Sump or AIO ?

[VO3434]

To sump or not to sump, that is my question....I would love to have the ease of having a sump but I keep hearing stories of people that had a power outage and their tank drains onto their floor. I have an all in one tank now and it's a pain in the butt to change the media. I live in Woodland Hills and in the summer the temp gets up to 110 here and with that come some power outages....I am worried if the power goes out for a few hours, my tank will spill. Any advice?
Is this a valid concern?

thanks:marchmellow:

 

[BeanMachine]

To sump or not to sump, that is my question....I would love to have the ease of having a sump but I keep hearing stories of people that had a power outage and their tank drains onto their floor. I have an all in one tank now and it's a pain in the butt to change the media. I live in Woodland Hills and in the summer the temp gets up to 110 here and with that come some power outages....I am worried if the power goes out for a few hours, my tank will spill. Any advice?
Is this a valid concern?

thanks:marchmellow:

You install a large enough sump so that in the event of a power outage it will hold the water that empties down there from the display. Its definitely a valid concern but you just design around it.

A check valve would also be a solution to that, which allows water to flow up to the display but not back down.

 

[dorkymk3]

Sump it more better if you have space for it. More water volume = more stable parameters and slightly more room for errors that can be easily fix.

 

[Demonkegman]

drill a hole in the return so when the water reaches that level, it breaks the flow up.

 

[Jeremy]

just set it up right, and you shouldnt have any concern. I have a check valve with my sump, but just as a fail safe, I designed it so that even with that failing my sump will not over flow.

 

[Molli]

I was scared at first of an overflow too. But when the power goes out (or I turn off the return) only about 7 gallons drains to the 40 gallon sump from the 75g main tank. I just allow 2-3 inches in the sump for the drain back and all is well. A drilled hole below the water line on the return made it possible.

 

[danagui]

i hate the AIO i have and am actually going back to a sump....AIOs are good for space but if something gets sucked up into the back compartments its a pain in the *** to get out...i got chaeto from a reefer on CL and i didnt realize that it had baby snails....soon enough they were full grown and climbing out of the back and onto the floor and dying on my carpet....not only that but they were dying in the back of the tank and i couldnt get to them so it was causing crazy nitrate spikes...dont with that....sticking with a sump....