overflowed my tank

[deepblue68]

word to the wise always shut off your pumps when your fixing or cleaning something on your return or drain system!
I broke siphon while cleaning my overflow and didnt realize until I heard my auto top filling at a steady rate then I saw tank begin to overflow .I spilled about 5gallons on my floor but got it cleaned up quick. my wife was upset but not as upset at myself for being stupid.

 

[Sponge]

Hey. Ive done worse. Lol. Glad you were there and didn’t walk away not knowing.

 

[deepblue68]

you and me both

 

[Goodair]

what kind of overflow do you use?

 

[looneytunes]

never overflowed the tank but i am notorious with my rodi. at least once a month i have water all over the garage and under a 8ft wood work bench. not to mention the wood support beam holding up the loft. good times

 

[diana a]

I need some education on this. So if an return breaks siphon, this will always happen whether it is a tank drilled or over the edge return?

 

[Wilson]

Drilled tank - the water will flow into the overflow, and drain through the drilled hole, because it's below the top of the glass.

Over the edge - without the syphon, nothing pulling the water up and over, down the piping, will overflow all the edges.

There are self priming overflows in case they lose the syphon, usually via air pump, but I'd always recommend drilling a tank if possible.

 

[Sponge]

I need some education on this. So if an return breaks siphon, this will always happen whether it is a tank drilled or over the edge return?

Drilled way better than over the top. However NOTHING is perfect. A blocked down pipe on drilled tank will cause same thing. That’s why bean animal is so popular. ALMOST prevents this type of disaster. At the very least it “should” allow even the laziest Of us ample opportunity to see the problem well in advance of there actually being a problem.

 

[Trio91]

You could throw some check valves on the return and overflow lines. Not 100% foolproof but they do work when maintained properly.

 

[Goodair]

I need some education on this. So if an return breaks siphon, this will always happen whether it is a tank drilled or over the edge return?

Overflow:
-Bean (main, trickle, and emergency) and herbie (main , trickle) are the same, bean just has the 3rd pipe "just in case". Water drains down the main pipe, and whatever the pipe can't handle goes down the trickle pipe. Thats what the ball/gate valve is for on the main line, you close it up to a point where a small amount of water starts to flow into the second pipe. As there are shifts in the flow rate, the 2nd pipe compensates for it. If you start to hear splashing, that means alot of water is going down the trickle pipe and your main is clogged. You do need to adjust the valve time to time but not very often.
You need to have the main clogged, and a towel shoved into the trickle pipe for the 3rd one to kick in.
-Durso is a single pipe and those tend to be easier to set up and have thier own problems. They don't have something to buffer the change in water flow through the tank. Some people use a hole or small tube to help regulate air but seems like its a hit/miss. When you hear a loud gurgling, that means the pipe is sucking in alot of air.


Return:
-When the pump is off, water will siphon back into the sump, this will keep going until the water line drops below the nozzle.
This is why some people will drill a lil hole in the locline to break the siphon earlier. This hole needs to be cleaned from time to time so it isnt clogged. If you got a large enough sump, it can hold the excess water and whatever the ato will dump in (this depends on what ur ato reservoir size). If the return is low below the water line, a check valve can help hold the water, but will fail eventually like everything else in the tank.
If your weir (grills) for the overflow are lower than your return nozzles, the water will keep dropping until the waterline hits the bottom of the weir. Usually the return nozzles are lower so you will likely see this the water line drop to the nozzles.

You can then calculate how much water will get drained in your main tank by knowing this.
You can also find out how much water can overflow into the main tank if all of the overflows are clogged. ATO resevoir size + the chambersize the return pump is in. (Depending on the baffle setup)

I might of missed some things but hopefully this gives a good understanding.

 

[deepblue68]

yes that's why I like reef ready tanks. what happened when I broke siphon on my overflow the tank was not flowing back down to my sump hence trying to empty my sump into my tank causing it to overflow because water had no place to go.

 

[deepblue68]

I have a check valve to prevent my tank from draining into my sump during power outage or turning the pump off

 

[deepblue68]

this was a self inflicted I was cleaning a tube that was dirty on the pump that keeps air pocketout siphon preventing siphon from being g broken

 

[Goodair]

It happens to all of us, I was siphoning the tank with a hose into the filter sock one day. Had the pumps off and the sump overfilled and skimmer went crazy. In hindsight, it made sense but it still happened lol.

 

[DangerDave]

this was a self inflicted I was cleaning a tube that was dirty on the pump that keeps air pocketout siphon preventing siphon from being g broken

you can add an aqua lifter to your overflow, it is good insurance in case it ever happens in the future.

 

[deepblue68]

yes that was the tube I was cleaning on the aqua lifter and I created a disturbance when I was wiping overflow. stupid move on my behalf.lol

 

[Wilson]

My big panic attack with stepping onto wet carpet in the fish room. First had to figure out which tank it was coming from.. then obviously figure out the cause. After a long search, found out the ATO line disconnected from the tank and was..ATOing? onto the floor. The ATO has a timer to prevent it from pumping out too much into the tank, but the ATO pump is moving 200gph, so by the time the timer killed the pump, it had dumped quite a bit onto the floor.. lesson learned.

 

[deepblue68]

I feel your pain