Eb0la11's 165G Reef Tank Build

[Eb0la11]

Yeah I was thinking about the valve idea, that might work. I want zero air in either of those tubes. I think Im most definitely going to have to cut into the pipe and put in a valve below like you mention. Wont be too hard, might take an hour or two max. Other than that this thing is running quite well. Water is nice and level, overflow works, drains work well etc...

As of right now there is not enough room in the sump for a power outage from back flow. So far my check valve works wonderfully to prevent any flow backwards as my system has been "off" for the last 6-7 hours and my water levels all are exactly the same height. I know I cant rely on this part but it'll help. If it did fail Id see likely 25G of water flow back, if it works well then Id see about 10-15G flow back. Right now my sump can hold maybe an extra 5-7G and then once I build my emergency reservoir and plumb it I'll have enough for about 17G which is good enough. If I had 8G of water spill on my unfinished basement itd take me 30 mins to clean up.

Im still going to plumb an emergency overflow reservoir that will remain empty at all times. I luckily have a hole drilled into my sump above the height of the water in one of my chambers and so I am going to just 90 it straight up but below the height of my sumps top edge and direct it towards my empty QT tank, and when that isnt empty I'll just shove it in a 5G bucket. This way I should have enough room for the water if a power outage should it occur.

I'll likely fix this plumbing problem tomorrow and then I gotta figure out this stupid skimmer needle pump and as far as I can see into the future right now my system should be working perfect, but Im sure I'll run into another problem seeing as how this is my first build.