lastlight's 34g solana

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by lastlight

This will be in my basement and has to be a closed loop as my tank isn't drilled. To my understanding it MUST be sealed in the basement because there will be a full siphon establish for the loop to function. If power was lost to the pump that's down there the tank would siphon my display.

It might be more trouble than what you were hoping to do so I meant it more academically if nothing else. I was thinking an overflow in your mini sump and then pump from the secondary tank back into the mini sump. That would effectively make it your real sump and you'd have no overflow issues short of draining your mini sump which is a tiny volume comparatively. If you used a float switch or valve based topoff you'd have to switch it to the basement tank since the level in the mini sump would no longer deviate.

A sealed container would have poor (well, nonexistent, really) gas exchange and presumably less ability to shed heat as well. I imagine some heat would be lost through the tank walls but nowhere near the same as an open water surface. Plus the pressurized lines, the pressurized vessel and the lack of ease of cleaning would make a sealed closed loop idea a total non-starter if it was me considering it.