Anyone else scared of your sump when new?

[90GalFOWLR]

This weekend I made the switch from a Marineland C360 canister+ Seaclone Skimmer to a Sump/Fuge with a Mag 9 and and a Coralife SS 125. Setting it up I had to do it twice, the first time I made one of the stupid mistakes and didnt put a check valve on the return. Luckily I could stop it before I got more than 3 or 4 gallons in my cabinet. Its running good now but I am scared of it. Anyone else scared of hearing water flowing?

[spw4949]

Absolutely! You should always replicate what would happen if your return pump or overflow box crapped out on you when your present, that way you have peace of mind when your not home watching.....

[cdbias2]

By one of the $10 screamer water alarms from Lowes for hot water heaters.
Worth their weight in gold.

[Hellion179]

Originally Posted by cdbias2

By one of the $10 screamer water alarms from Lowes for hot water heaters.
Worth their weight in gold.

That's a very good idea!

[bertoni]

I'd change the system so the check valve isn't needed. They have a tendency to fail at the worst time. Usually a siphon break or shortening a line will do the trick.

I was always worried about my separate refugium plumbing. Sigh!

[insane]

A small hole drilled in the return just above the normal water level in the display tank will act as a siphon break and keep your return from draining the display.

[baldomero]

yup definitely make a small hole on the return base just above the water line i got the advice from all the great people on RC and i havent had to mop my floor again due to my sump overflowing.

[Blownsvt]

i have the hole in my returns and even if i shut the return off the sump will never overflow, so no i don't worry too much about it.

[SecGenGSX]

Before I drilled a hole in my return, I figured out how much water would drain back into my sump if the power failed and only filled my sump up enough so that it wouldn't overflow my sump. I read too many bad things about check valves so I just drilled a hole in my return line right above the water line.

[cabezon2469]

I just had a power outage last night. I have my outlet very near the surface. My sump still had a few inches to go before flooding.

[insane]

The sound of a waterfall will always stay in the back of a reefers mind even when you learn all of the tricks. The DT overflowing is what makes a big noise along with a high powered water pump shooting all of the water into the room. Not that I have ever had either of those happen to me. Knock on wood.

Having a correctly sized chamber in your sump for the return pump is necessary incase an overflow is blocked or loses the siphon so you don't pump all the water out of the entire sump into the DT and onto your floor.

An RO plumbed directly into a sump can sometimes result in floods if only a float valve is used. That is the bad kind of flood because it also lowers your SG in addition to creating the flood.

[90GalFOWLR]

My return has a 3/4" pipe going across the back of the tank with 4 lock lines coming out of it. They are all aimed pretty close to the surface, but after reading this I took the one nearest the sump (first in line) and aimed it so it is just skimming across the surface. ...That should be good for breaking siphon right?

[90GalFOWLR]

Originally Posted by insane

Having a correctly sized chamber in your sump for the return pump is necessary incase an overflow is blocked or loses the siphon so you don't pump all the water out of the entire sump into the DT and onto your floor.

How would you know if the return pump chamber of the sump is correctly sized?

[insane]

Originally Posted by 90GalFOWLR

My return has a 3/4" pipe going across the back of the tank with 4 lock lines coming out of it. They are all aimed pretty close to the surface, but after reading this I took the one nearest the sump (first in line) and aimed it so it is just skimming across the surface. ...That should be good for breaking siphon right?

Yeppers. As long as air can get in at one point it will break the siphon.

[DC_40gallon]

I don't have a sump but your very reason is why I hae 30 ft of rodi tubing and always fill my buckets in the bathtub. I've heard too many horror stories.

[wis_fishing_guy]

I WAS WORRIED AS WELL..LOL

But after a lot of reading and taking the steps talked about above, I felt a lot better.

[insane]

Originally Posted by 90GalFOWLR

How would you know if the return pump chamber of the sump is correctly sized?

