overflow

[kromebusa]

So I have a noob question. I have been messing with my overflow as you all know. As I try to increase water volume, I am constantly breaking and restarting siphon. I was reading about an air pump you put on top to contantly suck air through the "U" portion of the overflow. So I tried it just by sucking a little air through the tube. Like Niagra falls. I am assuming this is the missing element in my quest for 1200gph through the sump. Just wanted to pass it by the pros before I bought one of those lil pumps

Also, what are the "uh-oh's" for power outages with a system like this?



edited for content by Travis

[kromebusa]

Sorry for the original reference to Niagra falls, thought it would get caught in the filter and come up astericks.

[Witfull]

ive never heard of a pump to suck air out,,,i would think when it runs out of air it will then suck water into the airpump,,,not a good thing.

what i have done in the past was a one-way checkvalve glues into the top of the U. airline tubing run down to the sump, start a syphon, and then place end into the intake of the pump. air is sucked out via syphon. if power fails syphon is broken by the overflow, when power comes back up, the pump pulls the air from the tubing, and syphon is restarted. its not 100% but does work.

[wooddood]

it's called an aqua lifter pump, cpr over flows use this pump to keep there syphon. i ran 1 on my 120 before i tore it down when we moved and never had a problem with it but have heard horror stories from people that have had floods after a power outage because the syphon did'nt restart. i think i'll go back to the u tube this time around. good luck.





dave.

[swissgaurd]

is this a U tube overflow or a continues one piece overflow

[Barcochris]

Why do you want to move 1200 gph through the sump?

[kromebusa]

Continuous piece pic of overflow from ebay

why to move 1200gph? Assumption of a newbie i guess. Figured the more water turned over in an hour the better. Plus I was going to use it to creat flow eliminating the need for power heads. I have since purchased the maxi 1200 with timer combo. Think I should drop down to a mag 5? that would give me the 4 times an hour turnover.

[kromebusa]

pic of the pump

[Barcochris]

I think you should drop the flow down, How high is the tank form the sump. you do need to take that into acount because a mag 5 is 500 gph at 0 head(I think) maybe a 7 would be alright. do you do anything with your sump? is the a refugium there?

[kromebusa]

Refugium is there, gonna put some live rock in the water inlet area. The return is about 4 foot, with a few 90's, did the conversion calculator on reefcentral.com and only lost like 70gph.

pic of my sump setup

[swissgaurd]

yes these flows work great .
what you need to do is drill a whole in the top ,thread it with a 1/8 pipe tap
and then you put a fitting on the top these fittings are the ones that come on the wooden airstines,
hook up an airline to it then connect a powerhead to it the powerhead will suck the air out of the overflow.

vic

[kromebusa]

Hole is already there, with the tube on it, thought it was for syphon break at first.......

[swissgaurd]

on most pwerheads you have a hose that sticks out of the water if you want to draw air and create bubbles into the water,
hook up this hose or get a longer airline.i ran this type of overflows for years.

vic