need sump advice

[alex8111]

Yes its sealed perfectly – no air can escape. I made sure of that. I use a Magnum 350 to pump water to the main tank. The overflow box im using can definitely handle the flow rate but when I turn off the powerhead things become unstable and slowly water starts to rise (take a little while). There is no problem when the powerhead is running. My fear is that one day it will happen when something goes wrong and the powehead doesn’t suck the air. Then im in trouble. Sometimes when I plug the powehead in, it works but doesn’t suck air. Then I unplug it and re-plug it and it sucks the air. It doesn’t seem to be stable. The powerhead is brand new so I don’t think there is anything wrong with it.

I’m just wondering if all the people who have connected the U-tube to their powerhead are really dependant on the powerhead not failing or are they 100% secure that even if the powerhead is off, water will not flood. If the latter, then im assuming something is wrong with my setup but I don’t know what. Everything is air proof, tube connected to powerhead. Once I turn powerhead off, slowly some air manages to get in the U-tube and cause a slow flood. Thank god this was just a test.

 

[TRe]

how big is the return section of the sump?? if the overflow fails thats the only water that will get pumped into your display

 

[Lorna]

good point Tre, you will only have water pumped back from the return section of the sump. Once the water is gone the return will only pump air. The danger here is that the pump will run dry and burn out. you need to leave enough space at the top of your tank to handle all that the return pump will pump back. While checking my sump last night I noticed that the return section was really low and pumping air into my main....I thought my topoff was out and added water......it was in fact my overflow had a huge air bubble build up in side (U tube overflow) and it had slowed down considerably and the water was right to the lip of the top tank rim. I quickly jiggled the air out of the tube and all was fine. I realize that if the overflow was to fail as in this case the water that was being pumped back was accomodated within the head space at the top of the tank and probably wouldn't have overflowed.....but the sump could have eventually.....

 

[TRe]

i was so sick of all those heads that i finally drilled my tank

 

[Lorna]

I plan an upgrade to a 120 which will be drilled as like you I am tired of constantly worrying about a flood.

 

[alex8111]

Scary stuff. Well there is no risk in my sump flooding ever (water level is really low). But the water in the main tank can easy flood if the overflow fails. The main tank is already pretty full so an extra inch or so in the main tank will cause a flood. Damn i wish i could drill my tank.

The problem is that i get a lot of micro bubbles into the main tank from my stupid magnum 350 which go right into the overflow box and i fear that eventually those bubbles will prevent the overflow from working properly should the powerhead fail for whatever reason. I guess best bet here is to have a really really good quality powerhead to ensure a long life. Chances are pretty low that the powerhead will fail but nothing is ever perfect. And also, there is a chance that power goes off and then back on without all the devices turning on themselves. So i guess the absolute 100%safest way is to lower the water levels on both tanks to make sure there is always room for extra water in case of any failure.