Air uplifts to take water to sump

RecycledElectrons

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 4, 2017
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Has anyone tried to use air uplifts to get water from a tank into a sump?

Would an air uplift adjust its flow rate enough as water levels changed to keep the system from overflowing?

I am planning to pick up a 250 gallon tank this weekend and convert my 75 gallon tank into a sump, if it fits under the stand.
 

RecycledElectrons

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 4, 2017
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After rethinking this, I am pumping water both ways. That is probably a bad idea, but I really want to vacuum the bare bottom of my tank.

What if I use a float switch to kill the power to the air pump running the air uplifts when the sump is over-full? Then I also have a switch to cut power to the return pump when the sump is running dry to protect the return pump and the heaters?
 

TwoHedWlf

Potamotrygon
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Mar 2, 2017
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After rethinking this, I am pumping water both ways. That is probably a bad idea, but I really want to vacuum the bare bottom of my tank.

What if I use a float switch to kill the power to the air pump running the air uplifts when the sump is over-full? Then I also have a switch to cut power to the return pump when the sump is running dry to protect the return pump and the heaters?
There's a reason most everyone uses an overflow from the main tank back to the sump. Air uplifts will have basically no flow at the 3-4 foot head height of a sump. And pumping both in and out will result in your tank overfilling and flooding or your sump overfilling and flooding without some additional, failure prone mechanism to control them.
 

Backfromthedead

Potamotrygon
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Jul 12, 2017
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There's a reason most everyone uses an overflow from the main tank back to the sump. Air uplifts will have basically no flow at the 3-4 foot head height of a sump. And pumping both in and out will result in your tank overfilling and flooding or your sump overfilling and flooding without some additional, failure prone mechanism to control them.
I think op is actually suggesting some kind of air powered overflow from the tank into the sump...perhaps to boost flow rate through a smaller overflow (???). Similar to forced air induction in modern engines i guess...
 

esoxlucius

Alligator Gar
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Dec 30, 2015
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It looks to me like you are trying to greatly over complicate something that the rest of us just do so easily and efficiently, not to mention safely.
 

RecycledElectrons

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 4, 2017
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Texas
Thank you for your replies. I wanted to vacuum the bottom of the tank with the air uplifts. I decided that is inviting a flood by pumping water both ways. Instead, I am trying to build a custom overflow that sucks water from the top and from the bottom of the tank.
 
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