Sump trouble

[Seahorse man]

I just found out that i need to move my coral frags from my qt into my dt, theres just one problem, My sump isnt set up. Can someone give my e advice for how to do this? Heres my plan....

55 gal display tank ( safety glass, non drillable )
Use a syphon overflow

Use 10 gallon tank as a sump( deep sand bed and live lava rock, with my heaters and skimmer of course)

What size and brand of return pump( if we are allowed to suggest brands)

Power outage- if i lose power, how can i prevent flooding my floor if i cant drill the tank?

Auto top off- is there a good one i can buy or does it need to be built?

Thanks everyone, this kind-of snuck up on me, and i am very unprepared!

 

[Scotty Buttons]

I have a DIY 10 gallon sump on my tank, fed by a continuous siphon overflow box. The key is just make sure you have enough room in your sump that if the power goes out your sump won't over flow. For example I know when I kill the power my tank continues to drain about 2 gallons of water, so i made sure my sump could handle those additional 2 gallons of tank water. I use a JBJ auto top off, it was affordable and it's proven reliable for me. And as far as return pumps go, I have a danner mag drive 5. They have always been reliable pumps for me although I know some people don't like them I think there good and a good price. Hope this helps!

 

[Scotty Buttons]

Picture of my sump.

 

[Seahorse man]

I have a DIY 10 gallon sump on my tank, fed by a continuous siphon overflow box. The key is just make sure you have enough room in your sump that if the power goes out your sump won't over flow. For example I know when I kill the power my tank continues to drain about 2 gallons of water, so i made sure my sump could handle those additional 2 gallons of tank water. I use a JBJ auto top off, it was affordable and it's proven reliable for me. And as far as return pumps go, I have a danner mag drive 5. They have always been reliable pumps for me although I know some people don't like them I think there good and a good price. Hope this helps!

The problem isnt so much overflowing the sump, its overflowing the display tank when the syphon breaks due to the outage, and then turns back on and empties my sump into my dt. How do you solve that?

 

[DIvid]

The problem isnt so much overflowing the sump, its overflowing the display tank when the syphon breaks due to the outage, and then turns back on and empties my sump into my dt. How do you solve that?

A few different ways 1.) a check valve on the return line so that it cannot back siphon.(I personally do not like this option due to the fact if the valve breaks or gets clogged with something like algae or a snail.) 2.) You can raise your return line slightly above your water line not allowing a back siphon to happen.(Too much noise for me but gets the job done.) 3.) You set your running sump level low enough that when your return line goes into a siphon it can only fill to slightly below the top of the sump after the siphon is complete. (This is my personal option I run my sump about 50-60% full when the return pump is on, when I turn off the return the sump fills to about 1 inch below the rim after the siphon has broken. This allows you to keep your return a few inches underwater and eliminates the risk of a check valve failure.) These a just a few of the ways others may have good plumbing tricks to share aswell.

 

[Scotty Buttons]

The display shouldn't over fill as long as the overflow box keeps draining. I have a small old school power head hooked to the overflow box with a piece of airline tubing which both should have a connection for. That way when the power comes back on the power head starts to create a vacuum in the over flow box creating the siphon again.

 

[Scotty Buttons]

As long as the overflow box is rated for the same GPH as the return pump or less then there shouldn't be a problem with the DT over filling.

 

[Rich Cooper]

+1 on the ensuring the GPH on your pump is not higher than what the overflow can handle and you should leave 25-35% clearance from the top for when the return pump is off and you should design or float valve for your ato around that height as well to maintain water level in the sump.