Auto top off help/advice

[scokill]

I'm setting up ATO in my sump with JBJ ATO. I want the water resevoir to be inside stand and it seems the only option is to be sitting above sump. Question is how can I control siphoning? It seems like if the water is above water would siphon out. May be stupid question, but.....I was thinking a pvc T fitting with barbed in/out and pvc pipe or tubing above water line in container to break siphon, but thinking water may shoot up when pump activated...any suggestions/advice?

[supahtim]

try having the ato going straight into the tank over the top where the return is.

 

Tim

[scokill]

If the tubing us running up from the resovoir then down to the sump, will it still siphon?? Can siphon up then down? I was thinking I could run the tubing way up to the top of the stand and secure, then down to the sump..

[chickendude10]

IMO the best solution is to have it feed into the overflow of the display tank. That way it won't create a syphon and has plenty of time to mix (i.e. through the drains, sump, etc.) before it gets back to the display.

 

I'm confused as to what your describing with the "T" and such. Is this what you mean?

Sump.bmp

The above diagram would stop any siphoning as long as the top of the "T" was open.

[scokill]

IMO the best solution is to have it feed into the overflow of the display tank. That way it won't create a syphon and has plenty of time to mix (i.e. through the drains, sump, etc.) before it gets back to the display.

 

I'm confused as to what your describing with the "T" and such. Is this what you mean?

Sump.bmp

The above diagram would stop any siphoning as long as the top of the "T" was open.

 

I would really like it to dump into the sump as I don't want anything up top, and I have no choice but to put the resevoir above the sump. I was thinking if there was a T at the end of the feed tubing, water would flow out of both sides of the T with pump engaged, and when the pump stopped water would flow slowly out of one side until air entered in to the line on one side. I also did some research on spring check valve. It takes 2 PSI to push the spring valve open, I wonder when the pumped stopped, the spring valve would close off syphon??? The other option was solenoid valve plugged in to the JBJ controller with gravity feed, or pump and solenoid plugged into the controller and both would engage at same time, and when shut off, the pump and the valve would close???

[Matty1124]

uhhhh your making this way to complicated... just make it so that the hose leading into your isnt under the water... problem solved... if you dont want splasing just cut a small hole above the water line in the return hose... when the pump turns off it will suction the water in the hose back to the resivior but not any salt water becasue the hole in the hose will break the suction... no T fittings needed

 

 

EDIT: oh i see what you mean... the flow wont stop because the resivor is above the sump... have you tried it the way i described... it might work still the pump wont allow that much water to flow through it when its off... might be enough to stop the syphon

 

EDIT #2: I HAVE A SOLUTION! i just thought of something else you could try... a toms aqua lifter pump... you can have it go to your sump that way and not have any sypone because its a totally diffrent type of pump, and actually lots of people use them for ATO because of how low the flow is

[scokill]

Perhaps I am making this more complicated, the toms pump looks promising and would solve the siphon problem it appears. I was thinking that the flow rate may be so slow that it may exceed the max time on the JBJ ATO Controller which is adjustable from 3-14 minutes. After that time, it cuts off and has to be reset. I agree with you that the simple solution may just be hole in the tubing making sure the tube is totally above the water, and the hole squirts in to the tank (if it does squirt at all). I'll give the simplest potential solution a try.

 

I saw a 1/2" pvc solenoid valve on ebay for $30, runs on 110v and could be plugged in to controller directly. I could silicone the tubing in the bottom of the resovoir and let gravity feed sump when solonoid valve was opened by controller.

 

Thanks for the advice and ideas.

[Matty1124]

with the toms aqua lifter it pumps like what a few gallons an hour... so in 15 min it will pump like a gallon or so... which will be plenty the float switch for the JBJ ATO on moves like a quater inch... plenty of people use the toms pump with the JBJ... i think its the way to go... i wouldnt over complicate things, if there is a problem then there will really be a major problem with all that extra enginerring your talking about.. KISS (keep it simple stupid)