back siphon prevention without any check valve?

[willietang021]

I was going to use check valves on ask my return lines but saw someone said they are worthless and cannot count on them. I saw someone else said drilling a hole in the return line. Where to drill at? What method should i use to prevent water siphon back to the sump thru the return lines? Thanks!

 

[dirtycontour]

Your best bet would be to have the outlet of the return as close to the water surface as possible.

 

[xxjrealxx]

Your best bet would be to have the outlet of the return as close to the water surface as possible.

+100000000 bingo those holes you speak of can get clogged with algae very quickly and no be worth jack sh....

 

[sleepydoc]

+1 on avoiding the check valves

The best strategy is to have the outlet of your return line near enough to the surface to break the siphon and enough space in your sump to handle the water that siphons down before the siphon breaks. All the other methods I'm aware of depend on keeping something clean and functioning - a virtual guarantee that it won't work when you actually need it!

 

[SaltwaterSensei]

Heres a link to a thread that talks about siphon breaks. You can see my reply and my method of siphon break in post #21. Another member has a great picture of what I'm talking about. I came up with the idea when a snail blocked my siphon break hole and I nearly over flooded my sump when I turned the power off to do some routine maintenance.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2267413