# Planted tank with sump



## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

Does anyone here run a planted tank with sump? The aspect I'm curious about is if people that run it with co2 diffused with a cerges reactor that is connected to the return pump. Does the cerges reactor have enough pressure to prevent a back siphon from the return tube? I'm in the middle of building a sump, it was a lot of work because I wanted to setup a rimless 52g by the end of the year but space is an issue, so I have to shutdown/move at least 5 tanks to do so. I already calculator the back siphon gallons which is about 12.3g and I'm building my sump which is a 29g accordingly. But in this planning I totally forgot that my return pump will be connected to a cerges reactor, now if there is enough pressure in there to prevent the back siphon I can build my baffles taller to give me more water volume but if the cerges doesn't prevent a back siphon does all the water in the cerges canister go back to the sump return area?


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## infolific (Apr 10, 2016)

I'm not a sump expert...

My understanding of the cerges reactor is that it isn't pressure-based. It just "holds" onto CO2 bubbles until they dissolve into the water. So you can't count on the reactor holding back water.

If your reactor is at the same level as your sump, I don't think you need to account for additional water. This assumes your diagram is to scale and the reactor isn't a lot bigger than how it was drawn.

As for backflow from the return, I believe a common technique is to put a hole or two in the return just above or below the water line so that in the case of a power failure air is drawn in and the seal breaks i.e. there'll be limited backflow depending on where you put the hole.

Again, I'm not a sump expert, but I looked into them before I decided that I couldn't properly and quietly deal with the humidity.


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

I got impatient and decided to build the sump without the calculation of the volume in the reactor. I made the baffles a little shorter just incase. I have built many sumps in the pass and only once I used that siphon stopper (dilled hole in return tube) to stop the back siphon I don't like it. I like my return to have full flow because I don't want to use a wavemaker.

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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

As long as you drill a hole near the water line at the return, the back siphon volume on the return line is minimal.


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

Also, if you dont want to use powerheads for added internal flow, you can use a SeaSwirl to create random water movement within.


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

for anyone that is wondering, the contents in the reactor does not dump into the sump. I'm dying been doing fish stuff for at least 3hrs a day since the 22nd of Dec.... shutdown 3 tanks moved 3 tanks and finally setup my dream tank.


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