The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread

Originally Posted by Blueface

What kind of downdraft to you have?
I have an ETSS and they make a great container that has a ping pong ball and when it fills, it automatically shuts the skimmer down as it takes the air away from it.
Needless to say, it has saved me on many occasions.

It's an ETSS and I have the air tube routed to the waste container so that if it fills then the tube goes under water level and shuts off. Unfortunately, some air can still leak in around the top of the downdraft, as it is not airtight. It had all night to slowly overflow. Drip by drip. I'm lucky it has the other way of being self limiting. There would be one more failsafe as the sump got too low to pump back to the tank.
The trouble is that the pump is directional CW vs CCW. It works better one direction. If the power goes off and back on quickly enough the backflow will reverse the pump. This must have happened before the last time I adjusted it. When the power went off again the flow returned to normal. I am going to put a delay relay on it so if it turns off it delays going back on for like 5 minutes. This will allow the sump to return to normal levels too. Less back pressure to begin with. I could also figure a way to seal the top of the downdraft. Maybe just some electrical tape.
Always something.