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What method did you use for plumbing overflow?


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Oceanavekid

Oceanavekid

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Why none on the return?

Definitely thought about adding some kind of support for the overflow. Would some sort of bar on both sides be enough? Only reason so many fittings is because it’s hard to get three pipes in the small hole they have in the cabinet. I’m going to cut holes for the main and emergency pipes, make the secondary pipe a bit shorter so it’s not fully submerged in the sump. I’ll get rid of a good amount of fittings and a few unions
 

adhd_nerd

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Too many unions or should I add more? [emoji848] decided to ditch the hose and hard plumb the main return
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It seems to me that the external box is installed to low? I've never had one of these external overflows, but is that the way they are designed? I would of thought the top of the external box would be close to the top of the rim of the tank otherwise you would get a situation where water will overflow the external box (how water line in tank is higher than external box).
 
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Oceanavekid

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It seems to me that the external box is installed to low? I've never had one of these external overflows, but is that the way they are designed? I would of thought the top of the external box would be close to the top of the rim of the tank otherwise you would get a situation where water will overflow the external box (how water line in tank is higher than external box).

That’s how the synergy reef overflows are
The box in the tank is at the rim and the outer box is a bit lower
 

Engloid

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My advice is to hard pipe the siphon line. That flex tube will take much longer to clear out air bubbles on startup....especially when it's looped up like it is. In fact, it may never flow 100% due to air trapped in it when looped up like that.

As said above, open the primary and slowly close it a little bit, letting the overflow level stabilize. You want water level to be over your primary (even the top of the elbow if you have one, but have a hole in the elbow). Water level should be AT the lowest point water can flow through the secondary. Adjust the valve so that you will get just a slight amount of trickle down the secondary. In other words, you want the valve to just barely NOT flow all the water in the overflow, because if it does, it will eventually empty and start gurgling again.

Here it is running. Notice the siphon on left is completely submerged. The secondary is full to the INSIDE of the elbow, and the right side is a full 1.5" emergency line.

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Oceanavekid

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Cleaned it up. Plumbing looks much better. I’m about to glue the pipe, do I just glue everywhere I can? I want to make sure I’m glueing it right so I don’t get any leaks.
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Oceanavekid

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Do not glue fittings inside the overflow box

Definitely no glue going inside the box. I just need to cut a few pieces so they match up better and I’m good to glue. I cut a few pieces too small. Without glue they work well, but with glue they sink down too far
 

Engloid

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Definitely no glue going inside the box. I just need to cut a few pieces so they match up better and I’m good to glue. I cut a few pieces too small. Without glue they work well, but with glue they sink down too far
That's why it's not always a good idea to mock up all of it at once. By the time you bottom out a pvc fitting dry, it's hard to get apart to glue it.

Glue inside the box won't hurt anything. PVC glue is safe... but you're best not to glue any of those inside the box so that you can adjust them....and if they leak, it just leaks into your drain pipes anyway.
 

Engloid

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one thing that I don't think has been mentioned is that the water level in the box needs to be up about mid way of the two holes drilled in the tank. If it's too low, it will make noise as it falls.
 

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