Water level in sump?

[Anonymous]

The water level in my sump is not level, as the water leaves the section were the skimmer is housedit passes throught about 4 inches of gravel. It then enters the were the pump is housed. The problem is that the water level between these two sections is not the same. Were the skimmer is housed is higher than were the pump is housed. I ahve sifted through the gravel to see if there is a build up of nitrogen which is restricting the flow of water. I added a UV steriliser and the pump for this is housed in the return pump section. This should not make a difference though as the water level should still be constant thoughout the sump as it is level. Any input welcome, out of ideas.

 

[trido]

Have you tried adding more water to the return pump chamber? If you are running more water through the sump baffles than they are rated for It would create a build up of water behind them. I doubt this is the case. It is not necessary for the water level in every chamber of the sump to be perfectly level or the same in every chamber.

 

[Anonymous]

It used to be the same thoughout the sump, now there is a 1 inch difference. I water to the sump every night and it makes no difference, both the water levels rise. I know that it is not a major thing but would like it to go back to how it was.

 

[Len]

It sounds to me like you have some sort of baffle system between the skimmer section and the pump section. The baffle (or perhaps some clogging over time) may be impeding flow to the pump area, thus causing it to have a lower water level then the rest of the sump. Or it could simply be that you need to add more water to your sump. When water evaporates on my system, only my pump section in my sump shows a lower water level due to how I have my baffles designed.

 

[Anonymous]

I am add water to the sump everynight when i come in. There is a section between the skimmer and pump that has a 4 inch deep sand bed. I churned this up as i thought that there may be a build of nitrogen gas. It must be something restricting the flow as it never used to be like this.

 

[ihopss]

My evaporation is in my returnpump section,out of curiosit why do you think it's coming from your substrate , is it filtering through your substrate or over the top.

 

[Anonymous]

It flows through the gravel and under the baffle. The water in the sump used to all stay at the same level. Until 3 weeks ago.

 

[Anonymous]

I went into LFS and they had i good idea. Underneath the gravel there is plastic mesh to stop the gravel entering the pump section. I got my hand down and pulled up a corner of the gravel> Soon after the water level equalised. The gravel bed must be restricing the flow, as when i placed the mesh down the water levels became different again. I want to keep the gravel bed, any sugestions for the cleaning?