new idea please help

[kimichan]

ok, i think I have a good idea. I want to set up a hexagonal 5 gallon tank instead of the 10 gallon. This way, I can spend a little more on the lighting and get what I need. The second problem is the overflow. I have a glass tank, and I do not want to cut into it. I was thinking of having a siphon going from the tank into a tub of sand down below. This sump will have a powerhead inside blowing the water back up into the tank. At the end of this siphon tube is a float valve, so that if my sump gets low from the powerhead, the tank will automatically siphon more water into the sump. In case of evaporation, I can have another little tank of calcium water with a tube going into the sump with another float valve on the end of it. The only problem with this is that if for some reason my siphon breaks, i am screwed because the powerhead in the sump will just overflow the tank. Instead, I may want to rig a box inside of the tank that the water overflows into. Out of this box, i can have a siphon that siphon's the water into another box outside of the tank. As long as the siphon on the inside-of-the-tank box goes lower than the overflow on the outside-of-the-tank box, there should be less likelihood of the siphon breaking. Still, if it does, i am flooded. What should I do :?:

 

[Anonymous]

First of all, welcome to RDO.

Start by doing a search on Hang-on-overflows. It's exactly what you need.

There are two boxes linked together. one in the tank and one outside. There is a U tube between them. The box on the outside is plumbed down to your sump. The box on the inside has holes or slots drilled so the water can get into the inside box. the syphon will only suck up the water from the inside box. The waterlevel in the tank will always be the same. the level in the sump will change.

Hope this helps. Just remember to take it slow, and plan ahead.

B

 

[kimichan]

Thanks B. I still wonder, though, that if the siphon breaks I will be in it deep. 8O If this hang-on thing requires a siphon, I may want to go with my incredibly ingenius 8) float valve idea. Also, I am getting really excited, and I haven't done this before, so if anyone has anything to say, please say it so that I don't :!: this thing up.

Daniel

 

[kimichan]

Thanks B. I still wonder, though, that if the siphon breaks I will be in it deep. 8O If this hang-on thing requires a siphon, I may want to go with my incredibly ingenius 8) float valve idea. Also, I am getting really excited, and I haven't done this before, so if anyone has anything to say, please say it so that I don't :!: this thing up.

Daniel

 

[Bleeding Blue]

Daniel, here is a thread that gives you a pretty good idea of how a two box overflow works. It makes it so that you cannot loose your siphon.

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t ... t=overflow

I am sure that there are better more detailed threads. You will have to search for yourself. It is a start though. Also, I think you should reevaluate the ten gallon set up. If you seperate a ten gallon into a display tank, and a refugium, then your nano is completely self contained. I think that this would make your life easier in the long run. However, I will help you with whichever style you choose.

Mike

 

[UnderGrad]

Daniel,
I have a similiar setup that you have planned except mine is a 10 gallon hex and I don't have any float valves/switches installed on it yet. I decided to go with the siphon overflow as well because my tank is glass and it would have been too much of a pain to drill it. So far the siphon has broken on me a couple of times, but it hasn't been too bad because I have the return powerhead positioned pretty high in the refugium below; which means that when the siphon breaks only about 1-2 gallons at most will spill over (but there is a chance the powerhead will burn up if its not caught soon enough). The only problem with having the return powerhead so high is that if I don't top off the tank for a couple of days... evaporation will lower my water level too low to be returned. But I plan to fix this with an automatic top-off via a float switch. When you're dealing with siphon overflows, IMO they're pretty much guaranteed to break sooner of later, so its just as important to plan for dealing with the mess as it is to prevent it if you decide to stay with a siphon overflow. HTH.

-AM-