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Re: [APD] The siphon saga continues...need safety shutoff!



A siphon that can't fail absolutely does need a
screen, as I found out last night.  That was my
first response to the problem.  And as you state,
the larger the surface area of the screen the safer
you are.  I used a sponge filter sponge, but I know
it will eventually clog.  I will probably go to a
more open screen arrangement when I can find one,
but that will ultimately fail too.  The issue is,
how long can you expect between failures?

I don't think the idea of a second siphon really
helps because I don't think you can have one siphon
working and then the second one kick in as the first
one fails.  If both have their ends in the water and
both are full of water then  both will function,
relative heights notwithstanding.

The problem with that is that it reduces the the
flow thru each siphon by half, which would bring us
back to my original problem, bubbles in the siphon
tube.  Of course, if my AquaLifters ever come in I
may be able to use multiple siphons okay.

The shutoff is for a final safety check. It's an
"I'm off to Europe for three weeks and the catsitter
doesn't know a siphon from an ear of corn" kind of
situation.  I don't know what will happen, but I do
know I don't want to pump 100 gallons of water onto
the floor.  If I ever do that I will have to build a
shed out back to put my aquarium in.  And sheds are
against the deed restrictions.

[An aside, I once told a cat sitter to feed the cat
a quarter of a can of food a day and she said "I 
know how to do a half, but how much is a quarter?"
Think about letting that person even touch an 
aquarium]

Thanks,
Rod
--- Laura Burbage <leuhrich at yahoo_com> wrote:
> I was thinking about this problem as I drove to
> Lowe's
> and back.  It seems like a shutoff is complicated
> for
> this use.  Then I thought of two possible things
> that
> could help prevent future water spills:
> 
> 1)  Put a screen on that siphon!  Better yet, put a
> screen around the skimmer box before the inlet.  Or,
> make a longer piece of the siphon box to extend the
> inlet, makeing the whole extension out of scren or
> perforated pipe.  The idea is that if something in
> the
> tank comes loose, it will stick to only a portion of
> the screened area, leaving other areas still
> working.
> 
> 2)  When a system can't be allowed to fail, make a
> backup.  How about a second siphon, at a water level
> little above the first, so that it will kick in if
> the
> first siphon is disabled.  If used with a skimmer
> box
> with a standpipe on the outside part, it shouldn't
> lose the siphon (unless all the water evaporates out
> of it)
> 
> Hope these ideas are usefull to somebody.
> 
> -Laura
> 
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