Return and Overflow problems

[Dirt4dinner]

Over the last few weeks I have noticed that the water level in my skimmer has been getting lower and lower. Today I started investigating. I started by trying to raise the level in the skimmer with the gate valve, but I have turned the gate valve so it is as closed as possible and my water level is still just barely touching the bottom of the collection tube. It dawned on me then, that maybe there isn't enough flow going through the system. My system is set up so that my overflow splits, half goes into the skimmer and half dumps into the sump. It is very apparent now that I have VERY LITTLE flow going through my overflow. So I pulled out my return pump and cleaned it, thinking it wasn't pushing enough water up and out of the sump...it appears to be working fine. But somewhere in this system I am loosing almost all of my gph. The whole system is just barely at a trickle. What do I do now? It has been working fine for months...now I don't even have enough water coming through the overflow to keep the skimmer full.

[dakar]

If you are sure your return pump is working properly then look for obstructions in your return plumbing. Your overflow should only be sending the same amount of water to the sump as is returned by the pump.

[Dirt4dinner]

Dakar,
Yeah, I am not 100% sure if the return pump is working properly...it's working, that much I know. I took it out, cleaned it and it looked normal.
I am trying to figure out exactly how I am going to check for obstructions in all that plumbing. Taking it all apart seems like it should be a last resort. I tried shoveing some RO tubing down into it, but it doesn't want to go around corners...so I need to find something with a little more "backbone" to it. I might go try to find some type of pipe cleaner tube or something like that and ram it down into the overflow and return lines. I would say there is an equal chance that it is clogged, or that the return pump is crap. I am never been overly impressed with the Quiet One pump...we will see.

[Whoyah]

Does water run down the plumbing from the main tank when the return pipe is disconnected from the pump? You should be able to eval the flow pretty simply that way. If it does, I would say it was your pump.

[Dirt4dinner]

Well, the skimmer problem is solved. My recir pump was half falling off allowing all the pressure out of the chamber. However there is still not a very high turnover rate within the sump and plumbing. I am nearly positive it is the pump rather than the plumbing. If the overflow was getting clogged then the water would be backing up in the tank because the pump would still be going full bore. However, the water coming out of the return lines seems wimpy to me when I stick my finger in front of it. So that means it's either the pump or something in the return lines...but if something was in the return lines it would have to have travelled through the pump. Not likely I suppose. It might just be time for a better pump. But as long as the skimmer is working I am not going to stress over it to much.