Flooding of Sump
- Thread starter maroonX
- Start date
I would say it may have to do with the lack of testing the sump out.
You need to make sure there is enough room in the sump to hold the water that will flow into it in the event of a power failure.
How is your overflow set up? Is it internal or external. You should read up about the type of overflow you have. Just do a search on google and you will find the info you need.
You need to make sure there is enough room in the sump to hold the water that will flow into it in the event of a power failure.
How is your overflow set up? Is it internal or external. You should read up about the type of overflow you have. Just do a search on google and you will find the info you need.
sgallagher7
Member
are you running a closed loop? If so, it sounds like there may be a siphoning of the water back into the sump. The best way to fix that is to drill a small hole just below the waterline in each return. When the power goes off, the water leve will drop but when the water hits the holes, the siphon will break.
BCreefmaker
New member
FYI, i get siphoning in my non closed loop system. if your pipe that is the return line from your sump goes below the waterline in your display tank, and does not have a siphon break like sgallager7 mentioned, it will most likely drain your top tank untill the siphon is broken by the dropping water level in your main display, thus flooding the sump.
crumbletop
New member
Closed loops don't siphon into the sump. The return plumbing from the sump to the display is what siphons.
AZDesertRat
In Memoriam
The best thing you can do is make sure the return outlet(s) are close to the surface so when power gos off only a slight amount of water will siphon back to the sump before exposing the outlets to air and breaking the siphon. Along with that you muct make sure you have sufficient room in the sump to contain that water and never fill the sump past that point.
AZDesertRat
In Memoriam
DO NOT rely on drilled siphon break holes. They can and will become clogged without regular maintenance. They are also prone to snails, food, algae and any number of things covering or plugging them. Poor advice and not much better than a check valve.
crumbletop
New member
Keeping a return outlet near the surface is the best way to go.
I have a hole drilled just below the water line. I have tested my sump to see how much water it will take on in a power outage. I adjusted the water level in my sump/fuge to make sure that the siphon break kicks in before the sump overflows. I set my Tsunami auto topoff so that I never have more water in my sump than I can handle during a power failure.
Why is every body thinking just the sump overflow ? Why not the tank overflow ?
Let me give you a scenario. Say the Tank is 55G and sump is 30 gallon. If you have some 5 G extra space in the sump, we probably will do ok with the sump overflow problem if we keep the overflow within 2 inches of water level.
Now, if there is an electric outage and then the overflow will drain until the waterlevel drops below the overflow level. After some time the electricity comes back. And the return pump will start pumping back. In case the overflow siphon doesnt restart by itself, the return pump will pump the water from the sump. How much? I would say depending on the anatomy of the sump. Say the sump has a fuge with about 5 G and if the skimmer flow out to the pumping section I would imagine atleast 20 G water has to go back to the main tank. And it will definitely overflow!!! Right ??
Again I am not talking about the drain in drilled tanks.
Let me give you a scenario. Say the Tank is 55G and sump is 30 gallon. If you have some 5 G extra space in the sump, we probably will do ok with the sump overflow problem if we keep the overflow within 2 inches of water level.
Now, if there is an electric outage and then the overflow will drain until the waterlevel drops below the overflow level. After some time the electricity comes back. And the return pump will start pumping back. In case the overflow siphon doesnt restart by itself, the return pump will pump the water from the sump. How much? I would say depending on the anatomy of the sump. Say the sump has a fuge with about 5 G and if the skimmer flow out to the pumping section I would imagine atleast 20 G water has to go back to the main tank. And it will definitely overflow!!! Right ??
Again I am not talking about the drain in drilled tanks.
crumbletop
New member
Because the original post was about sump overflow. Of course if you have a HOB overflow that loses siphon (for whatever reason -- power outage or no) you'll get a tank overflow...
AZDesertRat
In Memoriam
Yes. I posted my suggestion in the 7th post in this thread.
AZDesertRat
In Memoriam
The best overflow is an internal overflow on a drilled tank so you never have to worry about a backsiphon incident from the overflow. For external overflows I have seen aqualifters plumbed into the siphon to keep them full but again its a mechanical device.
