Need advice

[Krazykarl]

I'm going on vacation for two weeks. I have a family member staying here while I'm gone however they have no clue about saltwater, let alone the equipment or what to do in the event power goes out or I have siphon loss in my hob overflow. My sump contains my heater, the feed for my bio pellets and the feed for my skimmer. Do you think if I took my skimmer offline and killed my return pump for two weeks I'd be ok?

My display lights up and off via timers. I would put my heater in the DT. My wave maker still supplying movement but not too much aeration at the surface. I would leave the pellets running in my sump water so they don't die out. And my skimmer would be offline for two weeks. Would I come home to a disaster? I'm trying to avoid disaster. My main scare is siphon loss. It happens alot as little bubbles build up. Please help

 

[paoul]

not sure what overflow you have but can't you hook up a lifter pump to prevent siphon loss

 

[Krazykarl]

Yea I tried. I drilled my u tubes to accept the air lines and siliconed.  For some reason I had more problems this way so I took it offline and sealed the holes. 

 

[paoul]

I wouldn't want to take any part of my system offline for that long especially since your sump is part of the biological filter too and to remove the heater could kill of organisms in sump I would rather take some time and show your tank sitter a few things that could happen and what to do incase they do happen.

 

[phi delt reefer]

Whats that wiener bizzle doing? Get him to watch your tank!

You need to buy a real overflow box if the DIY one u designed isn't self restarting with an air pump. I think CPR makes em and petercar has one...maybe he'll sell it to you. I donot know if he's still using it in his new tank. This is the Achilles heel of ur setup. Get this issue resolved and you won't need to worry about the rest.

Disconnecting the sump isn't an option. Neither is turning off the Skimmer that long without water changes. I assume you have a well stocked tank so it'll build up nutrients in a hurry. Your fish will live but ull probably have a windsor's buttload worth of algae and some coral die off.

Does ur skimmer cup have drain built in? If so, hook it up to a jug or bucket so if it overflows you won't be screwed.

 

[Duke]

think CPR makes em and petercar has one...maybe he'll sell it to you. I donot know if he's still using it in his new tank.

Long gone.. Petercar is sporting a rimless miracles tank these days..  Geez where have you been? JK


shutting down your skimmer and sump for 2 weeks is probably asking for a disaster, i'd take my chances with the power company.. maybe throw a timer on the skimmer and have it run during the day for 12 hours... that cuts the risk in half again..

Best thing you could do is take the time to show your system to the baby sitter and make sure that in the event of a power failure they know exactly what to do.. i know its shitty.. litterally  ;D  but why not get your sitter to clean your skimmer cup also every few days.. so if it does overflow it wont be a total disaster. also if your having issues with your overflow restarting how is a vacation any different than you leaving and going to the mall for an hour? if it fails to restart.. your well screwed no matter where you are.. unless your at home..

 

[davesolo29]

do what i do... have your friend come feed and just take a quick look to make sure things look normal... leave a contact number of someone who would know what to do in the event something goes wrong.
im sure just about anyone on here would run over if they got a phone call.  or even a post on here im sure would get someone over there.
as long as there is someone i trust in my house...and i know the people he/she may be contacting, i would feel better

 

[Poseidon]

Lol I had it once where my tank sitter freaked and told me the temp was 60 degrees Celsius, so after a couple hours of waiting and panicking my friend was able to hope over to find that she read the humidity gauge instead of the temp :?

Good tank sitter is hard to come by unless it's a fellow hobbiest

 

[Krazykarl]

Lol Vince I missed you... Lol. Bizzle is on standby for sure. I showed the sitter the basics. The overflow restarts when the power goes out no prob. It's the little bubbles that like to build up in the tube and eventually break siphon. That's the issue. And the skimmer I have Vince does not have a drain. It's external and stands about 7 feet tall. The collection cup holds 3 gallons of water lol. It won't overflow. My only concern like I said is Los of siphon. Other than that I think the system is kinda flawless. Knock on wood. I just though to ease my worries taking sump offline and leaving DT as a separate entity. Ah well. Fingers crossed

 

[phi delt reefer]

if its just air bubbles that are causing the issue then get strong powerhead and point it at the inlet of the overflow (get it super close). That should  keep the inlet free of the bubbles while your away.

whats causing the bubbles anyways?

