Starting the siphon on a diy overflow

[honey1998p]

Hi all,
I am new to this forum and the hobby of reef keeping. I have a 55 gallon all glass aquarium that is not drilled. In all my research I have read that you need a overflow sump/refugium to best keep your critters. So I decided to build my own 20 gallon sump/refugium. And the overflow from this site:http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/overflow.html
Well everything went well and nothing leaks. But the question is: How do I start the siphon, or how do I get it to overflow.
Thanks,
honey1998p

[Reefland]

Hi honey1998p, Welcome to Reefland!

The best way to start one is to use a piece of airline tubing and slide it into the U tube where the end of the airline is at the peak of the U. From there, just start it like you would any other siphon by sucking air through the line.

[honey1998p]

Thanks very much for the quick reply. It worked, I have water flowing into my sump/refugium.

[Reefland]

Glad to hear it worked for you! Make sure to shut down your return pump a couple of times to ensure that the overflow holds siphon which will be very important during power outages.

[saltjunkie]

bang around the U tube a bit too, to make sure there is no bubbles in it...


how wqas your first taste?