Overflow

[sswm]

I dont have a tank running yet, trying to get all the equipment together first.

Could you guys give me some help understanding how this would work...overflow...I would like to get a small sump set up but I dont have the luxury of drilling my tank(tempered glass). Does this overflow take water from my main tank to the sump and would this type of overflow help stop the chances of flooding incase of a blockage?

Or am I way off in my thinking haha

 

[ben1987]

not a good idea imo.
drill the tank and use a 'durso'
siphons will flood your floor when you have a powercut because the pump returning the water to the main tank will sop the siphon wont. A siphon also changes its flow rate constantly so matching it with a rturn pump is hard.

 

[sswm]

I but I dont have the luxury of drilling my tank(tempered glass).

So if I leave like an overflow section in the sump incase of the power outtage, and the water lever drops below the siphon level in the tank, wouldnt that stop the siphon flow into the sump?

Thats too bad haha, oh well Its only a 33 gallon tank so I should be fine without a sump, just would have been nice.

 

[ben1987]

When the power comes back the return pump will work and the siphon wont so you will flood the other way.

 

[mike os]

thats an overflow box, not a syphon box & will do what you want, but they can be a bit of a pain to get going.

 

[sswm]

thats an overflow box, not a syphon box & will do what you want, but they can be a bit of a pain to get going.

ok cool

sorry, just to get my head completley around this...the water from my main tank will enter the overflow box, then go into the siphon part. Then will the water automatically go through the siphon part to the sump(incase the power goes off will it start working by itself or will I need to get the flow going again)? Or by you saying they can be a bit of a pain answer my question as no?

 

[andywg]

It works by having a two compartments of water, one on the outside of the tank, one inside. The two compartments are connected by a syphon to get water over the top of the tank. As water flows up from the sump it raises the water level in the box inside the tank. Due to the syphon this raises the water level in the box outside and causes water to drain to the sump.

You have to make sure you don't get any significant level of air bubble build up in the syphon to prevent any accidents. It should restart automatically in the event of a power cut.

 

[norite]

You can use a syphon setup. But the way to prevent floods is to fit a float valve to the sump end. So if there's a power failure, the water flow into the sump will stop when it reaches a certain level - just like how a toilet cistern works. In fact you could use a ball valve arrangement - just make sure it's made from 100% or rustproof materials!