just use a short piec of airline tubing to suck the air out. then grab yourself an aqualifter as a safety later. no big deal at all. u will see when u do it.
hmmmm. i thought these guys auto-siphoned.
thats why i would never do HOB. i realize that there are people that have done it for years with no problems, but there are also a LOT of floods becuase of these guys.
if your going to need to rely on an aqualifter as a fail safe to restart your siphon i would recommend you putting it on the same outlet as the return pump and periodically checking it to make sure it is functioning. after the pump is off and the siphon breaks if your aqualifter fails to restart the siphon your going to dump the entire contents of your sump into your tank causing a flood and likely a tank crash in a tank so small.
ive never used a HOB, but i thought these were supposed to be designed so that a siphon will start before the water in the tank will reach higher than the top of the tank?
It may also be beneficial to have a union ball valve on both the drain and return sides for any maintenance you want to do.
always a good idea to use unions. if you use tru-union ballvalves instead make sure you use them wideopen, especially the drain. having a partially opened ballvalve could lead to the accumulation of sediment/detritus causing a flood.
Once you have the U-tube filled with water the siphon will auto stop and auto restart on when the power restores or w/e, provided the overflow is designed correctly (check out the link I posted)
if you use tru-union ballvalves instead make sure you use them wideopen, especially the drain. having a partially opened ballvalve could lead to the accumulation of sediment/detritus causing a flood.
+++1 and this is true in any system (HOB overflow or drain)
Once you have the U-tube filled with water the siphon will auto stop and auto restart on when the power restores or w/e, provided the overflow is designed correctly (check out the link I posted)
ah. thats what i thought.
once you get the thing primed it should be pretty straightfoward and reliable then. let us know how it goes for you.
i definitly wilL!!! Starting the new aquascape now… fingers crossed
guys i NEED HELP MAJOR!!!
I cant start the syphon, i have air tube and im sucking air out and i keep ending up with the tiniest pocket of air not letting the syphon start…
i cant get an air lfter, so with what i got how can i start it???
I’ve submerged the u-tube into water (so it is filled) then lifted it and covered each end with a piece of plastic bag (cut it out) then flipped it over and ripped out the bags at the same time. It’s not easy but it can work. have you tried a powerhead w/ a tube?
where do i put the tube in the powerhead"?
also i got a cpl mouth fulls of tank water, any harm there? for me?
no harm drinking a little tank water… if the end of the airline is at the highest point of the u-tube, there should be no issue. make sure there is water in the inside box of the overflow… maybe u r drawing the water up and the bottom of the u tube is catching air somehow???
[quote=“michaelangelo, post:49, topic:2021”]
also i got a cpl mouth fulls of tank water, any harm there? for me?[/quote]
Its good for you, no worries 
Take some water and fill up both sides of the overflow box. Then, I’d just hold the tube on the power head and shove the other end up the u-tube end that is in the tank. That should be enough to get the siphon going.
dont touch the zoas because the palytoxins can kill you… but its koo to drink the water LOLOLOLOL
i wonder that every time (and i still taste the water from the water change i just did 30 mins ago)
I use an old ear dropper kit with the blue bulb type thing. It is awesome for feeding and creating suction on tubes (to start that siphon for water change). The tapered end allows it to fit any diameter tube. So much better NOT tasting salt water…
Very similar to this, exactly the same actually, except mine isn’t so shiny.
its useless, im seriously bout to give up…
this tank is about to go through the window. a syphon should not be this hard, yet it is. the powerhead method im probably retarted but i cant get it, and i cant get the airline tube to stay in the very center so im left with airpocket. this is fricking pain in th ebutt
got the syphone!!! hooooooraaaayyy
now , it seems the return pump is pumping faster than the tank is draining??? good news the syphon doesnt break
bad news still not working correctly. on one hand though the sump wasnt full, so im going to add more water , and hope this works
ok so i added more water to the sump… syphon holding! all good right? YES!
BUT… now my water keeps overflowing my tank on the return and I have no idea why… i can get it to work and not overflow but if anything moves slightly hello water meet the carpet!
I NEED HELP! how do I stop the water from overflowing?
I gave up. a 5 gallon tank sucks when you want to modify it,
my girlfriend saw this trouble and suggested we upgrade the tank!!! So hello return line im getting me a new tank
Lol, new tank!
So what is happening? The overflow is flowing too much? You can adjust the overflow box height, right?
did you ball valve the return line like i suggested? you can adjust the flow perfectly to match your siphon
[quote=“michaelangelo, post:56, topic:2021”]
ok so i added more water to the sump… syphon holding! all good right? YES!
BUT… now my water keeps overflowing my tank on the return and I have no idea why… i can get it to work and not overflow but if anything moves slightly hello water meet the carpet!
I NEED HELP! how do I stop the water from overflowing?[/quote]
This is one of the inherent problems with overflow boxes. And one we discussed earlier. If the pump is rsted higher then the overflow the return pump will empty the sump in to the DT and on to the floor.
Good luck with the new tank. Now would be a good time to buy a Reff Ready (pre-drilled) tank so you never have to worry about overflow boxes again.