power outage?

[~SIRENA~]

How do you prevent your sump from overflowing in case of a power outage? The power goes out sometimes during the night when there is a storm. If the pump stops the drainage continues and will overflow the sump. Is there anyway to prevent this? Maybe adjust the water level in the sump? Help.
Has anyone had this problem?
Thanks, Adriana

[NirvanaFan]

You can install a check valve in your return line that goes from the sump to the display. Check valves can and do fail though. You can also drill a hole in the return line just below the water level in the display tank. When the pump turns off the water will start to siphon down to the sump. When the air hits the hole, the siphon should start and you should only lose a couple gallons down into your sump. So don't fill your sump all the way up.

I would suggest drilling 2 holes just incase one is blocked by a snail, coraline, etc. I lose about 3 gallons of water when I turn off the pump in my sump. I also turn off the return pump every 2 weeks and test to make sure that siphon breaks.

[dbuesking]

i drilled one hole in each of my four supply lines just below the surface to break the siphon.

[capn_hylinur]

Check valves can fail---the small hole that breaks the syphon will not fail.

[NirvanaFan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11095049#post11095049 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NirvanaFan
When the air hits the hole, the siphon should start and you should only lose a couple gallons down into your sump.


that should say...
When the air hits the hole, the siphon should stop and you should only lose a couple gallons down into your sump.

[~SIRENA~]

Excuse my ignorance, I'm very new at this, but can you be more specific? I have a reef ready Oceanic and the only part that the return line is under water is in the flow box which only has about 3 inches of water at any given time. Where would I drill the hole?

[kevin2000]

Heres a nice article discussing sumps .. may help.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/gt/index.php

[kaihonu82]

how exactly is your display tank draining into your sump? Do you have an overflow box or anything?

Make sure that your sump will be able to handle the water that will drain into your sump until the water line in your display tank is lower than the overflow.

As long as your return line (sump back to display) isn't fully submerged within the display tank you will not get a return siphon (sucking water via the return pipe into your sump)


how many gallons is your sump?

[rustybucket145]

It's best to build enough room in your sump to handle the water overflow. Check valves and vent holes can both fail. The holes in your return line are a little more reliable but can still easily fail if not maintained properly.

[stingythingy45]

Why would your sump overflow?
I hate to sound a little critical here but,have you ever tried killing the power to see if your sump would overflow?
Most tanks that are Reef ready or even with an over the side U flow will only lose water up to the top of the in tank overflow teeth.A small hole as others have mentioned above the waterline in the return will help break a siphon.Sumps don't overflow most of the time, main displays do.

[AZDesertRat]

If you have a reef ready tank and you have the returns placed properly, overflowing the sump should not be an issue. When the power goes out, the level in the tank should only drop to the level of the weir or fingers on the overflow box. On the return side you should always keep the returns near the surface so only a calculated amount of water backsiphons until the return nozzles are exposed to air and the siphon breaks. In my 100G reef I get about 4 gallons tops back into my sump so I know to ALWAYS maintain at least that much room at all times in the sump, even after topping off. I actually keep about 8 gallons of freeboard as a precaution.

Drilled holes can and do fail, all it takes is a snail to cover the hole, a flake of dry food, a little algae, a fish etc. Check valves should be an absolute last resort. They are a mechanical device and even though simple they do fail. A grain of sand, flake of food, small snail or pod etc. It does not have to stick wide open, even a trickle from a non seating disc will cause an overflow over time.

[~SIRENA~]

I did shut off the pump and the remaining water in the overflow box kept draining into the sump. It overflowed into my living room -it was only a few minutes maybe, and I was there to catch it. I'm thinking maybe my sump was filled to high to begin with and the few left over inches of water in the overflow pushed it over the top.

[AZDesertRat]

Sounds like you don't have a standpipe in the overflow box??????
If not take a look at Stockman or Durso standpipes, either can be constructed for less than a few dollars and they work great.

Once you have installed a standpipe, establish a safe level in your sump and using a Sharpie or other way to permanently mark it put that level on the sump an never ever, did I mention never ever fill it past that point.

[capn_hylinur]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11096207#post11096207 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AZDesertRat
If you have a reef ready tank and you have the returns placed properly, overflowing the sump should not be an issue. When the power goes out, the level in the tank should only drop to the level of the weir or fingers on the overflow box. On the return side you should always keep the returns near the surface so only a calculated amount of water backsiphons until the return nozzles are exposed to air and the siphon breaks. In my 100G reef I get about 4 gallons tops back into my sump so I know to ALWAYS maintain at least that much room at all times in the sump, even after topping off. I actually keep about 8 gallons of freeboard as a precaution.

Drilled holes can and do fail, all it takes is a snail to cover the hole, a flake of dry food, a little algae, a fish etc. Check valves should be an absolute last resort. They are a mechanical device and even though simple they do fail. A grain of sand, flake of food, small snail or pod etc. It does not have to stick wide open, even a trickle from a non seating disc will cause an overflow over time.

thanks AZ--never thought of that--I should know at this point not to make blanket statements.:eek1:

That said--some people don't have large enough sumps due to room under stand ect---that makes the hole in the lock line the most practical thing to rely on. The hole I drilled is actually under the base of the lock lines so it is really high up--it only drains about one inch into the sump--in my case I need to rely on that cause it drains about nine feet straight down to the basement sump.

[capn_hylinur]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11096310#post11096310 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AZDesertRat
Sounds like you don't have a standpipe in the overflow box??????
If not take a look at Stockman or Durso standpipes, either can be constructed for less than a few dollars and they work great.

Once you have installed a standpipe, establish a safe level in your sump and using a Sharpie or other way to permanently mark it put that level on the sump an never ever, did I mention never ever fill it past that point.

to the original poster:
a picture here would really help--can you post one