wide open at about 18” inches. So I have a lot of space and free fall in there.

There’s only one way to find out of course, I’ll try it in the AM. Just looking for input

 

[CichlidFiend]

i was tryna look through your threads to see how you return to the sump after the overflow but i think this was the best i could find, if you could add one of the overflow and inside the overflow, that would be most excellent. and possibly a video
just off the top of my head i would think you would need to be draining to the sump, slightly more than you are returning to the tank from the sump
love the setup btw especially that stand

 

[805hd]

CichlidFiend thanks! I appreciate that.

The problem wasn't flow to the sump; it was flow to the tank. Increasing the power to my return pump increased the water level in the tank therefore increasing surface pull up and over the overflow. Plenty of surface skim now.

With both my returns angled down and slightly turned towards the front glass I can kick up the stuff sitting on the substrate enough that it makes it to the mouth of the overflow and down into the sump. It's perfect actually. I came home to crystal clear water today.

Now I just have to find a happy medium maintaining enough flow for filtration while not blowing my fish around.

Going to play around with some power heads this weekend.

 

[CichlidFiend]

gotcha, you said reducing the drain, and that didnt sound quite right but it is just basically managing the ratio between returning and draining, for the flow as long as you are pushing the gunk up off the bottom and it gets into the water collum, youre doing it right, even if it doesnt make up to the overflow, its gonna keep getting churned and broken up, you may need to add some teeth to the overflow

 

[805hd]

You can see how much nasty came out of this thing after raised water height, increased skimming and flow adjustments on that filter floss. Undeniable proof my water is cleaner for the effort and fine tuning.

 

[CichlidFiend]

that looks alot better, but yea i see what you mean about slowing the flow for the discus, maybe try pointing the returns downward but to the glass, so it kinda baffles the flow, you shouldnt need much flow on the bottom with how lightly youre stocked

 

[805hd]

CichlidFiend was debating teeth solely because I have one Cory that ends up back there from time to time. Smallest fish in the tank so that won’t be an issue for long. Adding teeth just seems like more work for less flow so I decided to stay toothless like a redneck. For now at least.

I like that “baffle” idea. I ordered a couple of small power heads. Adjustable. The plan is to use those to stir the bottom and my returns to agitate the surface while controlling water level.

Returns pointing up and power heads pointing down. They show up tomorrow so I’ll play around with it. Tank won’t be lightly stocked for long so I’d like to get things dialed.

There are about 21 fish in there now.

Plan is to add a handful more discus and let it run!

 

[CichlidFiend]

i would go with the teeth or something that slightly restricts overflow to the drain, even a little on the sides might increase surface skimming

 

[805hd]

CichlidFiend thats valid. I’ll see what happens with the power heads. Might take care of the problem.