Snulma reminds me there is one item all new water-hobbyists need to know and watch for.
A hose that touches the water at both ends can become a siphon---transporting water you don't want transported. Let me give you an illo re how sneaky that can be: I had a big topoff reservoir, an autotopoff unit, and a hose that was about 1.5" above the sump water line, safe, right?
Not so much so when I had a power out (brief) and the hose touched the sump water as the water rose in there. Just a little airline tubing, a lot of gallons...no big deal, eh? Well, the siphon started sucking and the fill began to exceed the proper limit in the sump, because a siphon just siphons. And it does it in either direction. When the siphon filled the sump enough, it stalled, but the deficit was now on the other end of the siphon, so it back-flowed. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. A lot. And remember one side is proper salt water, and the other is fresh water.
Over time, that siphon dropped the salinity in my display tank and salted my freshwater topoff, trading water back and forth, back and forth. Every time the sump got low, the autotopoff started to pump fresh water in, and every time it cut off, the siphon took sump water back to the freshwater storage.
Fortunately I figured it out before any fish died. I then raised the salinity back to 1.024 slowly and carefully.
What would have prevented this?Either keeping the free end of the hose ABOVE the potential flood limit in a power out---or putting a hole in the highest arch of the siphon hose so it would release the suction and not backflow.
Siphonage is a tricksy thing. You have to do some thinking as to how much clearance is enough. And remember---that pump you leave lying in a bucket on the floor, with a hose IN your (higher) tank---becomes a siphon itself, the minute you cut the power, and one with a half-inch hose, to boot. More than one hobbyist has gotten that surprise.
A hose that touches the water at both ends can become a siphon---transporting water you don't want transported. Let me give you an illo re how sneaky that can be: I had a big topoff reservoir, an autotopoff unit, and a hose that was about 1.5" above the sump water line, safe, right?
Not so much so when I had a power out (brief) and the hose touched the sump water as the water rose in there. Just a little airline tubing, a lot of gallons...no big deal, eh? Well, the siphon started sucking and the fill began to exceed the proper limit in the sump, because a siphon just siphons. And it does it in either direction. When the siphon filled the sump enough, it stalled, but the deficit was now on the other end of the siphon, so it back-flowed. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. A lot. And remember one side is proper salt water, and the other is fresh water.
Over time, that siphon dropped the salinity in my display tank and salted my freshwater topoff, trading water back and forth, back and forth. Every time the sump got low, the autotopoff started to pump fresh water in, and every time it cut off, the siphon took sump water back to the freshwater storage.
Fortunately I figured it out before any fish died. I then raised the salinity back to 1.024 slowly and carefully.
What would have prevented this?Either keeping the free end of the hose ABOVE the potential flood limit in a power out---or putting a hole in the highest arch of the siphon hose so it would release the suction and not backflow.
Siphonage is a tricksy thing. You have to do some thinking as to how much clearance is enough. And remember---that pump you leave lying in a bucket on the floor, with a hose IN your (higher) tank---becomes a siphon itself, the minute you cut the power, and one with a half-inch hose, to boot. More than one hobbyist has gotten that surprise.
