Bashsea Biospace water drain

[Diman1974]

I’m running a Bashsea BioSpace 6x21 reactor fed from a tee off my main return line.


Every time I shut down my return pumps, the water inside the reactor drains down to the sump water level. When I restart the pumps, the floating media gets stuck together at the top, and it takes several hours before it starts tumbling properly again.


My plumbing setup:

• Return pump → Check valve → Tee feeding BioSpace → Display
• Reactor outlet is a 3/4” hose submerged in the sump
• Reactor outlet fitting is about 5–6” above the maximum sump water level during shutdown
• Display return outlets are significantly higher than the reactor

I confirmed the submerged outlet hose is creating a siphon that drains the reactor when the pumps stop.


I’m considering drilling a small 1/16” siphon-break hole in the outlet hose above the sump waterline, but I’m concerned about constant spraying, splashing, and noise during normal operation.


Has anyone experienced this with their BioSpace reactor and found a reliable way to keep it full during shutdown? Has anyone tried a siphon-break hole, vented tee, or another solution that doesn’t create noise?


I’d appreciate any suggestions or pictures of your setup. Thanks!

 

[UncommonSense]

I do know that Bashsea used to use a mitered pipe end, with a few additional mitered slots for each drain…

This could be worth trying, as it creates multiple siphon break points for different water heights, which are unlikely to make trickling noises during normal operation due to the “downhill” slope for water to run along, vs. dripping off a straight “level” slot!

 

[Diman1974]

I do know that Bashsea used to use a mitered pipe end, with a few additional mitered slots for each drain…

This could be worth trying, as it creates multiple siphon break points for different water heights, which are unlikely to make trickling noises during normal operation due to the “downhill” slope for water to run along, vs. dripping off a straight “level” slot!

Thanks for the suggestion! Just to clarify, are you recommending angled slots at the submerged discharge end of my 3/4” outlet hose, or above the sump waterline?


My concern is that any opening above the waterline might continuously spray water during normal operation. Would the angled slots avoid that?

 

[UncommonSense]

Thanks for the suggestion! Just to clarify, are you recommending angled slots at the submerged discharge end of my 3/4” outlet hose, or above the sump waterline?

I think a 45 degree slot would be best placed at the sump’s high water line… though, a vent tee at the high point in the plumbing may be the only way to actually keep this 21” tall container completely full of water…

My concern is that any opening above the waterline might continuously spray water during normal operation. Would the angled slots avoid that?

I’d imagine that will depend on your flow rate, and how close to the end of the tubing you make your slot, in addition to slot geometry…

The angle would definitely help to avoid water spray at lower flow rates, but the reactor’s so tall that some water will still siphon out, down to the slot in the outlet tubing…

After thinking about it further, I’m wondering about a valved tee… basically, a metered leak… you let a small amount of water through the valved tee as your leak, probably discharging high up, onto the back wall of the sump to keep it flowing as a silent laminar sheet (low GPM relative to tubing size, so low water velocity)… if the return pump stops, the valve allows air back into the plumbing more or less immediately! (This is how my return plumbing is set up to break an outage siphon, in fact!)