establishing siphon

[skrappie1]

I was wondering if anyone could walk me through setting up my overflow to my sump, not sure how to establish siphon, just bought a 125 gallon yesterday and was up till 3:00am getting her set up, only thing left to do is arrange some live rock and get sump going.

[woodywood]

if it is a u tube overflow use a long piece of air line and insert it in the u tube at t he top. make sure both ends of the u tube are submerged and the suck until the water comes up both sides and starts to flow. hold the u tube while removing the airline making sure to not allow any air into the utube by keeping the airline pinched. the longer the air line the less chance of sucking in saltwater.

[Spuds725]

You will also have to prime it first-- although this maybe obvious to you...

Pour some water in the chambers inside and outside the tank that the U-tube sticks into...

You will have to do this to a CPR also... in the chamber on the outside of the tank but on the tank side (not the part with the bulkhead).

after you have the siphon initiated, pour some water in the tank until it gets high enough to flow through the siphon and into the sump... this makes sure the overflow is working right.

Now fill your sump to its desired MAXIMUM level-- I always give myself several gallons of reserve.... start your return pump and watch--- your return section level should drop and you should soon see flow through the overflow (there will be a slight lag)... when everything is stabilized-- mark your return section water level--- that is your high level-- I would never top off above that... this will ensure you will never exceed your MAXIMUM level.... as your water evaporates, any water you add back will raise the level in the return section.

HTH