The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread

Originally Posted by Blueface

What kind of downdraft to you have?
I have an ETSS and they make a great container that has a ping pong ball and when it fills, it automatically shuts the skimmer down as it takes the air away from it.
Needless to say, it has saved me on many occasions.

It's an ETSS and I have the air tube routed to the waste container so that if it fills then the tube goes under water level and shuts off. Unfortunately, some air can still leak in around the top of the downdraft, as it is not airtight. It had all night to slowly overflow. Drip by drip. I'm lucky it has the other way of being self limiting. There would be one more failsafe as the sump got too low to pump back to the tank.
The trouble is that the pump is directional CW vs CCW. It works better one direction. If the power goes off and back on quickly enough the backflow will reverse the pump. This must have happened before the last time I adjusted it. When the power went off again the flow returned to normal. I am going to put a delay relay on it so if it turns off it delays going back on for like 5 minutes. This will allow the sump to return to normal levels too. Less back pressure to begin with. I could also figure a way to seal the top of the downdraft. Maybe just some electrical tape.
Always something.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

It's an ETSS and I have the air tube routed to the waste container so that if it fills then the tube goes under water level and shuts off. Unfortunately, some air can still leak in around the top of the downdraft, as it is not airtight. It had all night to slowly overflow. Drip by drip. I'm lucky it has the other way of being self limiting. There would be one more failsafe as the sump got too low to pump back to the tank.
The trouble is that the pump is directional CW vs CCW. It works better one direction. If the power goes off and back on quickly enough the backflow will reverse the pump. This must have happened before the last time I adjusted it. When the power went off again the flow returned to normal. I am going to put a delay relay on it so if it turns off it delays going back on for like 5 minutes. This will allow the sump to return to normal levels too. Less back pressure to begin with. I could also figure a way to seal the top of the downdraft. Maybe just some electrical tape.
Always something.

Do you use the waste container from ETSS?

I love BlueLine or Iwaki Japanese pumps.
BlueLine is made by the guy that made them for Iwaki Japan that went on his own.
The American Iwakis are good too but not as good as the Japanese.
Can never go wrong with those guys.

Originally Posted by Blueface

Do you use the waste container from ETSS?

No, it's a plastic two gallon goldfish tank. The air intake line hangs half way to the bottom, so it should never fill up more than that, in theory.

I love BlueLine or Iwaki Japanese pumps.
BlueLine is made by the guy that made them for Iwaki Japan that went on his own.
The American Iwakis are good too but not as good as the Japanese.
Can never go wrong with those guys.

It needs to be submersible for my setup. Running a Quietone 3000HH (high head). I have both of those other pumps. No difference between them as far as I can tell.
The Quietone is from before the company got bought out. It is high head because of the directional impeller. There is a trick they do to the motor to make it always start the same direction but it can be forced to run backward if the backflow was pushing it that way to begin with. I guess I could build a new sump/refugium with external pumps but this has served me well for years. A time delay relay is very easy for me and ensures that the pump will always start statically in the right direction.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by BC-Axeman

No, it's a plastic two gallon goldfish tank. The air intake line hangs half way to the bottom, so it should never fill up more than that, in theory.


It needs to be submersible for my setup. Running a Quietone 3000HH (high head). I have both of those other pumps. No difference between them as far as I can tell.
The Quietone is from before the company got bought out. It is high head because of the directional impeller. There is a trick they do to the motor to make it always start the same direction but it can be forced to run backward if the backflow was pushing it that way to begin with. I guess I could build a new sump/refugium with external pumps but this has served me well for years. A time delay relay is very easy for me and ensures that the pump will always start statically in the right direction.

I would really look into the ETSS container. It works real well. None of the ETSS skimmers are air tight in the columns so that is normal. The container goes for about $100 but ever since I did that, never had any overflows again.