Sump or Tank Flooding??

So I was wondering, what normally floods first? Is it usually your sump or the display tank? Might be a general question (sorry), just trying to get an idea of what people have unluckily experienced if their tanks have flooded.

I'm trying to decided if I should even consider putting a float in the display tank. I'll have redundancy in the sump (1 primary, 2 backups).

 

Depends on the setup i guess but with some foresight it should be neither. If you do the math right(dt can accommodate return chamber in sump and sump can handle dt excess untill return pump's siphon breaks) you really shouldnt have to have 2 backup's.

Unless im not understanding the question...

 

Well the purpose of 2 float backups in the sump is if the primary float sticks or malfunctions.

What I'm concerned with more is that if for some reason the sump inlet piping clogs for some unknown reason and causes too much water to be pumped into the DT by the return pump. I may be overly cautious, but I recently had a canister filter fail and dump water all over my floor :-/.

I built a 20H sump and the way the baffle heights are, I have approx 10gal till the sump fills up. Based on BRS recommendation of location for internal overflow box, tank water will be approx 1" from the top of the tank. This equates to approx 2.5gal of water that can go into the DT before it overflows. The sump return chamber holds approx 2.7gal, but will actually be less than that since pump will lose suction before totally emptying out the return chamber. I guess I answered my own question (with your help, haha) .

 

Are you referring to the ATO floats? That's different, Never heard of floats on the DT sump/return unless the ATO floats.

Please elaborate.

We'll keep you and your floor safe!

 

Neither should flood if you plumb it properly and use a quality top off system with float switches or a digital sensor and not float valves. I have been keeping saltwater tanks for 35 years and reefs for 30 and never had a flood yet.

 

Yup referring to an ATO, my source is my home RO system. Yeah, screw float valves, I think those are less reliable then float switches though switches can also fail too. Switches are hooked up to a Neptune sys w/breakout box.

I'm in the test phase right now as you can see from my mess of wires in the pic . Everything is actually working really good, got all my code written how I want it. Neptune is actually a pretty awesome controller (was going to get a RA). I'm getting rid of those SS floats and switching to plastic (as recommended by other posters on my other thread).

So back to the topic, I will just have floats to detect low/normal water level for ATO as well as a float to detect low water for return pump to prevent it from running dry. I'm still considering putting a sump high water level switch float. I think I will abandon the DT float switch as it sounds like it is unnecessary.