Trickler Question

[slingham64]

I figured I better start talking about salt water in the salt water section. Well I weeded through the enormous amount of equipment I got. An set up 1 powerhead, 2 heaters, and a hang on the back filter,FOR NOW. I had the Trickler all set up and got the siphon going and didn't realize the water pump wasn't working. After the tank an salt an water conditioner, the bank account's a little low, so a new pump is gonna have to wait. Of all the epuipment I got, there wasn't a second water pump!

In the mean time, I was wondering what I'm supposed to do were my power to ever go out?? The siphon isn't mechanical, so the sump would fill up an overflow. Is there a way to rig something up to safeguard against that?

[Fishguy2727]

It should be setup so that if the pump goes off for whatever reason, the extra water will fit in the sump and since the pump isn't adding more water to the tank again, it will stop siphoning water into the sump. The overflow should just gurgle to a stop.

[slingham64]

It should be setup so that if the pump goes off for whatever reason, the extra water will fit in the sump and since the pump isn't adding more water to the tank again, it will stop siphoning water into the sump. The overflow should just gurgle to a stop.

Let's hope that's the case.

[Fishguy2727]

That's how every system I have seen is. Your sump should be big enough to hold all the extra water without overflowing.

[slingham64]

That's how every system I have seen is. Your sump should be big enough to hold all the extra water without overflowing.

Yeah, I looked it over and the siphon tube that takes the water down to the sump has holes drilled in it so when the pump turns off, once it hits one of those holes, the siphon will die. Now to find a cheap pump. Know of a good pump thats under $45, the broken one was a RIO 1400, an my LFS was $44.99.

[slingham64]

DISASTER....

I decided to try to fix the Rio, got it working which was awesome. An I got the system running an flooded my room that the tank is in. The sump overflowed before I could stop it. Luckily it was linoleum floors. It seems to pump the water out faster than it trickles in. It has ball valves on both the intake and outtake tubes and the intake ball volve is marked where it should be. I tried adjusting the outtake to slow the flow of the pump but it still pumped to fast. What am I doing wrong here??

[cocoa_pleco]

I KNEW SOMETHING WOULD GO WRONG! sucks.

[slingham64]

I KNEW SOMETHING WOULD GO WRONG! sucks.

Alright alright..... Fair enough. BUT do you know what my problem could be here?

[Fishguy2727]

Not without actually looking at the system. Is there a flow control valve after the pump?

[genitor]

can you post a pic?

[slingham64]

There's a ball valve after the pump. I tried adjusting it but it didn't really slow down the flow much. That whole tube is acting like a siphon too I figured out. Cause as soon as I turn off the pump, water starts siphoning into the sump which caused my flood. Is it that the outtake needs to be above water so it doesn't siphon or should that matter?

[slingham64]

The first pic is the sump. The pump is on the right side with the right tube being the outtake, the left side is the intake.

The second picture is where the tubes are in the tank.