Auto Top off siphon

You should have your aqualifter pump somewhere above the bucket of water and as long as the hose going into your sump is not in the water you should have no siphon. The aqua lifter pump should be able to lift the water from the bucket.

 

No pictures needed. He's got the top-off bucket next to the sump, and the top offs are performed to the sump, not the actual display tank.

As mentioned above, there's a couple of rules for this setup.

1) Your top off pump should be inside the bucket, or if non submersible higher than the bucket maximum water level.

2) The hose that tops your sump off (that comes from the top off bucket) need to be higher than the water level in the sump (or tank if you decide to top the tank off instead of sump) As long as the water level is lower than the water input hose, the backsiphon will be prevented.

3) Make sure your float valve/s are at the right levels in the top off water, sump or both.

What type of ATO do you have setup? Brand and model would help.

Also, it seems to me that your aqualifter pump may be failing, clogged or not pumping the water up strongly enough. You could buy a Maji-Jet 400 which is one of the cheapest submersible pump out in the market and run it with the MJ-400 inside the top off bucket. Just drill a hole on the top off bucket lid for the hose to pass through and attach the end of the output water hose to the rim of the sump, as high as you can from the sump's maximum water level.

Hope it helps.

- Mag.

 

Thanks, Im using this kit Top-it-Off Kit Premium Its a new aqualifter I may check it and see if its clogged. But im starting to like the idea of just tossing in a maxijet in the top off bucket and trying that.

 

At first I thought that Top-off kit was very complicated, but after reading it I see that it works just like any 2 float valve top off switch.

I have mine setup slightly different on the switch valves (float valves), except that I did throw the MJ-400 in the reservoir bucket. I have the re-fill float switch in the sump (where it detects if the water level dropped and activates the switch to top-off), and the second (fail safe) switch in the reservoir since my ATO system has 2 ways of setting it up. This switch in the reservoir will detect if my reservoir water level is low, and if it is, it won't pump water at all until the float switch is completely submerged again (when I refill the reservoir bucket).

The one you have is a slight different one, but still very failsafe setup. With 2 switches in sump, all you really have to check out often is your top-off reservoir to make sure your pump will never run dry. That is usually fatal to many pumps.

I think your main problem is the top off hose being submerged on the output end. Raise that hose so it's well above the water level of the tank it's topping off and you shouldn't have this problem. Also the aqualifter may not have enough "juice" after breaking in, to send the water that high or it may be clogged. They come sometimes with a little cannister filter that you can hook up to the inlet and filter crap that may clog it. But 1 week or even 1 month of usage should not be enough to clog this pump, unless something big enough was floating around in your reservoir bucket.

One other thing you can do is to follow all sections of the hose/hoses you're using. Make sure they're not clamped anywhere as this can cause flow restrictions.

Good luck! Hope you can get it going again!

- Mag.

 

Thanks all for your comments, I ended up putting a mag pump in and running some 1/2" tubing to my sump from the reservoir. I also made a small hole and positioned it so that its spraying into my reservoir and so that it is not submerged, its running great now. Thanks again!

 

Congrats!! Good to know you got it working again
CHEERS!!