any chance of siphon with Dosing Pump

[ReefEnabler]

Hey guys,

I was wondering if theres ever chance of a siphon occuring with the dosing pump, particularly if there is a large height difference between the source and the destination?


My RO resevoir is about 5' higher than my sump, is there any risk using the dosing pump there?

 

[AQD_ottawa]

With that sort of height I would employ a check valve, pennies to buy and gives you restful nights sleep

 

[ReefEnabler]

how does a check valve help? i thought a check valve only helped prevent water from flowing backwards.
in my case its pushing water from high to low, so I dont see how it would help since it would only stop water from flowing up.

 

[AQD_ottawa]

Oh sorry I thought you were pushing water up hill not down.

As far as I can see there is little risk due to the action of the pump, but Matthias knows the internal working better than I and will pop along to confirm more accurately

 

[Harry_Fish]

how about an air break in the line

run a hose say 3/4" from your sump to up to the level of your RO
resevoir then a piece say 1/2" from the dosing pump into the first
that way a syphon cannot happen.

Good Luck

 

[ReefEnabler]

"piece say 1/2" from the dosing pump into the first
that way a syphon cannot happen."

sorry not totally sure what you mean here. What do you mean by "into the first"

but wouldn't a siphon break make the dosing pump not work, since it kind of relies on suction (capillary action) to pull liquid through the tube?

Ryan

 

[ReefEnabler]

ok I thought about what you said and I think I get the idea...
if the break happens after the dosing pump, the break would work.

so basically just T off the line coming out of the dosing pump... one end goes down to the sump, other other end needs to be elevated to higher than the RO resevoir level.

right idea?

*edit* oh and I guess the T itself would have to be above the RO water level right? otherwise the siphon would still go and just pour on downhill....

 

[Harry_Fish]

Correct...

We must think alike as my first thought was to use a T

 

[ReefEnabler]

hehe my fishroom is going to be a mess of tubing before its all done!

for reference heres some pics:
before painting testing placement:

after painting

sump will go lower right, and the RO tank is shown above next to the RODI unit.

 

[Harry_Fish]

Very Nice!

 

[AQD_ottawa]

Now you got me thinking! Damn what to do! New Hyundai veracruz to put against the business or new fish room for ultimate pleasure but huge tax bill.

Love the way your set up is going, please keep us posted.