the importance of drilling your tank

[joelb]

last weekend, while i was at the coast, our power went out back in san antonio. my tank has an overflow box with 3 j tubes siphoning water out just as fast as the genx pump pours it in. when the power went out the pump stoped and the siphon continued to fill my sump up to the top (not overflow....just to the top) but at some point when the water in the tank became to low, the siphon was broken and air entered the j tubes so when the power and the pump started up again 30 gallons of water was pumped into my tank that only had room for about 15 more gallons. good think i don't live in an upstairs apt........oh, wait...i do live in an upstairs apt so naturally the water made its way down through the floor and into the neighbors apt. all while i was at the coast. so, if you didn't read this, call that person here on maast and pay that tiny fee to drill your tank. thats what i would do.
joel

[captexas]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Even though I know my tank won't overflow, I still get nervous everytime the power goes out or I shut my return pump off and start it back up. Floods are no fun at all. I guess not all hang-on overflows work as well as others. I had a dual Lifereef on one of my old tanks and it never failed to work after a power outage.

[apedroza]

WOW that bites!!!! Hope everything works out for you. I had many a spills on my old tank because it wasn't drilled. Do you have a siphon break drilled in your return?? This small hole will save your life in case the power goes out aagin.

[bronck83]

Sorry to hear, but there's a way around this I heard. There's a vacuum pump available that you drill a small hole into your drain line that will restart your siphon in such cases. I'm setting up a drilled tank in my 2nd floor apartment next month, a situation something like you had is my biggest worry.

[Bill S]

So, maybe I shouldn't replace the Mag return pump on my 55 that won't restart until you wack it with a hammer?

[caferacermike]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

As was said before the problem is with your choice of overflow and not all of them are bad. The trick is to make sure that the Jtubes in the receiver box on the back are lower than the height of the bulkheads. Most people never think twice about the way they come and just have the empty bulkhead in the receiver box. This allows all the water to drain out, easy enough to see why. All it takes is a simple male threaded adapter to prevent it from happening. My next question is not meant to start an argument but why did you not test the system after plumbing it? I've been running a dual 1200g overflow on our 125g freshwater for 5 years and never once have we had an issue. I unplug the return pumps once a month while doing water changes.

[rz1a]

i agree with mike. i have an overflowbox where it will not lose siphon. the back is split in two compartments where it holds water where the tube is so it keeps the siphon, same thing with where the front of the tube is. itll automatically restart once the pump starts again.

i still worry about things happening. next tank will have a built in overflow :D

[reeferRob]

I also use Lifereef overflows and mine have never failed after an outage. I think they guarantee it, but not sure.

[joelb]

let me rephrase this, if you have a high volume return pump and it pumps in more water than the siphon takes out and you "rig it" with 3 siphon (j tubes) just to keep up with the pump but you have one j tube siphoning straight into the sump and not into the external portion of the overflow box.....yeah, don't do that.

[cpreefguy]

I also use Lifereef overflows and mine have never failed after an outage. I think they guarantee it, but not sure.I used a LifeReef for a while and it was awesome. If youre still worried about your overflow box, I would highly recommend a LifeReef overflow box, you cant put a price on peace of mind :D

[LoneStar]

let me rephrase this, if you have a high volume return pump and it pumps in more water than the siphon takes out and you "rig it" with 3 siphon (j tubes) just to keep up with the pump but you have one j tube siphoning straight into the sump and not into the external portion of the overflow box.....yeah, don't do that.


Throttle the pump down with a valve to reduce the flow.

[rz1a]

oh yeah, my pump also puts back way too much water. i put a T after the pump and have the water going back to the beginning of the sump and the other going to the tank. they both have a valve on the lines

[captexas]

And it didn't overflow like that when you tested it after setting it up? Or was it never tested?

The problem of having too strong a return pump will be an issue even if you had your tank drilled. Overflows, whether hang-on or drilled, can only handle so much water based on their size.

[caferacermike]

And it didn't overflow like that when you tested it after setting it up? Or was it never tested?

The problem of having too strong a return pump will be an issue even if you had your tank drilled. Overflows, whether hang-on or drilled, can only handle so much water based on their size.

Cheers to that.

As well as RZA, I also have my return pump set up with a tee and a valve to create a recirculation loop in the pumps chamber. That way I can throttle back the return without worry of putting pressure on the pump.

[rz1a]

yeah my pump is way too big. if i had the pump without a T it would definitely flood my room. i didnt want to see how long the overflow box could keep up with the pump so i went and bought the T and its worked great so far. i can control the amount of water going into the tank and the rest just goes back to the first compartment in the sump where the skimmer is