You've got my attention. "There has to be some electrical outlet control device that would prevent the return pump in the sump from coming on after a power outage." Does anyone know of such a device?

I spent about two hours tonight googling to find something pre-made that does this but had no luck. It is such a simple concept that I am sure it has already been made and if it wasn't someone in the community has already or could surely put something together.

Thanks for the serious effort. Maybe I'll post a general question about this. Hopefully a fellow nano-reefer can point me in the right direction. If I can find a pump driven overflow - where the siphon will not stop, AND a fail safe return pump for black outs - I just might do it.

It doesn't address a restart-proof return pump but it addresses most other sump related questions in a reasonably comprehensive (and comprehensible) fashion -

http://www.reefland.com/rho/2006/05/overflows_sumps.php

Good luck.

http://www.tomaquarium.com/press/proseries...lish/index.html


this is the continuous siphon overflow system im going with. it prevents flooding via the aqualifter on the overflow. i started a thread askin peoples opinions about it. you can find that here.

this system incorporates a canister and wet/dry...it also comes with a built-in skimmer. you can get the system with or without the auto-top off.

Thank you much. I'll give it a good read. Right now I'm leaning a bit towards an outside canister with glass tubes for overall simplicity. But I gotta admit, running a sump would allow me to operate a nice protein skimmer for the system - not to mention I'd have a place to properly dose without having various tubes running to and from the tank. The primary issue I'd have with a siphon type of overflow is the real possibility of water OVERFLOWING onto my hard wood kitchen floor! If only a company would come up with a purely mechanical solution, I'd be set. Even better would be if a company has already made such a device, and all I need to do is simply discover it.

im not sure how much room you have but this thing is only like 15"x9"x26" i think. the return is actually on the overflow box itself too...so you only have one compact unit hanging on the back of your tank. i really like this system. its entirely self contained. you can also fit a heater in one of the compartments as well.

its on sale right now at drsfostersmith for $180. You can pick it up with the ATO for only $20 more which i think is entirely worth it if you have the room.

its only on sale until the 16th though. ill be ordering mine this week.

heres the drsfostersmith link

I checked out the demo. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR. How much does it cost and where can it be purchased online?

see my post above homie ^

You read my mind, partner. I'm looking for a tape measure now. 9" might be a little too wide. Hopefully, I can make it work.

my LFS was sent one for free for testing and trial. they still use it to this day. they seem to like it and said it works really well. of course its not this. But for the $180 price tag i think its a steal. they also said that theyve never had any problems with it not stopping or starting back up. i was acutally there a few weeks ago during a storm and the power went out 3 times. it stopped and started right back up every time. thats when i started researching it. i measured it in the store and got roughly 14"x8 1/4"x25 1/2". i was stoked when i found out it all fit neatly under my stand. if you read my thread you can see how excited i was that this system fulfilled my OCD about things being neat and concealed.

Awwww Yiah, it's actually 15" x 9" x 20-1/2" h and it'll fit in my lower cabinet just like a glove. I'm getting it. That's all there is to it. Only problem I see with it so far is that it's BLUE! Black would be cleaner IMO. But beggars can't be choosers, and it offers exactly what my system needs. SPS corals will dig on that protein skimming BIG TIME. Thanks for the recommendation. And my wife said this board was a waste of time! She'll never understand why I do the things I do. (now how do I make this purchase undetected?)

One more question for you siwelk, is that gonna be too much flow for my 25G tank?

im by no means an expert, but after head loss your probably gonna be looking at roughly 500gph on the return. i know you want to shoot for 40-60x flow in your tank esp. with sps. so youre still gonna want another probably 1000gph via powerheads

yeah i feel you on the black, id much rather have that than the blue. but the blue is actually starting to grow on me. my tank is painted black on the back and i think the blue might be a neat contrast. i feel you on the signifcant other thing too. my girlfriend is always sayin "you have a forum for you car, and you have a forum for your fish" everytime you buy something new you have a forum. i said baby if they had a forum for asian women who get pissed at me for how i spend my time/money id be all over it too.

Thats a cool system $199 get the auto fill also with it.

your tank is awesome. an ada is deffinatly going to be my next tank. Jusy would like to know is it glass or arylic?

