Update..Live rock, lights.. top off question

[Gmoney]

Ok guys, as promissed:







The last pic is of a giant rock I got from my supplier..beautiful rock, and weighs probably around 30-35lbs...The pic doesnt do it justice as it is WAY bigger than it looks..my tank makes it look small but its huge in person.

Tank is cycling now, still workin on gettin pH higher..need to do a water change soon.

I have a question regarding my top off plumbing.

Basically I have a mag5 pump at the bottom of a 55 gal drum pumping water up the drum and out of it, then all the way to the tank, and then back down to the tank. At first I was worrying about backsyphoning from the sump back to the 55gal drum, had that happen in my previous tank, but now what I found out is when the pump goes on, and fills the sump back up, once it hits the top off sensor and stops pumping, water is still coming from my 55gal drumto the sump.

Is there a way to fix it? Do I need to put the pump higher up in the 55gal drum? Do I need to have the piping go down to the ground, then back up to above sump, then down to sump again? Hoping I can fix this without much work.

BTW, for you smart@sses out there, NO that is not my final aquascape lol.. pics of that to come later..I hope to do the aquascaping within the next week or so..but there isnt any hurry since tank is cycling now.

I cannot say enough about this live rock I got from my transhipper, so if anyone is ever looking for premium uncured rock, let me know.

G

[Little Luey]

Looks good. I like your canopy, easy access to the lights.

[Wiskey]

Really cool! What you need to do is drop the whole drum so that the highest water level you will ever have in it is lower then the sump water level.

The other option is to make a syphon break (like an uncapped T) at the highest point of your plumbing, either way will work.

HTH,
Whiskey

[Gmoney]

thanks wiskey. Lowering the drums isnt an option for now, I did all the plumbnig already and it would be a headache to redo it all.

An uncapped T... hmmm, but wont water escape from there? If water is being pumped through how does it not go out the uncapped T? Or would I need to extend the uncapped T with pipe of about a foot or so?

[Gmoney]

oh another question.... the rings on the pendants are getting super hot and they are then heating the hooks connected to the hood. I hope this is ok?

I know I need to get my canopy fans going to cool this down though a tad.

G

[Wiskey]

The uncaped T would be at the highest point of the plumbing (higher than the water level of both) it will prevent syphon of any kind. Gravity will pull the water down, but the pipe extention idea is a good one.

You can also do a T on the downward length, just as long as it is above the top of the drum, we are not talking about redoing the plumbing, just replacing a 90 with a T.

This is just like a syphon break in return plumbing.

Don't know about the lights, sorry.

Whiskey

[Gmoney]

thanks wiskey....I think I know what I need to do now...hopefully it works, because buying a solenoid for this problem would be costly.

[Wiskey]

Oh ya, I can't believe how much those things are. I wanted to use one as a safety on my PH controller for dosing Kalk, that way I never nuke my tank, I saw how much they were and decided to just stop dosing Kalk.

I've always wondered if the cheap ones for your sprinkler system would work though,....

No Prob,
Whiskey

[Gmoney]

I have been thinking of designing an auto top off device that you can plug inline to your auto top off system....Ideally you'd feed the water by gravity to save on electical cost for a pump..but even with a pump.. you'd connec the pump to the device, device plugged to sensor in sump and obviously to power. When level drops, solenoid opens, pump is turned on, water flows until it reaches high water sensor and then closes solenoid and pump is turned off.

They have such a device, but it only connects directly to your RODI unit. That isnt good since first gallon or so produced each time would be not good quality and you are putting it straight into your system.

With my device, your RODI goes to a container... container is plumbed ot your sump and the device would be inline with this.

Who would buy this? what would you pay... I'll get going on it if demand is there and it can be done cheap.

[Cubetank]

I did not see any pic. May be something is wrong with my network

[Cubetank]

Gal, just send the pic to my email instead of the link dude

steve

[Gmoney]

dude your network sucks...i'll email you the photobucket link you fool... hahaha

[Wiskey]

This is how I have always done auto-top-off's, I have never used a pump, or a silanoid, or anything with power and have not been able to find out why others do.

I have a 10 gallon holding tank above the level of my sump and I run RO line from that to a Kent Float Valve mounted in the sump. I fill the 10G continer from my RO/DI holding tank and then let gravity do it's thing.

The price? 'bout 20 bucks.

Whiskey

Originally Posted by Gmoney

I have been thinking of designing an auto top off device that you can plug inline to your auto top off system....Ideally you'd feed the water by gravity to save on electical cost for a pump..but even with a pump.. you'd connec the pump to the device, device plugged to sensor in sump and obviously to power. When level drops, solenoid opens, pump is turned on, water flows until it reaches high water sensor and then closes solenoid and pump is turned off.

They have such a device, but it only connects directly to your RODI unit. That isnt good since first gallon or so produced each time would be not good quality and you are putting it straight into your system.

With my device, your RODI goes to a container... container is plumbed ot your sump and the device would be inline with this.

Who would buy this? what would you pay... I'll get going on it if demand is there and it can be done cheap.