travie

I know my question has nothing to do about saltwater, but it deals with aspects of sumps/overflows. I'm going to connect my two FW tanks. I was wondering if I could get away with not using an overflow box? My theory is that if I place the return hose close to the surface it will break the siphon quickly if the power goes out.

agsansoo

That would work. The reason we submerge the return line in a saltwater tank is water splashing. Which would generate salt creep ! Not sure how you are connecting the two tanks ? Care to explain ?

travie

I will have a water pump in my 29g, because it sits a littler lower than my 10g. It will pump water up to the 10g. The 10g will have a hose in it to siphon back to the 29g. I plan to put the hose near the surface of the 10g, so if the power goes out, the siphon will break quickly, which won't flood my room if the 29g isn't overfilled. For precautions, I plan to get mesh netting, or something of the like, to cover the hose openings so fish can't sucked up. If any of that was unclear, I will gladly try to re-explain it.

agsansoo

I don't thing that will work. It's very hard to keep a siphon going without air bubbles causing the siphon to brake. Good luck !

travie

Well, I'm going to start out trying to attempt this idea/theory. Then once I can find a cheap overflow box, I will get the overflow.

agsansoo

Try placing a plastic ball valve on the siphon hose to control the flow better. Take some photos too !

travie

Thank you for the suggestion. I will work on the system in my bathtub to get it working then, move it to the tanks. I don't have the water pump yet. I should have it by next weekend. I will get pictures as soon as I can.

travie

Well, I got the pump. Monday, I'm going to get more tubing so that I can start trying out my plan. Here are the pictures of the pump. Any idea what the tubing in teh 3rd picture is for?

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	108337498_tp.jpg (11.5 KB, 1 views)
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agsansoo

Looks like a venturi aeration device for creating bubbles (for a protein skimmer).

travie

I have the tubing and pump. I working on the setup in my bathtub. I can't get even flow rates between the pump (going against gravity) and the tube siphon that is going with gravity. Any suggestions to get rates the same?

Well, nevermind that, I figured it was nearly impossible. I went ahead and bought an overflow thats supposedly rated for 500 gph.