[futballnut]

i've decided to go with a 29 gal for this but my question is. I live in the country so we have a lot of power outages. How do i keep my reef tank from siphoning into my sump/refugium when this happens ?

thank you chuck

[glampka]

Your overflow should stop siphoning when the water level in the tank gets too low. What type of overflow do you have? How are you returning the water to the tank? You want to have a little hole in the return lines just below the surface of the water. That will break any siphoning action you might start should the pump stop. You could also install check valves on your return lines.

[futballnut]

all i have now is a 120 gal with tropical fish. I'm wanting to go to a saltwater reef aquarium and i'm trying to gain a little knowledge from the experienced reefers. i don't want to drill my tank so i'm looking at possible solutions and trying to degub before i run into serious problems...Thank you for your advice it was VERY helpful

thanks chuck

[glampka]

You don't need to drill it out. There are plenty of HOT overflows that are reasonably priced that you can get.

[tyoung]

try lifereef.com, there are plenty of overflows and sumps on that site

[chappy]

you dont have to have a sump to have a reef tank
there are plenty of options