im confused about the wet/dry

[johnnylaw1984]

ive been reading forums and doing research and am going to eventually build a wet dry. Isnt it possible for the sump to take on to much water and flood, or on the other hand, the sump not get enough water and the pump burn out? It seems to me that there are more ways for a wet dry to fail, then a canister, or other method of filtration. Am I right, any help would be nice. this subject has been confusing

thanks for the help

john

 

[rallysman]

its hard for me to explain it, but I'm sure someone on here can. Since you're in the area maybe sometime you can come over and i'll show you exactly how mine works. Its really a reliable way to go.
to avoid flooding you can either us a large sump or put a check valve on the return side
to avoid burning the pump you can install a safety float switch

 

[Utaka]

The way to avoid overflows from too much water is to start the system up the correct way. When you've got everything ready to go, before you plug in the pump fill the aquarium with water until it just starts to spill over the overflow box. Then fill the sump to the desired water level you want it to run at. As long as you don't fill the sump to the top it can't over flow. When you plug the pump in and adjust everything just don't add anymore water to the system!!! Instead make adjustments with the pump flow valves to tweak the sump level. After everything is dialed in just be aware that if the pump ever stops that the sump is going to take on any water that is above you tank overflow box line. The higher the flow rate equates to a higher water line above the overflow box, which in turn equates to more water in the sump when the pump is disabled. If you want to be exactly sure how much water is going to drain into your sump in gallons there is a formula: measure the tank area in inches and the formula is L "x W "x H"=sum , then take the sum and divide it by 231 and you will get the water volume in gallons. So for example say you have 100gal tank with two inches of water above the overflow line when the tank is running. Length of aquarium in inches = 60" , width of tank is 18", and 2" high right................So 60" x 18" x 2" =2160. Now 2160 divided by 231=9.35. So you would have 9.35 gallons that you can bet will drain into the sump when the pump is shut off, plus the water in the drain side of the plumbing. It's fairly simple. Hopefully it makes sense.

 

[shierkahn]

One thing Utaka forgot to mention is that if you return line is bleow the surface on the main tank all the water will back siphon to the sump until it starts sucking air. So, you need to drill a hole in the return line just below the water line in the main tank called a "siphon brake". This will help a great deal in preventing a flood if the pump quits for some reason. I went through 4 floods before i got around to drilling a "siphon brake" in the return line.