They're glass.

that just makes it even better!

LOL!@#!Oh yeah, absolutely. With an integrated ATO, that's a nice add-on for only $20. So far, I've been topping off manually. I wonder if this unit will allow the tank to be filled as close to the rim as possible.

OK. So I know it's not the most attractive system in the world, but if offers everything I've been hoping for in a filter - for only $200. I may want to swap the intake and return tubes to clear vs. blue. With this filter solution, the only components that will remain INSIDE the tank will be the Koralia 1, MJ1200, and the overflow unit. Much cleaner. BLACK would be my preference if I had a choice.

Obviously, the overflow will be exposed but the rest of the components will be hidden away inside the cabinet.

What do you think? Should I buy it? Comments would be appreciated.

good luck getting anyone to comment on this filter, ive yet to have anyone on here or RC comment on my thread about it...i guess im just gonna wing it and go at it alone. ill be ordering mine this week. im not gonna be setting up my tank until i move though (July) so I wont be able to give you any feeback on how it performs.

Alright, it's just you and me then. I should have mine up and running the day it arrives. I'll order it via the link you sent me before the end of this week. Then I'll circle back with you and let you know how it performs.

I say go for it, I think it what you've been looking for.

awesome...im glad theres someone else willing to take the leap of faith wtih me. i hope it works out for you and i look forward to hearing about the results

We'll soon find out how reliable the start-stop feature works, and just how well the air-stone protein skimmer performs. Those two things would be of greatest concern. For $200, loaded with stuff my filtration lacks now, it's definitely worth the risk. Maybe I'll even order it today.

I have a nigh overpowering urge to do what you are doing now. I think my next tank will be very similar to yours, except I really want to experiment with the Zeovit method. Go for that filter and let me know how it works out. I've wanted to run a sump on my 20h for so long.

DONE. Complete filtration system with AFS (Auto Fill System) should arrive within 7 days. Stay tuned...

BTW: Anyone wanna buy my RENA HOB filtration with surface skimmer, integrated heater, and NEW replacement carbons? $60 plus shipping and it's all yours. Spent over $135 for the stuff at Petsmart and it's only 1mo old. Check the early part of this thread for more details on the gear. Anyhow, this is the last time I'll mention it. Otherwise I'll use it for additional filtration whenever the tank gets really messy.

what brand is that? where can I order one? I'll join the fun and get one .

LOL. Tom Aquatics. Here ya go. Welcome to the "Can't drill your tank but still want a sump" Club.

haha purple up...

haha, sweet. can i be vice president? i dont want any other responsibilities other than going on hunting trips and shooting my fellow hunters.

I just ordered mine today. Went to my LFS again yesterday to watch it in action. I think for the price its worth a try. If nothin else im sure you can make your $$ back on eBay. I wish I didnt have to wait to set it up until next summer, but it will be such a hassle to have to tear it all down and move. i hope it works out for those of you who will be using it soon. theres a guy over on RC who was asking about it too. i told him about this thread and offered my advice. of course he got a lot a negative responses from people over there. my experience with most people on RC is that unless youre willing to spend hella money on every component of your system youre not doing it right. i remember when i started a thread asking about a Nova Extreme T5HO fixture I was thinking about. I made it clear that my lighting budget was about $250. They repeatedly told me that the Nova was no good and I should get a TEK or Aquatinic fixture. Even after repeated attempts to reiterate the fact that my budget would not accommodate those high dollar fixtures, I was then told that if i didnt have the funds to support his hobby maybe I should reconsider. WTF? that didnt help me at all. instead of getting real advice and help I basically got called out for not being financially capable of purchasing thousands of dollars worth of equipment. no one seems to stray very far from what everyone else is doing, which is kinda why i like to try something that hasnt really been tried before. someone has to be the guinea pig. and why i also do most of my posting here at nano-reef. its not full of a bunch of 200g+ owners who have an unlimited supply of money and think that if you cant ball like them your saltwater ambitions are unfounded. anyways, for those interested you can check his thread out here.


Go forth and prosper brave Rapids Pro purchasers. I look to join you in the near future!

