carriej's 125 gallon reef

hillegom · #1 01-02-2013, 04:00 PM

A few start up problems, good to hear you have solved them.

You should use a small pump like a maxijet. Attach the hose to the U tube and it will always suck out all the bubbles. Especially if the power goes out, the maxijet will clear the air out. The pump could even be put in the sump out of sight is so desired, and the hose will go all the way up.

What type of heater that its too long for the sump? Is it submersible? You could put the heater at an angle in the sump. If its way too long, maybe the store will take it back and exchange it for two shorter ones.

Research herbie overflow for a quiet suction

chevyjaxon · #2 01-02-2013, 05:08 PM

I have an overflow box too. the U tube can be gently lifted up and down to shake the air bubble out. open your wallet and buy an aqualifter, I leave mine running constantly, it ensures that incase of a power outage, I will get a siphon when the power comes back on. also try to get a fitting on your return line that you can have the tip of it sticking above the water, this will prevent any "hum sucking". rubber hoses although great at noise reduction arent as reliable as pvc and threaded fittings but again thats all a matter of personal preference. a really great reliable, powerful and inexpensive pump is a rio HP series the only con is its noisy. try 2 smaller heaters instead. good luck.

carriej · #3 01-02-2013, 08:28 PM

We ended up drilling a "siphon break" hole into the return. However it is a temp 7$ cheapy return but it's all they had at the time. Even looking online I can't seem to find a nice one. I want to find one shaped like a Y.

I avoided the aqualifter because in my mind it was just another thing plugged in using power. However I may pick one up just so I dont have to suck on airhoses.