raggamuffin

are you suggesting that the tank would drain, flooding your sump? that would be a pretty big problem...

cool idea, cool construction. keep it up!

Art_Giacosa

BINGO!!

Two options that I can think of. The first is to use a check valve. However, I haven't found a small one that would fit in this setup.

The other is to use the black tubes high enough in the aquarium so that air would break the siphon when the power is off. This is why I'm using the long black tubes.

niko

A check valve seems to be the only option if you don't want anything sticking up from the middle of the tank and having to hide it with plants or decoration.

But I think that one needs to clean well the check valve at least once a week. Just like in filter hoses the sealing element of the valve (usually a ball) will get covered with brown material and probably some algae. If not cleaned on a regular basis the valve will not function properly in case of power failure.

--Nikolay

Art_Giacosa

Niko,

Do you know of any small check valves?

neonfish3

I'm not really sure how it's going to look when your done but what if you did this:

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Megil Tel'Zeke

But even then the tank would drain and the fish in the tank would asfixiate and plants would dry out.

Dewmazz

What a predicament!
Don't they have some sort of emergency plug? I know azoo has an airpump that still runs w/out power. Maybe there's some kind of back-up?

Aaron

What about putting airline tubing check valves on the black tubing? Another option would be to use a solenoid. Not sure if they can take liquid though, also, you would have to come up with some sort of complicatrd plumbing system for it...

dennis

I assume you will be using a small submersible pump in the base, under the base of the tank. Something like a Rio 80 maybe? You could use the adaptor that has a venturi on it, plug the big end and use the venture as the output. Then you could use airline tubing to feed the main tank and you could put a check valve after the pump but before the bulkhead in the tank. You could use a small base made of black acrylic to hide the pump, tubing and check valve. For a tank that small, 1/4" feed line would probably give you plenty of flow. You could hide the black base with decrotive gravel or floating plants or something.

Just an idea.

Art_Giacosa

Dennis,

Yes, that is the idea. Saw something similar here somewhere. I haven't found a check valve that would fit.

I'm goign to try using the tubes up high in the aquarium to break the siphon.