Lecture 3 - Sumps and How they work

That's pretty cool, but way over-priced and not the same material as the one I'm thinking of. It's actually a thinner material, most likely a nylon or polyester mesh.

I'm sure you could easily make something like that for under R100 given the right materials
How does that one work for you?

 

I found a great and easy solution to the siphon problem if there is a power failure is to simply add a partition in your over flow box that is hanging off the outside of your tank . Make the partition the height that you want your water level to be( but obviously not higher then the overflow box walls ) Now have your drain hole at the bottom of the one compartment and then have your siphon tube in the other compartment. This way you have basically created an overflow with in your overflow box and if the power fails your siphon tube will stop siphoning as soon as the tank level drops below the water level in your overflow box compartment. Whats also great about it is all you need in your tank is your siphon tube and nothing else so hardly takes any space. Tried and tested and works like a charm Very hard to explain but I hope this makes sense.

 

Another advantage about a sump which no one has mentioned I think is that it keeps the water level in your tank constant and instead its your sump that looses water through evaporation and or in my case also from your cat drinking out of it! I love not waling into a room to find my tank suddenly looking low and water