Sump pumping

I'm gonna be building a sump and am really worried about overflows. As I understand overflow boxes they keep your tank draining at a certain flow rate, which your return pump returns to the tank. Ive read lots of people complaining about losing the syphon on an overflow box. Is this a legitimate problem?

 

Well my overflow box has a little outlet on the weir where you're supposed to attach like an aqualifter or something. It just sucks out the water and put it back into the tank...but when ever the power goes out or i'm doing maintenance on the tank and I turn everything back on, the syphon just starts right up. I wish I had pictures to show you but everyone is asleep in my house and I don't want to wake anyone up...hehe

 

Oh ok. You actually answered what I was worried about. I just really dont want the power to flip off for a moment and have my sump get pumped into my DT. Is an aqualifter just like a vacuum pump?

 

If you do not take the proper precautions, then yes, you could have trouble.

All overflows flow at a flow rate of close to nothing to the max rating of the overflow. The rate of flow is adjusted by the return rate of your pump.

ALL overflows have potential problems of losing siphon at low flows. This allows air bubbles to get in the overflow tube. A faster rate will usually flush those bubbles out.

CPR overflows are the most know to have trouble. That being said, I used one for a little over a year and never had a problem. Monthly cleaning of the prefilters and I ran an aqualifter as well.

 

what type of overflow are thinking of going with?
i'm thinking about setting up an overflow too.i really like the weir type ones.this is my major concern though. if there is a high rate of return, would an aqualifter be necessary?
what exactly is an aqualifter.

 

Here are a couple of pics of my CPR. You can see the nipple on top for siphoning out the air that gets trapped. The blue thing on the side is an aqualifter. Looks and works just like an air pump, except rated for water as well. The yellow prefilter should be cleaned monthly. I can get plugged over time and can cause problems. There is a black mesh inside the tank part that must be cleaned as well. Basically all overflows will have some kind of filter that will need to be cleaned.

 

An aqualifter can only be used on a CPR overflow. No others that I am aware of are setup to use it.

I would recommend one, no matter what flow you are using. Only cost $13 and makes for great insurance.

 

i am building a sump, and decided on a u-tube type overflow. i bought an eshopps-1200, and am using a ocean runner pump (650 gph). so my overflow is rated about twice the return pump. one thing to watch out for is an overflow that out flows a return pump by too much will slow the flow through the u-tube and may allow for the build up of bubbles, which in turn could cause it to loose siphon.