need suggestions

[markietan]

currently i have a 2 by 1.5 by 1.5 tank. i also have a sump with DSB, chaeto and skimmer in it. i have yet to 'link' both tanks together as i am still figuring out how best to do it.

what happened previously was that i used siphon to move dirty water from the top tank into the sump and used a return pump to move water back into the top tank.

this method removes the dirt and poo that accumulates at the bottom of the tank, which i feel is good coz the tang's poo is really huge and sinks to the bottom b4 it starts to break up.

however, it is hard to tune the tap such that the water siphoned off = to the water being pumped back.

also, when there is a power shortage, all hell break lose coz all the water will be siphoned into the bottom tank and cause flooding, killing all my ls and making a mess (happened to my friend before)

so any suggestions to my problem ? I want to be able to suck out the dirty stuff accumulating at the bottom of my tank. at the same time i don't want to fine tune the tap each time i accidently touch it and prevent the power shortage disaster...

i was looking at those hang on filter pump, where it sucks the water out instead and i'm wondering if such a pump will help solve my problem. then again even if the pump is switched off, the water in the pipe linking to the external ###### pump will start the siphoning reaction too right ??

all the reef gurus... helpppp!!!