Power outage today, ouch! Need suggestions

So on a beautiful 85+ degree day in Buffalo I lost power. Good thing my buddy told me and my mom saved complete disaster since I was at work. Luckily she got to it before the DT overflowed when the power went BACK on, so only the sump overflowed.

I have a U-tube overflow box and a sump. What is the best way to prevent this again? My town doesn't lose power often so I didn't think too hard about it but I knew it was possible. I rent my apartment and I'm a little worried because my tank is on carpet (eek!)

75 Gal. 90+ lbs. LR. Clownfish!

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If your overflow box is set up correctly, it shouldn't break siphon, therefore, there would be no problem when the system restarted. OTOH, by design, it also can't overflow the sump in a power outage. Your sump most likely overflowed because of back-flow through the return line. To prevent that in the future, adjust your return so that it is at the surface of the water in the DT when everything is running; that will cause it to break siphon with minimal water loss in the DT and prevent another flood.

 

+1... just make sure your return is just slighly under the surface, it will drain the tank down to it's level until it breaks siphon.