I have a siphon break question

edsbeaker

edsbeaker

Member
Hello,
A little reassurance, please!
I am starting to think about plumbing the tank I'm getting, and have a question about the return that comes in my overflow. It has two outlets for water to return to the tank. One is near the top of the overflow and the other is about half way down. It looks similar to the photo below except with two levels, not three.View attachment 11730
My concern is if I put a siphon break in the top loc-line, once it is sucking in air, will this stop the back siphoning of the lower one as well? I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it. I'm pretty sure it will, but just want to be sure.

Thanks!
 
Joe5688

Joe5688

Active member
Have your upper loc line close to the surface of the water. Once the water level gets below the loc line it'll break the siphon
 
zportell

zportell

Member
Marilyn, I want to say a big thanks for the Hippo Tang - It is doing great in his/her new home and is making friends :)

As for a siphon break, if you don't want to chance any of that.. you can buy a check valve / swing valve and cement it into your plumbing. These are made to allow water to pass through the valve in one direction. In your case this would be used to allow water to flow up and back into the tank. If the power goes out or your pump shuts off, the check valve restricts water from flowing back down, creating the siphon. I have this method installed in my plumbing and it is super helpful when I have to turn my pumps off for cleaning. Not to mention, for a few bucks, it's worth the piece of mind that you're return line is not going to flood your sump/fuge.

You can buy these at any home improvement store or you can order them online. So you can get an idea of what they look like and how they work, marinedepot has them on their website with an illustration... http://www.marinedepot.com/plumbing_parts_fittings_ball_check_gate_valves-ap.html

Hope you get your new system going soon. Cant wait to see the pictures.
 
edsbeaker

edsbeaker

Member
Hi Zac,
Thanks for the help. I would probably do that except that because I do water changes from my sump, I count on those top few inches of water to actually back siphon into the sump so that I get a large enough volume in there for a water change. So, in my case, I don't want to stop all of the water from backsiphoning, just have control of at what level the back-siphoning stops. :smile (2):

Also glad to hear that the tang is doing well! Enjoy him.

I am pretty sure I will be starting a build thread when the tank is closer to delivery, (end of March), so I'll definitely have pictures. It was great meeting you yesterday. I wish it hadn't been so cold so that we could have had a chance to talk a bit more. I always love to hear about other tanks. Your girls are adorable, BTW.

Thanks,
Marilyn
 
fit

fit

Member
I would drill a siphon break as well as position the loc line. The lock line could shift over time and you may not notice it lol lol lol all the way to the poor house to purchase a new floor. I have seen lots of check valve get stuck open. It is one more thing you have to keep serviced often and even then I have seen them fail a lot. There might be really good ones out there, but I haven't seen them.
 
edsbeaker

edsbeaker

Member
fit said:
I would drill a siphon break as well as position the loc line. The lock line could shift over time and you may not notice it lol lol lol all the way to the poor house to purchase a new floor. I have seen lots of check valve get stuck open. It is one more thing you have to keep serviced often and even then I have seen them fail a lot. There might be really good ones out there, but I haven't seen them.
Click to expand...
Will do.

Redundancy is the word for a safer reef tank! :laugh:
 
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