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HELP!!!

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by seyzar18, Sep 24, 2010.

  1. seyzar18

    seyzar18 Inactive User

    214
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    So i woke up at 5 am came downstairs and i walked through a huge puddle starting at my front door and going clear through the kitchen i thought a water line in my house broke, come to find out the power went out last night and my overflow never stopped, My tank ended up spitting out 30 gallons of water all over the floor it ended up going through my hardwood floors and down into my basement so not only was my entire main floor soaked but my basement is the same so now i have to tear up the carpet in the basement and hope my hardwood floors dry and they dont end up warping. 
     
    I need something to put in the return pipe from the sump to when the power goes out the water doesnt run back down the return pipe. Im not worried about the overflow box because when it gets low enough it will stop sucking water through it im just worred about the return because it sits about 6 inches low in my tank so all the water above it goes straight back through it and down to the 40 gallon sump and over the edges. It was a disaster. It ended up hitting one of my power strips and frying the power strip it could of started on fire thank god it didnt that woulda been bad. So if anyof you have had this problem before and you dont now let me know how you ended up fixing it so i dont have this problem again. Iv thought about buying a whole house generator but those can run 5000 plus cost of installation and i dont really want to spend that much.. Any ideas would be awesome. Thanks
     
  2. rc1214b

    rc1214b

    256
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    An easy approach would be to drill a small siphon break hole in the return line slightly above the water surface, just keep it clean so it can do it's job
     
  3. wolfman1973

    wolfman1973 Inactive User

    292
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    i have the return line mounted 1 inch below the waterline so that when the power goes out,it will drain only one inch back to the sump and then it starts sucking air and stops. hope this helps!
     
  4. AJ

    AJ Inactive User

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    +1  All return lines should have a siphon break hole.
    The siphon break tip applies to any kind of return lines that you're doing whether it's to your display tank, a frag tank, a refugium, etc.  And it's also a good idea to shut things down and emulate a power outage to test and make sure that things work properly.  Most of us don't have a full home UPS, so it's not a matter of if the power will go out, it's a matter of when.  Test ahead of time and be prepared.  And as Ryan mentioned, clean out the siphon break hole regularly.  The can cover with coralline, slime or other detritus and when that happens, it becomes useless.
    Sorry to hear about the mess.  It's never fun cleaning up after
    something like that...not to mention the problems it causes on the
    homefront...lol

    Good luck!
    --AJ
     
  5. bobsfish

    bobsfish Experienced Reefkeeper

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    +3 / 0 / -0
    wow....sorry to hear about your mess....what a nightmare. +1 on the siphon break...that's what I have on my return - works like a charm when the power goes out.....I think I'll check it and clean it out when I get home tonight !!

     
  6. vikubz Well-Known ReefKeeper

    734
    Cedar Falls
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    +8 / 0 / -0
    What they said!
     
  7. Bela

    Bela Inactive User

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    Siphon breaks are a great idea. I tend to forget to check on whether or not they are clear, so I like to position my returns in such a way that even if the siphon break ends up being clogged there is no chance that much water will overflow. I have drilled three siphon breaks in a tube before and had all three plugged up by snails sitting on top of them! It is one of those things where I think it is better to over plan to avoid the headaches!
     
  8. seyzar18

    seyzar18 Inactive User

    214
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    wow thanks on all the helpful tips, ill drill a hole in it when i get home and test that and see how it works. I also heard something about some kind of a battery back up any ideas on what this is?
     
  9. FishBrain Expert Reefkeeper

    New London
    Ratings:
    +399 / 6 / -0
    Make sure you angel the hole down slightly.
     
  10. Don

    Don

    77
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    I had the same problem even with my return line siphoning even with the holes in them. I guess I didn't keep them clean enough. When I redid my plumbing to PVC I just installed check valves on the return lines and haven't had any more issues. I also haven't seen any issues with flow on my return lines with the checks installed.

    I also think the battery back is a good idea on the return pump. Just buy the biggest one you can afford and just run your return pump on it.
     
  11. AJ

    AJ Inactive User

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    If you use check valves, make sure that you use the full flow type and not the spring type. The spring type can reduce your flow and it also has metal parts in contact with your saltwater. As a general rule, many aquarists discourage the use of check valves in general due to their failure rate.

    --AJ
     
  12. seyzar18

    seyzar18 Inactive User

    214
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    any ideas where to find the battery backup?
     
  13. AJ

    AJ Inactive User

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    http://www.google.com/search?q=uninterruptible+power+supply&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:eek:fficial&client=firefox-a
     

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