Lagoonal Reef

dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member

Originally posted by robvia
Could you get to much pipe and air so that the syphon wouldn't start?
Just don't submerge the outlet pipe to the bottom of the display aquarium. The air pressure in the pipe will never be greater than the water pressure at the depth the outlet pipe is at. The pressure is generated by the diffrence in water height in the surge bucket and in the siphon. As long as you have clearance above the U greater than the depth of the outlet, the surge bucket will win and burp out the excess air. The faster the pump you're using, the bigger you want to make your margin for error.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Perfect description (Hydro engineer??)
In the pics you'll notice that the exit is only 1/2" below the water surface. During the surge it's 2 or 3" deep but by then it doesn't matter :D
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member

Originally posted by Bang Guy
Perfect description (Hydro engineer??)
No, just a nerd. :) Software tester by trade.
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member
Ok, combining your surge device with the drillless overflow from another thread, I get this:
Loop 1 is a siphon to get the water over the edge of the tank.
Loop 2 is always filled with water so the loop 1 siphon never breaks.
Pipe 3 is a siphon break
Loop 4 is the surge loop, that starts a siphon when the water reaches the high mark, and sucks air from pipe 3 when the water reaches the low mark.
Pipe 5 is the surge outlet.
Think it will work? (Planning to only surge a fraction of the tank, it would be the feed from my refugium to my display.)
P.S. Why do pictures I attach sometimes display within the post and sometimes as a link?
 
robvia

robvia

Member
Bitmaps *.bmp gets displayed as a link.
JPegs *.jpg get displayed in the message.
At least that is usually the case. Bitmaps are typically larger in files size, so when you are creating the file, save it as a jpeg.
I would be worried about the syphon failing and would want a drain drilled in it. If the syphon breaks you are still going to pump water into it. Could be a mess. This was the deciding reason I have my fuge drilled instead of using a cheaper syphon method. I guess I'm just SCARED of water on my living room carpet.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
A drain is probably a good idea for most setups. It's unnecessary in my case only because the surge is tipped slightly so that a failure would just pour the water into the lagoon.
The siphon has never failed. A couple of times over the past 2.5 years the siphon didn't break but that just results in normal flow instead of it surging.
The only way the siphon can fail is if something clogs the tube. Not likely on mine because it's a 2" tube being fed by a 1" line. But in a smaller application a fish or snail might be able to clog the siphon.
 
robvia

robvia

Member
I would worry about the syphon in the "non-drilled" example from dskidmore. I see that Bang Guys would fail to a drain style. The reason is, I have had some problems with my overflow recently. The U-tube gets air in it and slows the flow down. When this happens, the sump drains and the tank fills. It doesn't overflow the tank because the sump doesn't have enough water. If I had more water in my sump it would. I'm not sure why this is happening. I think that I have routed my return in such a way that the flow back has been decreased. That means slower flow through the U-tube. I think I need to increase the flow back to my tank, but I'm not 100% sure. I don't have an extra pump that I can throw in to try. Any ideas you guys have would be appreciated.
 
dvs

dvs

Member

WOW!
Where the hell was I the first time this came around? lol.
Bang, words cant describe it!
Any new pics?
Jen
 
dskidmore

dskidmore

Active Member

Originally posted by robvia
I would worry about the syphon in the "non-drilled" example from dskidmore. I see that Bang Guys would fail to a drain style. The reason is, I have had some problems with my overflow recently. The U-tube gets air in it and slows the flow down. When this happens, the sump drains and the tank fills. It doesn't overflow the tank because the sump doesn't have enough water. If I had more water in my sump it would. I'm not sure why this is happening. I think that I have routed my return in such a way that the flow back has been decreased. That means slower flow through the U-tube. I think I need to increase the flow back to my tank, but I'm not 100% sure. I don't have an extra pump that I can throw in to try. Any ideas you guys have would be appreciated.
I'm guessing here, but I've heard suggestions that a greater rate of flow through the U-tube can prevent bubble buildup.
 
D

dholmblad

Guest
You would have alot of fun if something knocked a hole in that wonderfuly huge set up.
That thing is amaizing, I wanna set up a 400gal tank in time and i thought that was alot.
 
vibe

vibe

Member
i dunno if anyone has already answered this but the coral in this picture actually looks like turbinaria. with the "slang" down here we call them "moon polyps". i have a piece like this myself:
 
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