Help me choose an overflow type- must be failsafe and simple.

[TraverseCity]

Simpler the better! Low maintenance and worry free please!

I need to decide how to get water from tank to sump where my protein skimmer is. (I’m putting together my 100 gal FOWLR.) Tank is acrylic so I can easily drill it. Sump is 29 gal inside the stand.

I’ve done so much reading but I need some advice still. Thank you so much for helping a new poster!

Must be failsafe if power goes out when we are on vacation. Don’t want a siphon even with that emergency restart thing.

I’ve read all about Bean Animal’s design and I don’t think I need the full design because I don’t care if there is water flow noise, as long as there is no gross slurping. So I think I could keep it simpler.

I also want some surface overflow to skim the water surface where the organics sit, and am willing to put together a coast-to-coast if best, but could just do two bulkheads at water level if that would work.

My top options currently are:

1. one or two bulkheads at the top water level, big enough to keep water level from climbing above them so that they still skim surface water mainly.
2. PVC coast-to-coast overflow drained by two PVC/bulkheads. I’d need to use a smaller return pump and big PVC diameter to make sure it drains fast enough.
3. Build an internal or external overflow box and drill holes to eliminate need for siphons.

What would you do if you had the acrylic tank and wanted failsafe and simple?

Thank you!!

 

[Billdogg]

IMHO, the most simple (only one valve, and it on the return line), and failsafe (gravity has yet to fail me) is a simple DURSO style. Your overflow can be internal or external,

There are other styles - Herbie and Beananimal being the most common, but both require some adjustment from time to time. I've alsways used dursos, and although they are limited on the amount of flow they can quietly handle, the usual goal with a sump and return pump isn't to be the primary source of in-tank circulation anyway.

 

[John A!10]

I have been using an external overflow box with 3 drains for the past 3 years with no issues, or leaks. I would recommend eshopps, or the synergy reef shadow overflow. I made the mistake of getting the marine depot at first. It’s cheaper but worse.

 

[madmark285]

I’ve read all about Bean Animal’s design and I don’t think I need the full design because I don’t care if there is water flow noise, as long as there is no gross slurping. So I think I could keep it simpler.

I thought the same about noise, I setup two Durso drains lines. what the heck, it is so noisy! Not just the slurping, it is pulling air into the sump. So I got slurping, gurgling and bubbling noise

Major mistake on my part.

 

[14 foot reef]

 

[Billdogg]

If your DURSO is gurgling/flushing/sucking too much air, it is because you have too much flow through it. The maximum flow through a standard "reef ready" 1" drain is 350gph. 250+ is more realistic. To keep the air out of your sump simply put a T fitting on the end so that the "leg" is just above the water line. That will allow the air to escape before it goes into the sump.

I have dual durso style drains (1.5") on my 120. I use a eheim 1262 as the return, so maybe 750gph to the sump. The skimmer makes more noise than my drains.

 

[TraverseCity]

Thank you for the thoughtful replies. Hopefully this post I wrote will help some new builders plan if they can find this thread. I think I settled on an option that is simple, cheap, mostly failproof, fairly quiet, looks very clean, and surface skims. I took ideas from a couple other peoples builds in the past, I can’t remember their names at the moment.

I took all of your thoughts into account and drilled two bulkheads (fitted for 1” pvc) into the back of the tank, at the top back corners. I placed them low enough that I could connect two PVC elbows on the inside and rotate the elbows to adjust the level of the water. I have a mag 7 pump with two 90 degree turns on the return line, (estimate about 300gph) so the bulkheads are big enough to keep up with the return flow without siphoning and making slurping noise. Actually the bulkheads without the 90 PVC elbows was the quietest option, but the elbows allow me to keep the water level higher than the bulkheads (didn’t want to crack the tank by drilling too close to the top edge.) You can play with the pvc elbows to adjust flow rate and noise. I did not need to drill into a T on the other side to introduce air, as no siphon was created due to the return flow being low enough to keep the water from climbing above the pvc elbows.

It’s not perfectly quiet- the flow through the pipes makes a little noise but no suction or slurping.

This option should be fairly fail-proof because it does not rely on any siphons. As long as both bulkheads don’t get plugged the tank should never overflow. And if the power goes out, the bulkhead PVC intake openings only would let about 1” of water drain into the sump.

So for someone who wants their plumbing/overflow to be simple, clean looking, cheap, and foolproof I think this is a great option. The only downside I believe to the superior options is it’s not a completely silent system like the bean animal etc. A very simple/dumb option in comparison


Also, I do get surface skimming as the water does not climb above the PVC intake. This was a priority as well.

 

[TraverseCity]

I took a photo with white pvc elbows so you can see them but I changed them to black later.