sump overflow design? little confused

crazycanuck

crazycanuck

The quitter never wins
Mar 10, 2008
352
0
0
ontario,canada
so i want to build a sump on my 55,without drilling it.. so ifound out how to make and overflow out of 2 breeder traps. but what i dont get is why you need to syphon it from one breeder in the tank to one outside the tank,and THEN to the sump... why not go from the first breeder directly to the sump??

and one really big problem i thought of is for some reason the siphon stopping,the pump would pump everything from the sump into the tank....


http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/overflow.htm
 
if the overflow is set up right it will start the siphon on it with no intervention.if for some reasin you had a power loss.
in the event of a power failure they will stop siphoning when the water level in the overflow is too low..when the tank is back in operation the water will start flowing back into the overflow and start back running into the sump
the website in the link explains it pretty well.
if you run a siphon from the tank to the sump the water will continue to siphon until the water level goes below the siphon tube.. it wil break the siphon so when power starts back up the pump may over flow the tank as it will pump most of the contents of the sump into the main tank.
it a precarious balance of water levels.
 
what im worried bout is the siphon stopping,and the pump pumping everything from the sump,into my 55... or will this just start the siphon up again??
 
in the design you see on that web site the siphon is not broken..it just stops because the water level between the two boxes is the same.(equilibrium/pressure on the surface is the same in both boxes.)
the water level when it starts to rise in the overflow will start up on it's own.
 
ok thank you :) the only thing im not sure about is making the watertight dividing wall in the second box.. any ideas of materials id be able to use,and actually find??
 
ya but now ive read up on that particular design,now im pretty confient in the way it is designed,that it cannot fail.. so i think im gonna do it! lol ill probably use a 20 long
 
there is a balance between the return pump and the overflow..
part of it is the diameter of the return feed and the overflow feeds.

also you'll want to install a check valve inline with the return side..water can siphon back from the tank thru the return...ie power loss there is water in the line..which will fall creat suction and draw water back to the sump thru the return pump.
or you can keep the return line feed at the overflow level.
 
thanks is there a special check valve for this,or can i buy one at like home depot thta will fit in pvc pipe??

one thing i also thought of is getting a proper seal between the pump and the return ine ( pvc , or abs ) ??
 
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