Safest HOB Overflow

[Best Fish-Jake]

Like these but where do you get them>

Great question, I don’t speak mandarin so their website is not helpful to me[emoji23] I guess they were showcased at RAP but I can’t find any US vendors

 

[roberthu526]

Eshopps user here not a single failure yet. The closest one was the U tube was clogged by algae but this could have happened to any overflow that uses pipes to drain water I guess.
That being said I did drill my second setup and will avoid using HOB overflow going forward. The flow volume is so much easier to control with a drilled tank.

 

[Orm Embar]

I looked into this about a year or two ago; my recollection is that Lifereef was the most reliable and the most highly regarded. I'd go with them, or at the very least something with a similar design.

 

[Jeremy K.A.]

How do you plan to prevent your frogfish from eating each other?

Well Either i'm going to try to get multiple frogfish as close to the same size as humanly possible at once and add them all at the same time, OR if theres really bad odds of success then I'll probably get one thats insanely cool, or large

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

I wrote this some time ago.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/external-overflow-tips-on-safety-noise-and-utility.272888/

 

[Violetdasy]

ive been using Toms Aquarium Rapids overflow box for 8 years ive never had it overflow or leak when the power goes out it stops flowing and begins when the power comes back on. I bought this one for its ability to stop flowing, its built in with a open port that allows water to loose its vacuum when the water stops flowing. keep it clean and it works wonderful

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

I used an HOB for some years now, and I know for sure, that every thing that potentially can fail - will fail at some point.
That's why I REALLY recommend some kind of float switch to turn of your return pump. Tunze has a great option (7607/2 ).
My second rekommandation is to drill an extra drain line.
But I have descried this in detail here:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/external-overflow-tips-on-safety-noise-and-utility.272888/

 

[Jeremy K.A.]

I used an HOB for some years now, and I know for sure, that every thing that potentially can fail - will fail at some point.
That's why I REALLY recommend some kind of float switch to turn of your return pump. Tunze has a great option (7607/2 ).
My second rekommandation is to drill an extra drain line.
But I have descried this in detail here:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/external-overflow-tips-on-safety-noise-and-utility.272888/

I will definitely keep that in mind during set up for best possible chances at keeping it safe

 

[living_tribunal]

Lifereef is where you want to be looking. Jeff has been making his overflows for decades and I dare you to find a story where one has failed. Before I decided to take the plunge and drill my tank his overflow was what I was set on buying. However even the best overflow requires cleaning from time to time so if you do go on the HOB route make sure to maintain your overflow properly.

I’m thinking about taking the risk with an hob overflow and Lifereef has been mentioned on most sites I’ve been to.

Do you still say his are worth it? If so, I’ll probably put in an order.

No overfill failures in 30 years is a pretty big selling point if it’s true!

 

[jd371]

I’m thinking about taking the risk with an hob overflow and Lifereef has been mentioned on most sites I’ve been to.

Do you still say his are worth it? If so, I’ll probably put in an order.

No overfill failures in 30 years is a pretty big selling point if it’s true!

Lifereef or eshopps, can't go wrong with this type of overflow. I've had my eshopps running now for 5 years without any issues.

 

[JoshH]

I’m thinking about taking the risk with an hob overflow and Lifereef has been mentioned on most sites I’ve been to.

Do you still say his are worth it? If so, I’ll probably put in an order.

No overfill failures in 30 years is a pretty big selling point if it’s true!

Take my recommendation for what it is, I have never owned a HOB overflow but in all my research Lifereef came out on top and I do own a few other Lifereef products and wouldn't hesitate for a second to recommend Jeff and his products.

I mean Eshopps essentially copied Jeff's design to a T so obviously he's doing something right.

 

[happyhourhero]

I am almost 4 years into an Eschopps pf-800 and have no complaints

 

[ScottB]

Lifereef is where you want to be looking. Jeff has been making his overflows for decades and I dare you to find a story where one has failed. Before I decided to take the plunge and drill my tank his overflow was what I was set on buying. However even the best overflow requires cleaning from time to time so if you do go on the HOB route make sure to maintain your overflow properly.

I have a Lifereef and it is great quality build for sure. I have since drilled my tank because of overflow. Twice. I won't do HOB overflows again (except for emergency setups of course.)

Factors that can lead to floods:
a) powerhead turbulence slosh creates bubbles that then accumulate in the overflow u-tube.
b) You don't keep the tube clean enough
c) You have too much lateral run over to the sump
d) not enough flow to remove bubbles from the u-tube

some combination of those factors led to my troubles. It ran fine for a year straight but then it did not.

