Help!! My Sump is overflowing,

Vapour1ze

Vapour1ze

I'm an Addict.
Ok, today we started seting up my sump, as my skimmer will arrive tomorrow,

Heres whats going on, 29g Display, 10g Sump,

I have a CPR CS90 Overflow Box, Draining down to the sump, all pvced, then I have a RIO 1700 for a return, currently the sump is filled halfway and the display all the way until the overflow box overflow, now heres where problems START, we turned it on without the skimmer just to make sure no leaks and everything is working the way it should, ran it for about 5 minutes and everything was perfect no leaks, no water level changes, now, I said hey lets unplug it like the power goes out, and see what happens, so we unplugged the pump, and the water in the display dropped below the overflow box line but thats not where it ended, the Return nozzle in my tank, started back siphoning into the sump losing a TON OF WATER into my sump I had to pull the return nozzle out of the display tank, and then when I plugged the pump back in, it started filling my display back up but my OVER FLOW lost siphon so it would have overflowed my display tank!, ANY HELP ON THIS WOULD B E AWESOME as we're sitting here anxiously to set this up, !!! Thank YOU!!!
 
what is that normal for the return to siphon the water?
now im getting scared lol
sorry but i cant help but ill follow along it might help me too
 
ok sweet., ill do that above the water level in the sump im guessing? on the return???? but then how does that pump the water back into the tank? wont it be shooting out the hole that is drilled constantly when the pump is on???
 
and how do i get my overflow box to start siphoning again? what if im sleepign and my power goes out? and I wake up to 10 gallons of water on my upstairs floor.......
 
Do you have an aqualifter attached to your CPR overflow? You need one of those continually sucking the air out of the tube for that overflow to work. Those things are a pain in the butt because if it clogs or fails, your overflow will stop working.

I used one of those CPRs for years and always hated it. I've since downsized to a nano without a sump but if I ever get another undrilled tank, I'd try the U-tube style overflows like life reef
 
You need to drill a hole in your return line actually in the tank, perhaps a half-inch under the water line in the display. This will make sure that any siphon started by your return line when your return pump loses power is broken by the time a half-inch of water has been drained from your tank. Where you need to drill the hole depends on how your return line is set up. If you post a photo, we can point to the proper drilling location.

You can see a diagram of how it ought to work on Melev's site at http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html. He's got a great animation that illustrates the sequence of events during a power outage.
 
better yet, just make sure your sump has enough space to accomodate to back siphon that happens until the return nozzle is above the water line. It's the only guaranteed way to prevent a sump overflow in a power outage. If this seems impossible, then set your return nozzle so it's not so far below the waterline.
 
I got that figured out, now I'm just hoping an aqua lifter is the solution to my problem for my siphoning problem, losing siphon on a resume from power outage,,, I hope the aqua lifter will help. =/
 
A properly designed overflow one will keep both ends of the u-tube sumberged in water so the siphon remains in "suspended animation" when the pump is shut off. This elminates the need for additional pumps, valves, etc. The design is very simple and is very reliable.
 
Seapug is right on both accounts. That is one of the issues with the CPR overflows, they need a lifter pump to work properly. And you will have to make sure that the nipple that connects the airline to the lifter never gets plugged up with algae or something similar.

And have your return line up high enough in the tank so that it causes the siphon break itself, a hole isn't a bad idea, but I wouldn't count on it.

This is an older picture of my 29 ( with 10 sump ) in the back left corner you can see my return line and how high up it is.

FTS6_30.jpg
 
my return is about the same height as urs, if not a little higher, i like ur 29 setup, looks good, (old picture) id like to see a new one :-) anyway thanks for the input everyone I will be hoping to find an aqualifter TOMORROW
 
You will get a new one tomorrow -- lights are off. And it is in a in-between stage right now, not sure what exactly I want to do with it.
If you do drill that anti-siphon hole, don't be afraid to make it on the larger side, to be safer.

Thanks for the compliment. Here is a non-FTS that I took last night,

BWOsandLTAs1.jpg
 
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