400 Gallon Starphire Build - Mixed Reef

I am sure you will like the pumps after they are up and running. I run the reef octopus 5500 on my skimmer. Great pump so far. Everything is looking really good!

Krazie4Acans wrote: Amazing how much of the rock disappeared under the sand and yet the sand is still below the molding in many places. This thing is huge! Nice work. BTW, what brand are those return pumps?

That is looking clean !

As there is no one way that is the all in one fail safe all of the above are great solutions . But for me in my limited experience is that anything mechanical that can go wrong will fail at some point in time. So a few simple tricks such as small anti siphon holes and a quick check of your overall system when doing water changes is a way to keep your overflow protection in the same working as your tank . But thats just my O2.

+ 1 to two holes at the 1st loc-line near the surface to break the siphon, I would not trust just having the loc-line near the surface but that's just me, I also fully agree with a wet test of a power outage, I was amazed at how when I did this on my set up how wrong my initial assumptions were. From the skimmer starting when its almost fully submerged from the rise in water in the sump and totally overflowing ($12 manual reset portable GFCI plug that you have the skimmer plugged into solves that) to ATO's going off, to reactor pumps back siphoning....test your whole set up for "what could go wrong" would be my advice. Even planning out how maintenance will affect everything is a good idea, I have to pull my return pump and skimmer out for a cleaning every few months and its more of a pain in the butt than it should be had I had the opportunity to do my set up over and have thought about it more. 

Edited by Bryce - October 16 2013 at 10:20am

+1 ^Me too.

I've also ran check valves and never had one fail. Very nice build Aaron looking forward to to seeing the end product.

I do not trust check valves either. You have the right solution having at least one of the returns close to the surface.

Edited by Mike Savage - October 15 2013 at 7:43pm

Drilling a siphon break hole in the return line may seem like a nifty solution, but Murphy's Law rules supreme.
A snail will be sitting directly on the hole when the power goes out, causing great distress for hobbyist and spouse .
Please feel free to search the annuls of this forum to verify the validity of this Murphy's Law Fact.

How can this be fixed
There are a few Cardinal Rules about a pump pushing water into an elevated holding tank.  A siphon can and will start, spilling water out of its boundaries. Designing the system to prevent this disaster is one of those Cardinal Rules. This rule cannot be ignored or pushed aside. It must be on the mind of the hobbyist during all maintenance activities. I would be happy to help you avoid disaster with your system design. If these design suggestions are followed, a tap water test run is superfluous.

Aloha,
Mark


Edited by Mark Peterson - October 15 2013 at 7:12pm

Don't be caught off guard. It will siphon backward even with the return pumps in the line. What I would do is get the plumbing all done and then fill it with tap water (to leak test and flow test) While it is full you can simulate a power outage by flipping the switch on the power strip for the return pumps. Then watch the level in the sump. If the siphon breaks before it gets too full then you are probably all right. If the sump starts to get too full them you can just turn the pumps back on and adjust.

Personally I like the hole in the loc-line right by the bulkhead because that position cannot really be moved and you don't have to remember about it. If you rely on the position of the loc-line ends to break the siphon then you have to re-test the power outage every time you move the loc-line. You also have to remember this after months of not having to worry about it. Not very fail safe and we are talking about a lot of water with your new setup.