So I read the thread along with the links of the other threads throughout. Interesting comments made about the overall quality of the Rapids Pro, and the suggestions to build your own sump instead. I too would prefer to build my own custom sump if only I could drill this ADA tank. B/c I can't, this filter offers one of the only solutions out there to run a sump with a hang-on overflow without having to worry about power outages and coming home to a flooded home. Presently, I can't run a protein skimmer unless I hang one off the back of the rimless tank, but that would be unsightly for one and secondly, the silicone might not hold so much weight. Although the integrated protein skimmer might be inferior to a competing stand-alone product, simply b/c it comes with it, I'll take it! If the start/stop feature proves to work well, I'm sure the sump can later be modded for larger water volume and a high-performance skimmer. Again, IMO $200 for a sump, protein skimmer, ATO, and automatic overflow definitely works for my budget.

word

Can't beat the perfromance you get for the price for a lot of stuff like this. I remember hearing from a lot of people that the Coralife Super Skimmer was crap before I purchased it. For something under $100, it's outstanding. I pull lots of dark skimmate. Be sure to post pics once you get the new filter setup.

I dont get it how does that canister/filter/ato/skimmer serve as a sump too? did i miss something? sounds too good to be true


P.S. Randy you sprouted a new baby this morning!!

Hey Patty. Nice to hear my blue tubs are doing well! (Patty picked up some sweet blue zoas for me this weekend)

The "Rapid Pro" is quite a bit more than a traditional canister, in that it has a wet/dry filter, skimmer, overflow, ato, spot for a heater, etc. A sump is nothing more than an extra water containment area, which this little unit certainly provides - although it may not have as much sump volume as one would typically want. I hope it's not too good to be true. We'll soon find out soon enough. I'll post pics of the complete setup, skimmer and all, once it gets delivered to my door.

I cant wait to see it!! hope it works out well with your new setup. I'm curious b/c i've been wanting a sump and ato for my 29g of course it's not drilled..so this seems like the perfect solution. Since i set my tank up i've been running it with the Rena XP1 xtra carbon/nitrate absorbers and chaeto in the tank (that occasionally floats around all over the place LOL!) So far so good, no excess algae blooms but i do get slight cyano in areas throughout.
Please keep us updated !!

I was the guy that got smashed about the Toms Aquatics filter over on RC... man those guys definitely are believers in their methods!
you guys let me know how yours run huh?!

haha, welcome. i believe youll find it a little less...high 'n mighty over here

anyone get and hook up their filter yet?

Please let me know what you think of the filter and the way the units come in. I work for the company and I would like to get feed back on it. BTW some time next year there will be a black Hang on the back overflow instead of the current blue one. It will also not need the pump that hooks up to it.

unfortunately i had to cancel my rapids pro order with drsfostersmith. when i found out that the Nova Extreme T5HO fixture they had listed for 300 bucks as part of their red-tag sale was actually the new Nova Extreme Pro 6x39w fixture which has individual reflectors, i had to get it instead. i still look to get the rapids pro ps4 system in the future. probavly from marinedepot.com for 226 bucks shipped. then again i might wait and see what this new black model looks like that Zulander50 is talking about.

http://www.current-usa.com/nova_extreme_pro




looks promising

Lighting is key. You probably made the wise choice given that you don't need to complete your setup until mid next year.

I expect the delivery should come in roughly 3-4 days. Good to know that my filter will be obsolete in just a few months! On the bright side, I can benefit from the new technology for only $200 AND I don't need to waste time modding the filter to my liking, since a more improved BLACK one is already in development. Gotta admit, the blue pump that hooks up to it bothers me a bit too. Nice to see that Tom Aquatics is addressing aesthetics as well as functionality. Thanks for the heads up. I'll definitely post feedback once it's up and running.

definately cant wait to hear the feedback on the rapids pro. im still thinking about picking it up...their sale is evidently extended for an undisclosed amount of time since it was supposed to end yesterday but the price is still the same. i thought about going ahead and ordering it today (made some cash on eBay )

...then someone offered me a used Euro-Reef rs80 for $115. decisions, decisions. hmmm

THE WAIT IS OVER.

YES!!!!


that came sooner than expected. open it already

woohooo set it UPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!

what no report yet?? LOL