If you lose your overflow siphon or it gets blocked, the DT needs to be able to hold whatever water is in that pump chamber without the DT overflowing. It is generally only a couple of gallons on average. That is why you should not try to fill your sump up to the top. When you look at store bought sumps, they have marks on them for water levels. One mark is for when the power is off (higher mark) and the other is for when it is on (lower mark). When building your own sump you need to make the same marks. You have to leave room in the sump for the water from the DT to drain down without overflowing the sump when the power is off.

To see if your chamber is the right size you can block the overflow and keep the pump running, the water will pump out of that chamber into the DT. Then you willl see if the DT can hold it. If your system is running and your normal water level in the DT is all the way up almost to the top hitting the plastic trim on a standard tank, you might run the risk of a flood.

[90GalFOWLR]

Originally Posted by DC_40gallon

I don't have a sump but your very reason is why I hae 30 ft of rodi tubing and always fill my buckets in the bathtub. I've heard too many horror stories.

For the winter I started using my RO unit inside..... Untill the 3rd time using it the inlet hose blew out of its fitting and in the 20 minutes it went un-noticed filled my entire basement with an inch or two of water.

Now it its to cold to use it outside, I buy the water for that change.

[insane]

I have been out of the hobby for about 3 years now but tomorrow I will be firing up a 55g sump ,that I just finished putting baffles in today, on a 180g DT. 1,600 gph will be going through it and I am using the biggest CPR HOB overflow made. Without the lid on it they sound like a constantly flushing toilet. If the aqualifter fails or gets clogged the siphon can be lost but I will have room in the DT for the water in the sump chamber. I still have to rebuild the over the top 7 way return manifold and run two dedicated electrical circuits to the tank but that will only take a minute. Tomorrow will be a wet day. I have to get 400lbs of LR and some corals out of two 100g stock tanks and into the 180 because my antique 72" MH fixture had a ballast catch fire today that I had hanging over the stock tanks. LOL Have to fire up the Belize.

[SaltieG]

I will be taking all these precautions when I add a sump to my tank to be sure nothing ever floods. I came to realize the horrors of a flood the night I was filling my 5g bucket up with RO water at 10pm and fell asleep then woke up at 7am... yeah I was amazed how a slow stream of RO could flood an entire basement so quickly. Now I always place any buckets I am filling in the utility room sink so if I do forget and they do overflow it all goes down the drain.

[leafeater]

I love the waterfall sound. I worked with my plumbing to make sure that it is a smooth calming sound. It does not scare me....yet.

[insane]

Well I fired up the sump this morning and that puppy is intense. When my sis had this tank, return pump and overflow, it didn't move near as much water as it does now. The only difference is that she had about 12' of 1" vinyl tubing from the return pump to the DT and it went around the corner of the tank then up 5' to the top of the tank. In my set up it just goes almost straight up from the pump about 4'. I set my 55g sump on the bottom level of a double 55 stand sitting backwards to protect the corners of the tank from my giant breed dogs. The oct extreme 250 just barely fit in the sump with the pumps installed and the skimmer cup had to be forced through the top shelf of the stand.

I still need to do some tweaking to get it to quiet down. Maybe add another baffle on the input side to tone down the waterfall. Will be cutting some acrylic down to size for a sump lid. I have 8" of room in the top of the sump with the power off. I still have to test it with power on and a broken overflow siphon to see if the tank can hold what gets pumped out of the sump.

[MrsHaggis]

Have only started sleeping the night through since we installed it a few weeks ago.......not that I don't trust the husbands plumbing; but what I don't fully understand I just don't trust!! :O)

But I have been assured that if anything should happen then the sump can hold all the extra water in the pipes and return column and wherever else water might be kept!

good luck with it - it is totally worth not having all the heaters, skimmers, etc in the main display tank!

[Saltwaternoob]

I have a 20l under my 90 and have it set in one of those thin storage containers. This way if it starts to flow over some water will be caught before it starts to overflow to the floor. Only had one issue when topping off too much and saved my butt. Of course it's only good for a few gallons

[cjj14u]

One of the main reasons I decided to co with an AIO....