Lots of sump questions.

ditto...
i've had about the same questions...

-brandon

mogurnda sent me this link http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...duct_Code=CS100&Product_Count=&Category_Code= it shows what you can use instead of drilling a hole. hope it helps.

Lots of really good info at this site. Sumps and refugiums ..........search through all the pages in this site and it should answer all your questions.

That artical should answer your questions.
Id just like to point out that while Siphon overflows do work. If the power ever goes out they usually lose there siphon. Power come's back on, Pump start's pumping water to the tank. Overflow isnt working, and you end up with a really wet floor. You can take precautions to prevent this but, Whouldnt it be easier to take your tank to the local glass shop and pay them the $25 to drill a hole.

for overflow boxes its best IMO to use a dorso stand pipe. it keeps it from loosing the siphon and cuts out any noise. with out one you still shouldnt loose syphon if the power goes out. I use to use the overflow box and never lost syphon.

I set up my 30 with a 600 gph overflow I got from ebay, a 20 long sump / refugium that I divided myself with 3/4 inch acrylic form Home Depot, and a Pondmaster 500 pump for return. The overflow has yet to lose siphon with several pump turnoffs for various plumbing changes. As to keeping it from backsiphoning through the pump I bought a checkvalve that goes right after the pump, and haven't had a problem. It originally had two outputs into the tank, but I needed to quickly replumb it due to a leak, so right now it only has one return. Eventually I'll hard plumb it as hose connected to barbs seems destined to leak for me.

When you turn the pump off the overflow siphons until it is no longer able, then just sits and waits for the water level to go back up. Since water wants to move to the lowest point, the overflow box when not running has about 1 inch of water on both sides, and water in the u-tube, when the water level goes back up and the water becomes available, it auto starts. As long as the water level in the sump is low enough it does not overflow with my setup. I have found the overflow losing siphon is likely if your pump isn't powerful enough to remove bubbles from the overflow, or if you leave bubbles in the u tube when you first set it up.

The one downside I get is a lot of evaporation, as I haven't yet figured out how to adequately cover the sump. Noise is minimal now that I made sure the overflow pipe in the sump is not under water, eliminated lots of bubble gulps it was doing.

I would have drilled the tank, but when I decided to make a refugium the tank was already running with livestock, so drilling was no longer an option.

I can get some pics of my setup later today if anyone is interested.

--Mia

My overflow: Ebay link

TAFKARojo said:

I read somewhere that if you cut a hole inthe tube slightly below the water level, when your tanks starts to siphon out the water youll only lose water until that hole, restricting the amount of water lost.

Click to expand...

EXACTLY what I did on my return line from the sump. Otherwise, my room would flood as my sump overflowed. I drilled a small hole in the return line about one inch below the water level. My overflow (Amiracle) will not lose it's siphon when the water drains below the intake slots in the tank box - a definite "sleep better" feature when you consider power loss.