A

aquadude

Guest
I am setting up a 125 gallon reef tank and have couple questions.

I am using an Iwaki 70RLT to pump water from a sump in basement to my tank on the main floor of house. Using a ball valve, I have adjusted the rate of flow from the sump to match the capacity of the bulkheads.

I am using a stockman pipes off the bulkheads, the output pipes terminate above the water in the sump, and I am using snail guards on the inside of bulkhead.

I have done several test of a power outages test & water finds the same level in tank every time - no surprises.

1. Do I need to be concerned about the rate of flow from the pump changing unexpectedly and overflowing the tank?

2. With snail guards, stockman pipe, & return pipe terminated above the water line in the sump; Any concern about the rate of flow through the bulkhead & return plumbing changing?

Thanks for you help!

Shawn
 
Location
Union Square, NY
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1. Do I need to be concerned about the rate of flow from the pump changing unexpectedly and overflowing the tank?

Depends on where you live, but I would have to say, yes. Unless you are comfortable with the remote possibility of flooding, then I would seriously consider adding some float valves to cut power if the water level ever goes too high.

I live in the city, and one of the key things is to ensure proper water levels. A flood will cost you immensely, and something can easily block your overflows or pump intake. If you are not running any sort of auto topoff, then it is not such a big deal, but you still need to run a quick test of it.

Basically you should think about breaking every single device and see what happens for 30 minutes after the failure. Block the input and the output and see what it does for water levels. You will get a good sense of how the water flows in your tank as well as some lessons in physics.

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House of Laughter

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Location
Ossining, NY
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Josh, sounds like this was spoken from personal experience (ouch).

I was worried for the same reasons you are and figured out the best way to handle this -

I created a smaller compartment just before the pump outlet and baffled that smaller compartment so that when the water from the sump overflows into the small compartment there are no micro bubbles that get pumped back out.

The benefit of this is that if your overflow clogs, your pump will only pump out as much water that the smaller compartment holds. The downside of this is that if the overflow clogs and the pump runs for too long, you could burn out your pump - for me, not a big deal as I am using a Mag 9.5 - so the cost benefit is a major insurance claim or replacement or my return pump.

And, finally, in my tank, the sump reurm pump is not my only form of circulation - if the sump pump burns out or stops working for whatever reason, my tank will still live.

Just some of my trial and errors and what I have found works for me.

FWIW

House
 

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