"Pszemol" wrote in message ...
"Timothy Tom" wrote in message om...
The reason that it is useful is that when the power goes off, the sump
fills with water. When the power returns, the in-sump protein skimmer
will overflow onto the cabinet floor a significant amount of water.

Well... this sounds like a bad design...
What are you going to do if the power outage will last more than 15 minutes?

Yes it was not designed well. Custom made tank, stand, protein
skimmer made out of state and shipped to me.

http://hometown.aol.com/tdtom30/tomsreef.html

When the power goes off, water drains into sump. Since the protein
skimmer sits in the sump, the water level in the skimmer rises too.
When pump restarts and bubbles start rising into the skimmer chamber,
water overflows into collection container with a capacity of about a
quart. Water overlows collection collector onto cabinet floor. Once
level in sump drops, the level in skimmer drops, and overflowing
stops. Usually probably about 1/2-1 quart of water leaks. Not a
disaster, just a little mess. Cabinet is too small to accommodate a
larger collection chamber conveniently.