gravity feed system to sump

hey all,

have been looking around on the web trying to find a gravity feed system to take water to the new sump i am installing,

a couple of things, it needs to sit over the side of the tanks as they are not plumbed and i've been told it's too hard to drill them once they are together, harder on old tanks

we are prone to blackouts occasionally so need something that won't break the siphon, obviously the pump won't work until the power comes back on but with gravity feed and hang on piping i'm not confident the water will continue to flow.

i have seen some skimmer boxes on reef setups that apparently keep the water to a certain level in the tank (not hard to organise on any setup) but also holds enough water in one side of the overflow box to continue the siphon if power fails.

has anyone used one of these and can comment on whether or not it does continue to siphon once the water flows again, filling up the overflow box when the pump comes back on. or does anyone have designs that would accomplish this task.

billy i would be interested in hearing how your system works, have seen the post of your diy sump and this intrigued me

cheers all

brenton

Hi, I haven't actually used one of the overflows that you are reffering to, but I am hoping to make one myself. Were you wanting to make one or just buy one? Either way, I found a gr8 site that explains clearly with pictures what they consist of and how they work and I'm convinced that they would definitely hold the siphon because of the genius design. You can view this info at http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/overflow.htm. It costs $5 each time you download it though. No just kidding :lol: Hope it is helpful, let me know, cheers, Andy

thanks andy.

i'm a diy fan so i will make it myself, the link certainly helps, i have a few bits and pieces on this and it certainly helps

thanks

brenton

I can't get the link to work. Anyone else had problems?

Thanks Martin

Na the link didnt work for me either Martin :(

i copied it and cut off the ending bit when posting into the address line, you then just have to navigate within the site to the diy products and find the overflow box.

long way of doing it but i got there in the end

brenton

there is a great company in the states making the product you are looking for

www.aquacrylics.com

the gentelmans name is Peter Chiappini, seems like a nice guy and willing to answer Q & A over the net.

good luck

I have set up 2 tanks in sydney with this system with spray wheel sump and turn them off for water changes and cleaning the tanks as lone as the retun hose is not at the bottom of the tank and up near the top it will return water back to the sump untill its sucks air.

I made the mistake first of having the return water being pushed into the under gravel filter and flushing the gravel. but when I turned off the power to start cleaning I noticied that the water was getting very low I opoen the doors to the cabi and found the sump almost overflowing I started the power and save a nasty divorce...

now I have a return spray bar that quickly starts to suck air so I do not have that problem..

:oops:

the sump works well cost me $123.00 for each overflow box and about 300 for the sump and spray wheel. as well you add the pump return and you have no money for fish......

only baby ones...

Hope this helps but being carefull how water flows when the power is off is very important.

les
will get some pics soon :D

oh sorry brenton, i didnt know there was a question for me !! i havent been to this forum for a long time !! :oops:

The piping work i did isnt that good
1. can be very noise
2. its actually very slow, depend what size of pipe
3. most will stop siphon at the point where i wanted to but one of 4 will continue !! :roll:
4. the siphon will start very slow (after a power blackout)

The best is the cost of it

I hav also tried the overflow box (diy) and it works much better than the overflow pipes.

i was using one inch pvc pipe for U shape part and outlet to sump. But the trick is at what point do u want the siphon to stop, this is also depend on what size pump you are using.

The problem is how to reduce the noise !!

Since then i drilled all my tanks and using bulkhead and 4ft tank for sump!!

great article! the link appears dead because of the full stop. try this:
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/overflow.htm

thats a good article, thanks for sharing :wink:

Hi Nam, welcome to the forum.

Don't I know you from somewhere :wink:

Thanks for sorting that link. Much appreciated :D