DIY Overflow vs. Commercial

[Beatha]

I'm new here, and I don't actually have a marine tank at the moment. I had several during the 1990s and was part of the board of the group in San Francisco. Now after open heart surgery in 2018 I got back in the hobby So far freshwater only, but I bought myself a Clear for Life 75 gallon and a nice stand. My sump is going to be a 10 gallon with an emergency overflow into another 10 in case of power outage (my stand doesn't allow long or tall tanks, nor does my sternum allow me to carry them up the stairs). So now to bring the water to the stand. I was going to go with a Prodigy or CPR overflow (with an Aqua Lifter). Then someone suggested just adding a bulkhead with a strainer and hard or soft plumbing on the back of the tank. So now I have no idea what to do. What I really want is the safest possible, including if I leave my mom and brother in charge for a few weeks. Second is easy installation. Third is less noise. Expense isn't actually top 3 at the moment, I just want it to work smoothly with no fiddling if possible. Thanks!

 

[nezw0001]

In my opinion drill the tank with three holes, add an aftermarket or DIY overflow and bulkheads and plumb a sump in a normal fashion. The bean animal style drains is by far the most redundant for safety and reliability. It is also the quietest method.

drilling a tank is very easy even for not super handy people. I've done several using threads and directions on this forum.

 

[Beatha]

Thank you, fortunately the tank is plexiglass, so drilling is easy as long as the drill isn't run too fast. I'm going to add a water change bulkhead with a valve too, if I'm feeling lazy and don't want to siphon. Do you think the DIY pipe overflow with a strainer is as safe as a commercial unit? It obviously isn't a Bean set-up. Thanks again!

 

[laverda]

You don't need the complication of the bean setup. But it is best to have 2 drain lines incase one becomes blocked or even partially so. The overflows can be as simple as a 90 or 45 degree fitting in a bulkhead. I would put a screen on them to avoid closing. If just using one oversize it.
To be honest I don't think I is worth the trouble for a 10 gallon sump! It is not going to hold enough to allow for a power outage and a second 10 gallon tank doesn't solve much. Try to find a larger sump to fit your stand and find someone to help you carry it in if need be.

 

[Beatha]

Thanks, unfortunately, the stand will not hold one without cutting it apart, and I don't want to do that. I am doing two overflows with strainers, so hopefully that will work. The baffles I have also only fit a 10. My pump doesn't need very deep water if I remove the huge suction cups. I'm not sure why it wouldn't flow through the pipe into the second one, but obviously I'll do a test power outage when I can fix it. I did think about using a tote for the second one since there's lots of width available, but I wasn't sure if the bulkhead would hold tightly enough.

 

[Hermie]

[delete]

 

[Hermie]

I have an eshopps hang on back overflow with U tube, no air lifter or anything like that and I think it's 99% safe compared to a drilled tank.
I would not recommend any overflow with an air lifter because that's just another point of failure and especially since it's electronic.

I used a DIY overflow for about a year but the eshopps is a better cleaner design than what I had.

Wait... You said Prodigy or CPR with aqualifter...

Prodigy overflow requires your tank to be drilled.
Aqualifter implies you would not drill the tank...

So which is it?

 

[nezw0001]

elbows with strainers are going to be noisy. If you are OK with noise then, super duper.

 

[laverda]

elbows with strainers are going to be noisy. If you are OK with noise then, super duper.

Not at all. That is what I use and they are silent unless I crank my return pump full blast. At full blast they are only noisy for a min until they settle in. The big advantage is I never have to tune any gate valves when I chang my return pump flow. Also they take up less room. I have used both 90 degree and 45s. The 90s I typically put at a slight angle. The 45s work better to be honest. My 300 has 2 drain lines with 45s at the top. My mangrove tank has a 90 for the drain. It is the only one you ever hear as the flow starts and stops going to that tank. The drain makes a quite gurgle when it first starts flowing every 15 minutes. 99% of the time I never notice it even when eating very close to the tank.
I do radius the inside of the fittings with a Dremel to remove the mold parting lines round off the top edge and get a nice smooth flow through them. Sometimes when first installed you can hear a little noise, but once they get a slime coat they are very quite.
90 degree with screen to keep mangrove leaves out.

Without screen. As I was standing right over this taking the photo I could not hear a thing even though it was draining at the time.

I would post a video, but can't get them to post here most of the time.