Return(s) over the top?

[Saltwaterwill]

Well I am running two 3/4 sea swirls on a closed loop using a M1 which is at 2000 gph. Before I did that I had one 3/4 sea swirl connected to a little giant 4mdq as a return and the sea swirl was pretty much at its max without blowing water out of the o rings. So if ur going to go the sea swirl route which I think are great I would step up to a 1 inch instead of a 3/4 with all that Gph. If not and u want a lot of flow go the punductor route and I would have to look into ur pump but if ur pump can do say 800 gph at 21 feet u can put two penductors on facing each other and that can work as well. That's my plan for the little giant return pump. He's a pic of my cabinet which shows both pumps that have powered the sea swirls and the only thing worth looking at now that my tank looks like this


Ever since I've seen melev's reef video on penductors, I've put my mind into going this route if I do happen to go over the top return . This is a great idea for pics...anyone have pics of their over the top returns with penductors?

 

[justingraham]

I think that's a great idea and I've made my own fabricated penductor to see if it would work with my pump and it did so as soon as I fix the algea and remember to buy two they will be going in my tank. And isn't melevs reef over the top? And if u look on his website hard enough he also shows how he did his.

 

[Kershaw]

Mine goes down into over flow then out the side with some line loc

 

[Saltwaterwill]

I think that's a great idea and I've made my own fabricated penductor to see if it would work with my pump and it did so as soon as I fix the algea and remember to buy two they will be going in my tank. And isn't melevs reef over the top? And if u look on his website hard enough he also shows how he did his.

Oh ok, I'll take a look thanks

 

[michaelrc51]

Nice setups guys.
Keep them coming, I am putting a ghost overflow in my tank and I need ideas about over the top returns.

Anyone have to add pieces o top of the tank to add their return?

 

[ReeferBob]

An ATS will solve your algae problem naturally. Best thing I ever did. No more algae in the tank. 100% natural too!

The top rim of your tank is plenty strong enough to support an over the top return.

 

[michaelrc51]

An ATS will solve your algae problem naturally. Best thing I ever did. No more algae in the tank. 100% natural too!

The top rim of your tank is plenty strong enough to support an over the top return.

I assume the mounting comment is for me?
I am not questioning the strength of the tank. I am thinking I I might have to mount a piece of plexi or something in the corner to brace the piping.
Or am I missing something?

 

[ReeferBob]

I assume the mounting comment is for me?
I am not questioning the strength of the tank. I am thinking I I might have to mount a piece of plexi or something in the corner to brace the piping.
Or am I missing something?

Look at my picture - I just rested it on the top. There is nothing but pipe in my setup. Also I redid the output the one in the pic has holes, I made a new output pipe using 2 slits instead running the length of the pipe. Way better flow characteristics.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I too go over the top. Might be hard to see, but the 3/4 pipe comes up to an elbow and then a tee (now everything painted black) that sends pipe out to the left and right, on top of the tank upper edge, to a total of four Loc-Line outlets.




Here's a better shot from inside the tank, but before the Loc-Lines were attached.




And here it is with Loc-Line installed and now running.

 

[Saltwaterwill]

@redfishbluefish so am I correct in saying that you don't have any supporting on top of your tank for your return lock lines and such? The Only thing that worries me on my new rimless build is if I go over the top return, I don't want anything loose and having niagra falls in my living room.

 

[mfinn]

@redfishbluefish so am I correct in saying that you don't have any supporting on top of your tank for your return lock lines and such? The Only thing that worries me on my new rimless build is if I go over the top return, I don't want anything loose and having niagra falls in my living room.

Use a conduit c-clamp on the back of the stand to hold pvc or flex tubing in place.

 

[reef_junkie]

On a side note, do u guys know why every time I post a pic it comes out blurry? These are hd quality iPhone pics and I select "best quality" when adding picture but any time I post a pic on here it looks like crap. As you guys can see lol

Try hosting your pics on photo bucket then copying the link to post as a photo here. That's how most people do it.

 

[redfishbluefish]

@redfishbluefish so am I correct in saying that you don't have any supporting on top of your tank for your return lock lines and such? The Only thing that worries me on my new rimless build is if I go over the top return, I don't want anything loose and having niagra falls in my living room.

I have a custom build tank made out of 1/2 inch glass with no top plastic frame or euro-bracing. So what I did was use 1/2" J-channel (typically used on 1/2" sheetrock) and first attached the tees and elbows of the top pipe with PVC glue to this J-channel. (The J-Channel perfectly fits over the 1/2" glass). I followed this up with epoxy at all tees/elbows to make sure it didn't move.

If my tank had the typical plastic frame, I'd simply epoxy the pipe arrangement to this.

 

[Saltwaterwill]

Brump

 

[germs101]

How many of you have returns over the top and into your tanks? Is it safe?
I have a sca 75g rimless that I'm thinking of doing a bean animal overflow system. The overflow box is setup with three holes for 1" bulkheads. If I use all three holes for a bean animal , I will be left with None for a return and Im definitely not interested in drilling out the back panel of a rimless tank. Any thoughts,pics, insights would be greatly appreciated.

Wow! I've been debating this exact subject in my head extensively for weeks? Glad you put it out there for me to follow along on

 

[Saltwaterwill]

For an update, I did the over the top returns and it worked flawlessly, no leaks and it looked good imo, the whole build is up for sale though lol