Dumb DIY nOOb question of the day

[dzones]

Ok I am about to dive in and do my own wet/dry sump and fuge setup for under my tank on my 125. My first dumb question is..
What if the power should happen to go out and I am not at home...will I be facing a flood? is there a way around this??
Secondly, is it more beneficial to use BIO Balls or to use a different method?
Any DIY plans that you guys/gals may have sketched would be of great help. I have this much room to design:
40" long
16" wide
30" high
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Dave

 

[shanev]

Well first off you need an overflow to make it flood resistant. You can have a hang on the back overflow or a overflow built into a drilled tank. Drilling obviuosly is not an option if your tank is not set up. Then all you have to do is not fill the sump all the way up, this will allow whatever water is in the overflow to drain into the sump and stop.
As far as bio-balls are concerned most people will say no bio-balls, IMO It really depends on what your doing with the tank, for a reef LR and LS is plenty of filtration, for a FO or FOWLR I like bio-balls provided they are taken care of.
Last thing do a search here for sumps and you will find a TON of designs.

 

[aarone]

i made my own way to get the water to the sump/refugium/wetdry )whateve ryou are using) I built it so that it will break the siphon if the power goes out. heres a pic of it if you are curious.
aarone@charter.net
for questions

 

[aarone]

sorry here is the pic

 

[bioreefer]

for the flood I would use a check ball valve this is a one way flow water goes up but not back in the sump for around 16 dollars as far as bio balls I think there ok but I think ceramic rings are far better. just get some media bags and fill them with carbon and ceramic rings. its worked very good for me thanks BIOREEFER

 

[aarone]

is a ball valve expensive? no sense in all that extra pipe work for nothing!

 

[shanev]

aarone, make sure its a check vavle not a ball vavle. Some have experienced a decrease in flow with a check valve though.

 

[dreeves]

Aarone go to your local HD or Lowes for the check valve...far cheaper then online...also where the spray bar enters the water you could just drill a 1/16th inch hole in the PVC right below the water surface...