Has anyone ever tried this before?

[WhiteShark]

I have a 75 gallon tank (with a 12 gallon sump) set up in my apartment and one of my biggest fears would be an overflow while I am away from home and I end up with 20 gallons of water on my apartment floor or worse my downstairs neighbors ceiling. I was trying to figure out how to combat this potential financially damaging situation when I came up with a thought. I could hook my return pump power cord to liquid level control make sure to keep the solenoid high enough in the tank so that the return pump always stays on but low enough so that if my tank started to overflow it would cut off the return pump...Anyone ever try this before?

 

 

Here's what I was thinking of using:

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~idproduct~SP5113.html

[Rocket]

Why not just get a bigger sump. Or setup your overflow correctly and you will never have to worry about your sump overflowing.

[WhiteShark]

I'm not worried about the sump overflowing, I'm worried that if something were to clog the overflow drain from the display tank (for whatever reason be it some creature getting rapped around the drain or what have you) that the return would keep pumping approximately 12 gallons or more water into my display tank and cause it to overflow...This way if I have an auto cut off and the water in my display tank begins to rise and the return will automatically be turned off. I know its probably an unlikely situation but I like to be prepared.

[IMaNoob]

how low is the overflow? 12 gallons seems like the overflow would have to be pretty low from water line....plus if you sectioned off the pump in the sump it would just pump that section out correct?

[WhiteShark]

how low is the overflow? 12 gallons seems like the overflow would have to be pretty low from water line....plus if you sectioned off the pump in the sump it would just pump that section out correct?

 

 

You kinda lost me there. The sump is located below the tank (what do you mean how low is it?).

 

Yes it would just pump out the 12 gallons of water that were in the sump...However I don't think I have enough space in my dispaly (after it is filled) to put in another 12 gallons of water back into it (maybe a couple gallons but not 12)...Hence the fear of an overflow.

[Noobeef]

Put something underneath your pump to elevate it higher in the sump so it can't pump out more than a few gallons before it runs dry. You would obviously have to stay on top of your top-offs.

[Rocket]

Put something underneath your pump to elevate it higher in the sump so it can't pump out more than a few gallons before it runs dry. You would obviously have to stay on top of your top-offs.

 

 

This is exactly what I did. Works just fine.

 

I did the calculations and made sure the height I kept the pump would only pump 1 gallon back into the display.

 

All I did was build a little shelf out of cheap extruded acrylic from home depot.

[babyjess210]

The sump on my 75gal is only half filled when the return pump is running. The return pump is in a chamber that holds about 2 gallons.

 

Most sumps are not filled to the rim and adding a baffle will only allow a small amount of water to get pumped into the tank.

[WhiteShark]

Ah, yes that makes more sense now that I look at it...thanks guys...