Dual 75 Gallon Tank Setup

*Steel Dual Display Tank – Can fit 2 aquariums of matched size (75′s or 90′s), one on the top, one on the bottom.
*skimmer
*media reactor w/ carbon
*assortment of 300-400 gph hydor’s and other powerheads/pumps.
*metal halides for the bottom tank
*Compact flourecents for the top tank

Both tanks will have 3" or so of live sand.
Top tank will have some large pieces of live rock.
Bottom tank will have quite a bit more live rock, and some beginner corals (kenya & taro trees, and some pulsing xenia).

The unconventional part of this setup is that I plan on using the bottom tank as a functional tank, with the top tank overflowing into the bottom.

The tricky part is as follows.
Im not able to drill the bottom tank, but I need a return pump.
I have experimented with some setups involving a external in-line pump with somewhat of a siphon setup, and they work great…….until you turn off the pump, which breaks the siphon, which kills the waterflow when the power goes back on, which would burn the motor up. Lol, I cant have this, because I dont want to imagine what would happen if the power flickerd at home when I was at work etc.
So my current plan is to put a small (2 or 3 gallon) aquarium inside the bottom tank, towards the back, and sit a return pump in there, with the small aquarium acting as a baffle. I can put live rock etc in front of it to hide it. Any ideas on what to place over the top of the smaller aquarium? I was thinking some kind of egg crate or rust-proof screen, but any suggestions would be welcome, as I want to keep livestock out of the return area.

Another tricky point is I do not want the bottom tank to flood if the pump stops, I plan on using a spray bar slightly above water level on the top tank to combat this. My thought is that if the power goes out and the return pump stops, there will be a minimum of back siphon into the bottom tank. I guess I could plumb a one-way/check valve on the return line also?

As far as livestock goes, I want a puffer, trigger and eel in the top tank.
In the bottom I want my scopas tang, foxface, flame angel, sally lightfoot, hermits, snails, cleaner shrimps etc.

Lol, so theres the plan.

Any thoughts, Ideas, suggestions etc?
And no, I cant get 2 seperate setups due to space limits.

Thanks!

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