Flood!!!!!

[tdawgnjlo]

I turned my pump off during routine maintenance, walked out of the room with my filter sock to clean it, and my sump overflowed. I have a check valve on the pump outlet but I guess it failed.

How often do reefers replace check valves? I cannot perform preventitive maintenance on the check valve due to its design.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

What should I have done differently to prevent this problem? I have heard that some people drill a hole in the top of the supply nozzles, is this the preventative procedure to avoid this, or there a better way of ensuring this will never happen again.

On another note, ff

 

[firerock]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=951933

This thread should help.

 

[tdawgnjlo]

Thank you for the great link, and good advice. I guess I will ditch the check valve, raise flex tubing nozzles, and put in siphon breaks .

 

[gcarroll]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8371920#post8371920 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tdawgnjlo
Thank you for the great link, and good advice. I guess I will ditch the check valve, raise flex tubing nozzles, and put in siphon breaks .

Great ideas. It's amazing how many reefers argue with you when you tell them that check valves fail.

 

[flat broke]

Depending on how low your outlets and overflow sit in the tank, the easiest solution might just be a taller sump. Pick the lowest point water can leave the tank from, then calculate the volume from that line to your normal water level. That is the amount of extra capacity you need in your sump to accomodate a scenario where a return pump goes bad. Obviously this becomes impractical if you have returns half way down the side of your tank, or even through the bottom as some tanks do. But for many simple setups this is a good way to go. In some instances it may be as simple as removing some excess water from your system to make more room in the sump for an emergency.

Obviously your skimmer may not be happy when the water level goes up in the sump in such an occurence, but at that point, you're probably worrying about other issues anyhow.

Chris

 

[firerock]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8371920#post8371920 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tdawgnjlo
Thank you for the great link, and good advice. I guess I will ditch the check valve, raise flex tubing nozzles, and put in siphon breaks .

No problem. Glad I was able to direct you to the thread where other people have contributed good advices. :rollface:

 

[cjwally]

Putting a check valve on the return side of the pump is a bad idea isn't it? I thought I read that in Sprung's book... Correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Bebo77]

check valves will fail.. its a nice ideas but you better have backup... i dont use them... but my sump can easily handle the 20 or so gallons that fall back into the sump when power goes out.