filtration, power outage

Question
Bill,

I have a 500 gallon saltwater tank that's been down for about a year.  Never dry, just not running, and obviously no fish.  My problem is this.  The filtration system I'm using, I don't recall the name so I'll describe, feeds from the tank with gravity, returns to the tank with a pump.  Big sucker, sits enclosed in the base unit.  A year ago we moved to a development that's plagued by constant power interruptions.  Sometimes a few minutes, other times as much as a half an hour or more.  Usually at the height of air conditioner season.  When the power goes out the gravity feed to the filter keeps going, the pump return obviously quits.  Which means the water in the tank gets lower and lower as the water in the filter system gets higher and higher.  Then the inevitable happens when we're not home and it overflows onto the floor of the base unit and ultimately my carpeted family room floor.  Big damned mess.  Because of this we haven't run the tank in a long time.  I need a filter system that uses no gravity. i.e if the power goes out it's not a problem. Anything I've read about freshwater filtration systems that hang on the back of the tank say NO.  Not good enough for saltwater tanks.  Shutting the damn thing down every time we leave this house just isn't an option.  Any advice?  Thank you.  Frank

Answer
Hello Frank,

There is a solution, and it isnt that hard.  But, it will take some discussion to find out exactly what you got going on and stuff...

I am hoping you have access to a digital camera and are abe to upload pics for me???

Please log onto my new forum at www.thelittleocean.com  and post a hello into the INTRODUCTIONS section of that forum


I will try to ask some questions for now, and maybe you can address them when you open the new thread/discussion

What you ahve is commonly called a sump filtration system.   The sump is the extra tank that is below your main display tank...  And like you stated it is prone to some flooding issues...

But, we might be able to make some simple changds