Sleek overflow options vs Canister with Lily Pipes

[ahud]

Fiji Cube makes good stuff from everything I have heard. Definately a sleek and clean design. I have no personal experience with them though you could also do as Taylor suggested and drill from the bottom of the tank and put the pipes wherever you wanted. Drill some rocks and hide them inside that. A TON of work and your rockwork would have to touch the surface of the water but totally doable

I change my mind weekly at this point. I still have time.

I don't want the rock work to go to the surface. All the tanks I like do less rock so that the corals have room to grow.

 

[JoshH]

I change my mind weekly at this point. I still have time.

I don't want the rock work to go to the surface. All the tanks I like do less rock so that the corals have room to grow.

No worries, just trying to keep the options as wide as possible for you. Honestly I would just rock the Fiji at this point, lots of examples of super clean plumbing setups and neat and tidy overflow installations

 

[ahud]

No worries, just trying to keep the options as wide as possible for you. Honestly I would just rock the Fiji at this point, lots of examples of super clean plumbing setups and neat and tidy overflow installations

I appreciate it. Do you happen to know any good examples?

I'm still very tempted by the canister. I found water filter housings that have 1" ports. I think it would function as a great prefilter. I could get a 1" x 3/4" reducing barb and connect that to the eheim canister filter. Seems like that would be easy to pop off and clean once a week if I add double tap fittings.

Only thing left would be ordering a replaceable media container like what BRS sells so I could fill it with sponges.

 

[bruno.haid]

Why not the Oase?

I’m a little biased as I didn’t really have space for a bucket in my tiny stand, but opening filter housings or even disconnecting the Hydor anti drip quick disconnects resulted in some spillage, and taking the filter apart and cleaning the mechanical layers weekly felt much more tedious than expected.

Hence very fond of the idea of popping out the prefilter and rinsing it, without having to even think about where the extra water level goes or dealing with multiple trays.

Mame supposed to arrive tomorrow, will update build thread and do a separate review next week.

The eshopps Nano I’m using as a temporary fix is actually quite OK, but you need to hack it a bit to get more flow (replace 1/2 pipe in sponge with 3/4 nipple) and less noise (use some of that extra capacity for air valve). The sponge is great for larger detritus pieces and easy to clean.

 

[ahud]

Why not the Oase?

I’m a little biased as I didn’t really have space for a bucket in my tiny stand, but opening filter housings or even disconnecting the Hydor anti drip quick disconnects resulted in some spillage, and taking the filter apart and cleaning the mechanical layers weekly felt much more tedious than expected.

Hence very fond of the idea of popping out the prefilter and rinsing it, without having to even think about where the extra water level goes or dealing with multiple trays.

Mame supposed to arrive tomorrow, will update build thread and do a separate review next week.

The eshopps Nano I’m using as a temporary fix is actually quite OK, but you need to hack it a bit to get more flow (replace 1/2 pipe in sponge with 3/4 nipple) and less noise (use some of that extra capacity for air valve). The sponge is great for larger detritus pieces and easy to clean.

The Oase filters have some bad reviews floating around about air noises/purging issues. Makes me wary since they are expensive for a canister filter.

I already have two eheim 2217s, they run for decades. You could be right on all accounts about trying to get the pre-filter off without drips...

I was 100% canister, but now I think I am 50/50 again....The 4" fiji cube overflow seems small enough that it would not stick out too bad if I tucked it away in a corner. And the external box will be facing a wall, so not too bad there either.

And doing grey PVC for the plumbing would match the walls pretty good.Maybe they would blend in.

 

[ahud]

Also as for the original question: there’s a pure glass overflow system by a Japanese company at http://mame-design.jp/aqua/goods/aqua-goods-ofw.shtml

Mine got lost in the mail so still waiting for the replacement, but happy to let you know how it works in about 2 weeks if that’s an alternative you’d consider.

Seems to work fine for normal setups, but in my case it’s a heavily automated 9 gallon tank that I’d like to keep filled to the brim with 2.5 gallon sump, so I hope it restarts the siphon swiftly and reliably enough.

Was ordering the mame straight forward from Japan? Do you just submit an order like normal?

i have been reading more about them. With the state of our (US) ports and trucking, it would probably take a long time to receive.

 

[ahud]

I went down another rabbit hole.

The XAqua INOUT looks to be a super small overflow option. But looking at it, its just a bulkhead with a grid.

So then I started looking at nixing the overflow box all together. Using a 90 degree elbow turned up would give some surface skimming. And they have clear elbows!

3/4 in. 90 Degree Furniture Grade PVC Elbow Fitting - White | FORMUFIT

FORMUFIT 3/4 in. 90-Degree PVC Elbows in White connect two segments of 3/4 in. Size PVC pipe at two points to create a 90-degree angle. Create perfect right angles in PVC pipe projects. Create corner frames and bends in projects.

formufit.com

I'm going to dig a little more to see what the options are. Would be super nice to set this up where one elbow could handle 90% of the return at a siphon, and a second elbow does some surface skimming. Not sure if this is possible and how quiet I could get it.

Seems like a low maintenance option. I can buy a few of those elbows and replace them bi-weekly. Soak in some citric acid and its ready to go again.

 

[fulltang]

Did you end up trying the elbows?

 

[ahud]

Did you end up trying the elbows?

Not yet. Tank has been on the back burner.