Little Help w/ Over flow skimmer!!

[kayakatl]

Ok so every time the power goes out over flow runs till its dry and breaks siphon. power on, sump pump goes back to work over flowing the tank. Here is my question... Is that supposed to happen? I think that the U tube between the inside and outside box should hold siphon during an outage. Is there a way to fix this? It's becoming more than a slight bother at this point. THANKS!!!

 

[ichthyoid]

Yes your U-tube should hold siphon. It may have a leak. You can check by empting the water from them, plugging the ends and submerging in water, then look for bubbles. Or, just replace them. This is the Achilles heel of siphon type overflows, and why most of us prefer drilled tanks. Good luck.

 

[ichthyoid]

Wait a minute, you do have an outside hang-on overflow box, correct? The idea is to keep both ends of your U-tube(s) under water at all times, so that you don't break siphon. Try to determine why you lose siphon (or explain what's happening). Can you take/post pictures?

 

[legalreefer]

I hated mine. Always broke siphon. But I designed my sump to where the return section was small enough if it lost siphon, and the sump big enough so if teh power went out, it wouldnt overflow.

 

[kayakatl]

I think i need to extend my drain tube up a couple inches so that it never breaks siphon, i cant wait to get a new tank and go calflow!!!!

 

[legalreefer]

If you do that, then your sump will overflow. Finde out how many gallons the sump can hold slap full, and find out how much water it holds while operating, take the difference of the 2, and that is how many gallons the sump can hold incase of power outage. The find out how many gallons x inches teh tube is to insure you dont overflow the sump. Hope that didnt confuse you too much. lol

 

[ichthyoid]

kayakATL;430148 wrote: I think i need to extend my drain tube up a couple inches so that it never breaks siphon, i cant wait to get a new tank and go calflow!!!!

:clap:

 

[rockdog]

a pic would help. It does sound like your outside box is not holding a reserve of water to keep the end of the U-tube covered. just Extend to exit pipe up a little or even build a gurggle buster for it. GL

Legal: that may be your problem also...

Jason

 

[legalreefer]

Rockdog;430165 wrote: Legal: that may be your problem also...

Jason

I got rid of that setup to one with built in overflows. I stopped losing hair as soon as I got away from the overflow box, lol!

 

[weaglereefer]

Something is not set up properly. There should be no loss of siphon unless it's broken or installed incorrectly.