water all over the place

Last night we had a power outage and I lost a lot of water from my tank.
Does anyone know how I could prevent this from happing because it has chapped to me twice already and the only difference is this tank is double the size. Any ideas
or diagrams I could follow. I think I need something were the water could go back in the tank while the water is going into the sump tank. I has at least 40 gallons of water all over the floor. Thanks for everyones help.

 

What you need to do is turn off your return pump after the tank is topped off and keep draining water till ur top tank is done draining back to the sump.in other words your 40 gallons overfull.....you could also drill a hole in the upper portion of your sump and plumb in an empty tank/container as a back up plan so when the sump fills and is going to overflow it will fill the empty tank/container.you can use a pump on a float valve to pump back into the system when the power returns.

 

or buy a check valve, that's the best/sure fire way to prevent this from happening. if power is lost with a check valve, all water stops, no back flow, or siphon from the DT down to sump. place the check valve inline with return. buy these from BRS, not crazy expensive and you'll be good to go.

 

You could also just adjust your return nozzle so it's near the surface of the water. That would minimize the backflow from the DT.

 

+1 for Mr.Bill .

 

:thumb_up: to both of these! If you do get a check valve (and I recommend one), get a PVC ball check valve as they are compatible with saltwater. Some swinging check valves have metal internals, which are not.

I also have my return manifold only a couple of inches below the surface, so even if my check valve was to completely fail, my sump fills but does not overflow.

 

I recommend staying away from check valves they are to easy to sticl open, for instance a snail can prop it open.how ever if siphoning through your return is your issue then raising the return will be your best bet to solving that.

 

40G of water back into and over your sump, onto your floor?
Sorry to hear about your disaster, but, some semi careful thinking before hand would have prevented any water on you floor.

Describe the set up. Reef Ready tank with built in overflows that drain to the sump, of some kind of Hang on the Back overflow?

The return line- the one that returns the water.
Does it go over the side, of thru the bottom of the tank?

I agree with most of what's been said, and still can't believe your suystem would folld your sump in a power outage. Really.

It you have any type of descent over flow to the sump- only a small layer of water should continue to drain when the Return is off, as in shutting it off, or a power out.

Next, the return- if it's over the side, and/or near the top- simply get any sharp tool, a drill and bit, etc,, and place a small relief hole just under the water surface when the tank id running correctly. This is known a a 'siphon break' to allow air into the return tube and stop the siphon- hence stopping water backflowing and flooding your sump, and floor, etc.

The water either came from the overflow- less likely, or the return- more likely if you have no 'siphon break' hole.

When you have those, your sump should be able to handle the small volume of water returning to the sump in a power outage.
I shut my return pump down every day for feeding, and have never had a drop of water on my floor from it with my current DIY system.

And lastly, I don't recommen relying on one of those one way valves!!
With the sale water, etc., it can stick, and if that is what uyour relying on, you'te asking for a flood again.

Pictures of your overflow and return would help.

Other than the sump or DT leaking itself, this NEVER should have happened?
Who designed your system?

Pics of these two areas please, we can help you fix it so that it never happens again.

 

?? The only way I see this happening is if you had dwarf snails in your sump, made it through the pump and into the return piping, and then got stuck in the check. Not very likely IMO. I still think a combination of check valve plus raising the return is the way to go.

 

Drill 3/16" siphon break hols on opposite sides of you over the side return slightly below the surface as mentioned.