Ok so I want to permanently remove glass lids and when I just did that I forgot about my return jet. The side of the pipe has this hole that sprays water with some good pressure. Why is that hole needed? Can I close that or is it something with pressure? Only reason why is I remove the lids and I’ve got this spray making tiny water drops coming up I can see it almost like a small water bouncing look on top of the tank. Anyway to fix this or get a new return nozzle
Glass lids? Return jet spray!!
- Thread starter Raysup88
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don_chuwish
Smells something fishy
Photo? How high is the return nozzle in relation to tank water level? The little hole is probably a siphon break but may not be needed.
don_chuwish
Smells something fishy
Definitely a siphon break . If you plug it, how much water would siphon down to the sump before the nozzle sucks air?
don_chuwish
Smells something fishy
For reference, my return nozzles are no lower in the water than the overflow weir. They break the siphon pretty quickly after the pump goes off. No drilled hole and no check valve needed.
Not sure you understand its purpose. If you plug it and lose the return pump, the water in your tank will backflow (siphon) through that return down to your sump until the water level in your tank finally drops below the exit of that return and breaks the siphon. That siphon breaker prevents that by allowing air to backflow into the return and break the siphon. I can't tell how deep that return is from your picture, but it looks like it could be several inches which could easily overflow your sump. I would be careful about restricting it too much as salt creep can plug it further. You can test the effectiveness of your siphon breaker by simply shutting down your return pump and watching what happens to the level in your tank.
tsouth
Valuable Member
What you've done is probably fine, but I encourage you not to plug that hole. The reason it exist is to prevent your aquarium from flooding over your floors.
You have a sump under your main tank that can only hold so much water. If your return pump loses power or fails, then a back flow will occur from the return nozzle. So say the power cuts - well due to gravity, water will inevitably be sucked into the sump from the display tank through that nozzle and potentially overfill and flood your home. This is known as siphon.
The hole that you've covered up will prevent this whole disaster because it allows air to travel through the hole at the height it has been drilled at therefore breaking the siphon aka "Siphon break." Without that hole, the main aquarium would drain all the way down until the very bottom of the nozzle. With the hole, it only drains to the very bottom of the hole, which in your case is none.
You can effectively see this in action if you were to hold that hole closed with your finger, and then turn off your return pump and watch the display tank drain a lot of water to your sump. The second you remove your finger, it stops the draining.
Edit: DCR beat me to it! They're gonna get all that sweet sweet "like" karma!
You have a sump under your main tank that can only hold so much water. If your return pump loses power or fails, then a back flow will occur from the return nozzle. So say the power cuts - well due to gravity, water will inevitably be sucked into the sump from the display tank through that nozzle and potentially overfill and flood your home. This is known as siphon.
The hole that you've covered up will prevent this whole disaster because it allows air to travel through the hole at the height it has been drilled at therefore breaking the siphon aka "Siphon break." Without that hole, the main aquarium would drain all the way down until the very bottom of the nozzle. With the hole, it only drains to the very bottom of the hole, which in your case is none.
You can effectively see this in action if you were to hold that hole closed with your finger, and then turn off your return pump and watch the display tank drain a lot of water to your sump. The second you remove your finger, it stops the draining.
Edit: DCR beat me to it! They're gonna get all that sweet sweet "like" karma!
BranchingHammer
Valuable Member
Like I said, I run a check valve on my return line (which keeps the water from backsiphoning into the sump). I also have the return lines relatively shallow in the water. Like others have said, I would cover it up with your finger and turn off the return pump to see how much water drains into your sump and whether it can handle it. I would remove the filter floss and zip tie for now until you have confirmed that this test is ok.
