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Ato Idea


berns9515

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Suppose that the last section of a sump held only a return pump. And that section of the sump were air tight. For instance a piece of glass that was siliconed in place like a lid at the desired water line. As water evaporated it would create a vacuum right? That section of the sump the only place the water level can fall, and the water level can't fall because air can't get in. If an airline tube were run into this airtight section the vacuum could pull fresh water from some sort of reservoir. BTW the water has to enter the return section from beneath the baffle for this to work.

 

Now please shoot holes in this theory!

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What you're saying will not work because the return pump has to draw water from somewhere to feed the tank. If the sump is completely sealed then it will suck freshwater in; if the sump is not completely sealed, then there's no reason to think that it would prefer to draw water from the freshwater reservoir when it can draw water just as easily from the tank. The effect of this setup would be to make the water level in your topoff area and the water level in your tank equal; if the topoff container was below the tank, the airline would siphon water out of the sump and into the topoff; if the topoff area is above the tank, the topoff water will just siphon into the tank.

 

It seems so much easier to just put a bottle upside down in that section of the sump full of fresh water, which will top off as the water in the section evaporates.

 

e.g. here's the topoff bottle I was using on a 23L aquarium one of my kids had set up for a while:

 

IMG_3559.jpg

 

and here it is actually feeding the tank:

 

IMG_3563_2.jpg

 

In summary I think it's a lot easier to put the vacuum around the freshwater to hold it up, than to try to build a one-way siphon for topoff.

 

Osric

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