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[seamonkey]

Hi, I'd like to get some feedback on my design for an almost maintenance-free pico. I have this design set up right now in my office and it seems to work. The design is basically a gravity-driven system where clean saltwater siphons down at a controlled drip rate into the main tank. From the main tank, when the incoming water pushes the waterline above the overflow, the overflow siphon draws the excess water out into the cup, which has a bulkhead and a drain tube leading to a bucket on the floor. So, all I have to do is keep the top container filled with water, and clean water will constantly flow in, and dirty water (mixed with clean water, of course) will automatically flow out the overflow and into the bucket. In other words, this is a simple continuous water-change system. The top container is 2 liters, as is the main tank. I hope to be able to leave this system running days at a time with the only maintenance being filling up the top container and emptying out the bottom bucket. Periodically I will check to make sure that the top clean saltwater container is draining and that the drain bucket is filling up, which indicates that water is correctly flowing through and being changed from the main tank. There is no fresh-water top off. A lid (saran wrap, currently) slows evaporation. Drip rate of the incoming clean saltwater line must be faster than the evaporation rate (otherwise the waterline would never rise above the overflow and no water would ever leave the system). I plan to control salinity by periodic measurements of the main tank's salinity and corresponding adjustments of the salinity of the incoming clean saltwater. Now, as I said, I have this set up experimentally (no livestock yet) and it seems to work fine. However, I'm still a little afraid of leaving the system running unattended and coming home to water on the floor. In particular, the overflow line (an airline tube acting as a siphon) is a single point of failure. In the event that this tube loses its siphon, then incoming water would overflow the main tank and spill on the floor. Specifically my overflow is a small vial inside the main tank with a corresponding small vial outside the tank but slightly lower, with a siphon tube connecting the two. Ordinarily there will always be water inside both vials so it should be "impossible" for the siphon to ever lose its suction - unless the tank or the overflow is bumped so severely that air is allowed to enter the siphon tube. So, what I'd like to ask is - how can I prevent or make contingency plans for failure of the overflow siphon? Also, are there any other flaws or weaknesses in this design? Thanks for any feedback. I really hope that with this automated system I can again enjoy small-scale reef-keeping. My previous nano ran for a year before it crashed due to neglect. I hope that an automatic continuous-flow water change system will allow me to take proper care of my system.