If you got some time, grab a couple float switches and hook them up to your return pump and set up the switches in your display. If the water level gets to high it will kick out the return pump,

 

[Krazykarl]

The bubbles are caused by the water spilling over into the overflow too hard. 

 

[Darryl_V]

if its just air bubbles that are causing the issue then get strong powerhead and point it at the inlet of the overflow (get it super close). That should  keep the inlet free of the bubbles while your away.

whats causing the bubbles anyways?

If you got some time, grab a couple float switches and hook them up to your return pump and set up the switches in your display. If the water level gets to high it will kick out the return pump,

You need special float switches to handle that much current....or a float switch relay jiggy.  http://autotopoff.com/products/ST1/  that guy would do the trick and I have ordered from there before...highly recommended.

The bubbles are caused by the water spilling over into the overflow too hard. 

have you tried an aqualifter?

 

[davesolo29]

thats where my atos are from..
i have the single float and the double float.
i have never ordered from them, but aquired both in tank purchases.  they work great.

 

[Krazykarl]

I've considered an aqualifter but I'm in a time crunch. I leave sat and unless someone in Windsor has one to part with I'm gonna have to rely on my sitter to monitor the tubes for any bubble buildup. Not gonna lie I'm scared I'm gonna come home to a dead tank

 

[spyd]

2 weeks is a long time without a skimmer running at all. I have gone a week before without any issues whatsoever, other than a dirtier tank... 2 weeks though, that may be pushing it. How much rock do you have in the tank?

 

[Krazykarl]

I'd say 150-200 lbs. 150 in DT maybe and 50 in sump. If I had to guess. I'm just gonna cross my fingers and let it rock. I have two u tubes in the overflow so if one loses siphon at least I have a backup. I'm gonna throttle my return line down so not as much gph is running through the overflow and my sitter knows to check for bubbles and how to get rid of them. I've come home from wok before to one tube without siphon, my tank level increase slightly which dumps rodi water in but nothing drastic. And they have nozzles number in case something happens.

Thanks for everyone's help. I just thought I'd ask about taking skimmer offline and pellets for two weeks.

 

[Petercar (RIP Dec 2017)]

Whats that wiener bizzle doing? Get him to watch your tank!

You need to buy a real overflow box if the DIY one u designed isn't self restarting with an air pump. I think CPR makes em and petercar has one...maybe he'll sell it to you. I donot know if he's still using it in his new tank. This is the Achilles heel of ur setup. Get this issue resolved and you won't need to worry about the rest.

Disconnecting the sump isn't an option. Neither is turning off the Skimmer that long without water changes. I assume you have a well stocked tank so it'll build up nutrients in a hurry. Your fish will live but ull probably have a windsor's buttload worth of algae and some coral die off.

Does ur skimmer cup have drain built in? If so, hook it up to a jug or bucket so if it overflows you won't be screwed.

both of mine are sold.  When i got the new tank

 

[paoul]

I've considered an aqualifter but I'm in a time crunch. I leave sat and unless someone in Windsor has one to part with I'm gonna have to rely on my sitter to monitor the tubes for any bubble buildup. Not gonna lie I'm scared I'm gonna come home to a dead tank

corbretts has aqualifters but they want a arm and a leg for them almost double than ordering from j&l

 

[TORX]

They do that a lot. I went in there for salt once and they wanted $80 some for it. I advised what others sell it for and that I could drive to London and back for salt for cheaper. A few minutes later they let me know that it was marked wrong and I got it for $40ish.

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

[reefer41]

i use a aqualift pump on my tank for that reason.  gets the siphon going after power outage and takes the bubble build up out of tube, the extra water that it sucks up returns to sump.