Sleek concepts?

[Funky_Fish14]

I definitely agree with Shrimpchip's first point, that water flow really should have a system separate from just the return.

Responding to you, Shrimpchips:

Im not sure what 24" you are talking about? The 'region' of water that produces the backflow would be the part between the pump and the high point. (Same as in any system). It would take only a small amount of air in at the top of the upper loop to break the syphon. Infact it depends mostly on placement of the hole where the air comes in and the size/length of that upper loop. If there is a large section horizontally oriented in the top of that loop, then I could see a problem, but with a small upper point to the loop (by loop I mean an upside down U, in whichever shape is the most convinient for the situation), the air would be drawn in and break the syphon quickly (assuming the air-hole is large enough, which should obviously be tested).

I am absolutely certain that this could be done with less than 1gallon of water (from the back-syphon) draining back into the sump even with two return lines in such a way. (ofcourse with the anti-syphon holes, the part between that and the pump will entirely drain, but I mean less than 1 gallon to break the syphon, the rest of the water quantity depends on the amount of plumbing/size).

+ Setting this up correctly, there is no way any part (anti-syphon hole) sould become clogged. And confirming that (on any system) is simply part of regular maintenance.

Cheers,

Chris

[kien]

Unless they are fairly large the anti siphon holes can and will eventually get clogged over time. I used to have them on my return nozzles to break siphon and had to increase their size a few times until I reached about 5mm I think. Even that clogged over time with various algaes

Anyway, as mention already you can guarantee their effectiveness by regularly checking them. I on the other hand got fed up with that added maintenance. It was just "one more thing" to pay attention to, maintain and support on what is already a complex system.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there.. You know, since Mr. Murphy is such a big fan of out hobby and all In the end I just let them clog up for the last time and instead built a bigger sump to support the extra 3 gallons to siphoned out from the return nozzles.

[Greenmaster]

This is what I am doing... still waiting for my hole saw to show up. I will be dividing my return into 2 flow accelerators coming through the back wall.
My overflow's final drain point will be slightly lower then this so it will not add any "extra" water to the sump if the pump fails.

[dpg]

What pump will you be using with that eductor?

[Greenmaster]

It's a 1" line that gets split into two 3/4" flow accelerators. I will have two of these for my 320g tank. The pumps I have are 1250gph but with the 6' head it's about 1000gph per pump... I have two pumps.