Plumbing help

D

dkexplorer1

New to plumbing.

I am planning to plumb my 50gal and 33gal together. Both tanks are not drilled and use overflow box. The sump is 20gal. My fear is that one of my overflow may loose siphon and I will suffer a flood in my house. Is there a way to prevent it?
 
Not with 100% assurance. You could hedge a bit and simply add another overflow though. I think that would be the easiest solution for a little extra piece of mind.

There are more technical options involving electronic level detectors and such, but cost more and require a little bit of knowledge. They aren't 100% either.
 
you need to have anti-siphon holes on the top of your return lines. really just small holes drilled in the return line just barely below the surgace of the water so that you do not have an excess of water siphon out of the tank to the sump. when you first get going, fill the sump with just enough water for it to work properly, once it is fulling running, unplug the pump and let the water drain into the sump. now fill the sump so that there is an inch or two, preferably two, below the top rim of it. after doing so, turn on the pump and let everything get running again and then mark the water height on the sump. this will always be your maximum fill line when adding water to the tank. if you never go over this mark, you shouldnt have a flood.
 
Well...twice I was close to having a flood.

The overflow on the 30 gal seems to be loosing siphon slowly (over a period of weeks) and eventually totally stop. It seems to me the bubbles built up in the U tube eventually cut the siphon. I was fortunate that both times I was at home and was able to cut off the return to prevent disasters.

What may cause bubble build up and any ways to avoid it?

I am also puzzled that the overflow on my 50gal has bubbles build up too, but it never get to a point for it stops completely.
 
@dkexplorer1 wrote:
Well...twice I was close to having a flood. The overflow on the 30 gal seems to be loosing siphon slowly (over a period of weeks) and eventually totally stop. It seems to me the bubbles built up in the U tube eventually cut the siphon. I was fortunate that both times I was at home and was able to cut off the return to prevent disasters. What may cause bubble build up and any ways to avoid it? I am also puzzled that the overflow on my 50gal has bubbles build up too said:
Increasing the flow might help: Larger water level differential, smaller siphon tube, or bigger pump. Bubbles will accumulate if the flow isn't such they they get sucked away. Apparently the 50g has enough flow to remove the bubbles.
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