Skimmer overflow

[Andrew_B]

How do you guys avoid your skimmer overflowing after the power comes back on with a power outage? The high water level in the sump makes water blast through my skimmer. Any tricks?

[Stickboy97]

The area of my sump, that has my skimmer in it, has a very high baffle blocking it from the rest of the sump & I have my skimmer on a a few pieces of egg crate to raise it up. If the power goes out & the level of the sump goes up, it never goes above my baffle level. My return line goes into the same chamber of the sump as my skimmer, then over the baffle into the refugium, then into the return area. The refugium level is a couple inches lower than my skimmer section.

[Bedlamer]

If you use a recirculating skimmer they are not sensitive to water height.

[flipside]

The key is to have it all setup to drain as little water as possible to the sump, should a power outage occur. That's the whole point of an overflow. An area that I see get neglected a lot is the return line(s). They should barely skim the surface, or have a check valve in-line.

Internal recirculating skimmers are more sensitive than external ones. I have an internal and when there's a flux of 2-3" of extra water, it'll overflow. Mine is an Avast CS3 with 2 PSK-1000's and a MJ1200 feed pump.

[Stickboy97]

An area that I see get neglected a lot is the return line(s). They should barely skim the surface, or have a check valve in-line.

Great point, the back siphon caused by a return line that is too low in the water can easily cause an overflow.

[rage]

Great point, the back siphon caused by a return line that is too low in the water can easily cause an overflow.

Keeping the return line pointing up to just skim the surface of the water can cause water splashing over the side.

[myjohnson]

You can tap a hole into the skimmer cup and hook a line to it.

Then run that line to a waste bucket.

Bubble magus designs their skimmers like this.

Google up some of the skimmer cup pictures.