Silent and Failsafe Overflow System

[mflamb]

I recieved my tank, pre-drilled for the silent and failsafe overflow system. An acrylic box will be held to the glass tank on each end with the three bulkheads.




More pics as I get it plumbed.

[OldSaltMan1]

I drilled mine this week! I had the glass cut for mine also. I am going to use glass the full length of the tank. Here are the first holes. I have now drilled the 3/4" for the CL, but don't have a photo yet. I hope to fill it and glue the overflow next week.

[eme]

BeanAnimal TOTY in terms of Substance and Help .. Many Thanks

[BeanAnimal]

thanks eme... that was very kind. Don't hold your breath waiting for me to get any kind of award here at RC though... It simply will not happen.

[smstrick20]

Ok this thread was great but I have some questions, I am currently about to drill my 90g AGA and am trying to decide how I want to set up my flow system. Are you guys really getting 1500 gph out of this three line system?

[BeanAnimal]

smstrick, I am putting well over 1500 GPH through my overflow. Most of it (roughly 90%) through the siphon standpipe.

[rodneyri]

with this system in place, would i need to still drill some syphon break holes in the return line as a safety measure?

[BeanAnimal]

The setup has nothing to do with the return lines. You will need to consider their depth and plan accordingly.

[ToeTag77]

Question about feeding the refugium.Which is the best line to feed the fuge from? T off the siphon with a ball valve? Will this make the siphon fluctuate and be harder to fine tune?
OR feed from the open channel? How much flow ends up going through the open channel?

How do you guys feed your fuge?

[mflamb]

Good question. I'm thinking that I'm going to put my Open channel into the fuge.

[rishma]

Bean -

most overflow boxes carry a water level slightly lower than the main tank. If the overflow were to become blocked, I think you would want the emergency drain in the main tank rather than in the overflow. the water level is usually higher in the main tank.

I experienced this with a refugium mounted over the the main tank. it had a durso overflow and an emergency drain located in the overflow box. The water level difference between tank and over flow box was ~0.25". The teeth on the overflow became blocked with macro algae and water flowed over the top of the main tank.....big mess.

I realize there is very little chance of this occurring with a Calfo style overflow, but it thought it worth mentioning for those with a more traditional overflow box.

Nice system, BTW

[BeanAnimal]

The emergency standpipe intake strainer does rise above the top edge of the weir in my design

[BeanAnimal]

Originally posted by ToeTag77
Question about feeding the refugium.Which is the best line to feed the fuge from? T off the siphon with a ball valve? Will this make the siphon fluctuate and be harder to fine tune?
OR feed from the open channel? How much flow ends up going through the open channel?

How do you guys feed your fuge?

Teeing off of the siphon may make things slightly harder to tune. Only a small portion of the flow goes through the open channel. I have not measured it, but my guess would be that I pput maybe 200-300 GPH out of the ~1800 going over the weir.

[rishma]

The emergency standpipe intake strainer does rise above the top edge of the weir in my design

Ah yes, that is a key point. There is no real delta P across a toothless overflow but there can be in an overflow with teeth.

[tonyespinoza]

hey beananimal -

happy holidays!

thanks so much for keeping this thread for those of us who are implementing your system.

i have a 60x40x20 peninsular tank with an external overflow on one of the short ends that i'm just now setting up. i had it drilled with 3x 1.5" drains and 2x 1" returns. since the drains are at the bottom of the external chamber, i just wanted to make sure i understood correctly that as long as i drill the top of the open channel and tap for the john guest, that i can use a street 90, and not a T.

also - is it okay to just run the emergency without any angle at all?

(i think you said this above, but wanted to double check given the details of my particular system.)

[tonyespinoza]

also - could i drill the john guest fitting into the side of the elbow instead of the top? i assume it doesn't matter since it's air tight, correct? (i'm trying to figure out how to accommodate the lid that the manufacturer made for my overflow...)

[tonyespinoza]

okay - read through again and again, and think i'm clear that i can use the elbow instead.... (i understand now your reason for using the T was access -- which makes sense.)

[danmartis]

hi bean!
i have the calfo overflow with your overflow system on my tank.
i know you dont have any teeth in you overflow box and i did it the same.
but im having a problem.my fish go in the overflow box.
do you have any idea what should i do?

[BeanAnimal]

Can you post a few photos? Dimensions and flow rates? What fish are going over?

[danmartis]

the overflow is 48x4x6deep
the overflow pipes are 3x1" 1/4
return pump mag7
my clowns go in there.
and i had my lawn mower blenny go in two times.

[oldsaltman]

Wow! I too am building this as we speak. I didn't think about the fish issue. I think I may go with gutter guard or something across the top? Do you have lot's of water going over the top?

[BeanAnimal]

dammartis,

I take your clowns are very small...

In any case, you have two basic options.

1) stand eggcrate (or getter guard) up in the overflow box to form a barrier. You will still get good surface skimming due to the very narrow cross section of the "teeth".

2) Build a cap for the weir that rests on the trim and center brace. The cap would be fitted to leave 1/4" "slot" above the weir.

Just placing gugger guard on TOP of the weir will only serve as a death trap for the fish. They will flop onto it and dry unless the gutter guard is sloped back towards the tank enough to allow them to flop back off if they flop on in the first place. I hope that makes sense.

[oldsaltman]

Will the gutterguard/eggcrate stand up the the heat of ML bulbs?

[BeanAnimal]

It only needs to extend 1" or so above the weir. It should be fine

[oldsaltman]

Originally posted by BeanAnimal
It only needs to extend 1" or so above the weir. It should be fine

Great that is my plan. I will post a few photos of the overflow build when I get it finished. Thanks for the design!