HELP!!!

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

 

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!

 

+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

 

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 !!

 

What they said!

 

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!

 

Make sure you angel the hole down slightly.

 

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.

 

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

 

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