It is not that syphon is lost, but that trapped air impedes the flow out while the return pump over fills.

I'd triple confirm that the glass is non-tempered, buy the eshopps eclipse, and spend ten minutes drilling & installing. A lot less time than cleaning up after a flood.

 

[living_tribunal]

I have a Lifereef and it is great quality build for sure. I have since drilled my tank because of overflow. Twice. I won't do HOB overflows again (except for emergency setups of course.)

Factors that can lead to floods:
a) powerhead turbulence slosh creates bubbles that then accumulate in the overflow u-tube.
b) You don't keep the tube clean enough
c) You have too much lateral run over to the sump
d) not enough flow to remove bubbles from the u-tube

some combination of those factors led to my troubles. It ran fine for a year straight but then it did not.

It is not that syphon is lost, but that trapped air impedes the flow out while the return pump over fills.

I'd triple confirm that the glass is non-tempered, buy the eshopps eclipse, and spend ten minutes drilling & installing. A lot less time than cleaning up after a flood.

There are all very valid points and concerns. I think there has been some progress made however by members with safeguards that prevent a few of these. I have an aqueon bowfront and I'm like 90% it's tempered and can't be drilled :/, trying to weigh my options.


EDIT* You can drill aqueon bowfronts, only the front glass is tempered.

In terms of safeguards, I've been looking at implementing protocols from both @JohnnyTabasco and this youtube video:

 

[jd371]

I have a Lifereef and it is great quality build for sure. I have since drilled my tank because of overflow. Twice. I won't do HOB overflows again (except for emergency setups of course.)

Factors that can lead to floods:
a) powerhead turbulence slosh creates bubbles that then accumulate in the overflow u-tube.
b) You don't keep the tube clean enough
c) You have too much lateral run over to the sump
d) not enough flow to remove bubbles from the u-tube

some combination of those factors led to my troubles. It ran fine for a year straight but then it did not.

It is not that syphon is lost, but that trapped air impedes the flow out while the return pump over fills.

I'd triple confirm that the glass is non-tempered, buy the eshopps eclipse, and spend ten minutes drilling & installing. A lot less time than cleaning up after a flood.

If you have enough of (D) you won't experience (A). In the 5 years I've never had bubbles collect in the U-tube. I think a lot of the problems experienced with these overflows was mismatched pumps to the overflow. At under $10, I'll just replace the U-tube when it gets too dirty to clean. I always keep a spare on hand.
In my situation the only way I could get a flood was the siphon from the return line if the pump shut off flooding the sump. I drilled a small hole in the return just under the water surface to stop the siphon. I also pointed the return nozzle closer to the surface in case the hole gets blocked for any reason as a second siphon break.

 

[ScottB]

If you have enough of (D) you won't experience (A). In the 5 years I've never had bubbles collect in the U-tube. I think a lot of the problems experienced with these overflows was mismatched pumps to the overflow. At under $10, I'll just replace the U-tube when it gets too dirty to clean. I always keep a spare on hand.
In my situation the only way I could get a flood was the siphon from the return line if the pump shut off flooding the sump. I drilled a small hole in the return just under the water surface to stop the siphon. I also pointed the return nozzle closer to the surface in case the hole gets blocked for any reason as a second siphon break.

While my floods were opposite that described by @jd37 he has described the "other" (arguably less likely) flood scenario.

In my case the tank overflowed each time, not the sump.

On reflection, my major error was really to do with too much lateral run for the overflow. This was my "tertiary" LPS tank dumping into a shared sump. My return pump was much more than sufficient, but my gravity overflow plumbing was just TOO LONG laterally. Six feet two inches lateral with 2 feet vertical fall. You won't have my problem if your run is pretty much straight down.

 

[jd371]

Yep, a long lateral run will mess with the overflow. For those of us that can't drill a HOB is a godsend if you want to add a sump to your system. With that being said if you can drill the tank do so, there's so many options available in the way that the tank could be set up that are not doable using a HOB overflow.

 

[Incrediblegreen43]

I'd go life reef. I had the double overflow set up and admittedly was awful about cleaning it and that sucker just kept going and going.

Can I see a pic of how you set up your double overflow from lifereef?! I have a 40B and a reef 75 sump. I'm trying to plumb it but not sure exactly where the second drain pipe should run seeing as though there is only one attachment for sump drain on the reef 75 sump

 

[BigFig]

This thread convinced me to go with LifeReef for my overflow, sump, skimmer & reefugium on my 40 gallon breeder. Couldn’t be happier. I power off twice each day for feeding and never lose siphon.