MantisShrimpMan
Active Member
I think I may have devised a clever overflow solution for predrilled tanks. I’d like to know if other people believe it to be capable of working.
I’ve been tossing around the idea of getting a larger tank. I’m new to the hobby, I’ve currently got a 20G nano, and I’m working with a fairly limited budget as a college student, but still, I can’t pretend that having a larger tank doesn’t have its merits. More stocking options, more modularity due to the sump instead of the rear chamber, greater system stability due to greater volume... list goes on. So to some extent, I’m looking at finding a larger tank that I can set up minimally to start so that I stay within my budget but leave room for future expansion within the system.
This has led me to looking at premade tanks that, despite not being turnkey solutions like the expensive Waterbox and Red Sea options, have the basic drilling/overflow box installation that would be considered “reef ready”. Mainly- Seapora. The issue is, the seapora reef ready tank I’m looking at has only two holes, and the bottom is tempered, so drilling more is not an option. Since I want this tank to sit flush against the wall, running an exterior return isn’t an option, which leaves me with only one bulkhead to use for the overflow system. Under conventional wisdom, this would only leave a Durso overflow as a valid option, because it uses one bulkhead whereas the herbie and bean animal systems require two. That said, reading multiple sources online have suggested that both the herbie and the bean animal, due to their primary drain pipe employing a siphon far more significantly than a durso does, are substantially quieter, especially if you plan on running a high flow rate from tank to sump.
I certainly cannot afford a custom alternative as a means of getting a third hole to use a herbie, and given that this tank would be in a small apartment with sensitive neighbors, it would be important to me to achieve the most silent solution. So, it appeared I would be stuck with the compromises inherent in a durso system. However, after a lot of thought, I think I may have come up with a means of employing the advantages of a herbie system whilst working around the limitation of one bulkhead.
A traditional herbie works by adjusting the flow through the primary drain with a gate valve, and any imperfection within the adjustment or sudden unexpected fluctuations in drainage would be handled by the emergency backup. The gate valve being only applicable to the lower drainpipe. So, could you simply split the overflow following the bulkhead, and use a gate valve located underwater to achieve the same? The emergency drain line would still bypass the gate valve, and the primary drain can still employ the strong siphon, right? In my current AIO, shortly after a heavy feeding, I noticed I was having problems with flow. As it turns out, the excess mysis had clogged up my filter sponge located directly behind my overflow’s teeth, resulting in constant erratic fluctuations in the water height within my return chamber. So, while there is the obvious compromise of only having one bulkhead worth of drainage, wouldn’t the primary location an issue could occur, that being the guard over the primary drain, remain unaffected?
As of now, based on my intuition, the only significant potential compromise I am having trouble proving/disproving is the noise component. Would having the backup plumbed directly into the main drain prevent it from forming the complete siphon that keeps it silent? If so, could this issue be solved using check valves to prevent backflow that would break the siphon’s seal?
The last thing I suppose is worth mentioning is the fact that this will be an absolute pain in the butt to adjust initially, since you’d have to reach behind/into the overflow box to access the gate valve underwater. That said, after the initial adjustment, unless you switch out return pumps, I would suspect you would have little to no reason to ever have to adjust it further.
So, with all this being said, could this modification prove to be an effective version of a herbie using only one bulkhead?
I’ve been tossing around the idea of getting a larger tank. I’m new to the hobby, I’ve currently got a 20G nano, and I’m working with a fairly limited budget as a college student, but still, I can’t pretend that having a larger tank doesn’t have its merits. More stocking options, more modularity due to the sump instead of the rear chamber, greater system stability due to greater volume... list goes on. So to some extent, I’m looking at finding a larger tank that I can set up minimally to start so that I stay within my budget but leave room for future expansion within the system.
This has led me to looking at premade tanks that, despite not being turnkey solutions like the expensive Waterbox and Red Sea options, have the basic drilling/overflow box installation that would be considered “reef ready”. Mainly- Seapora. The issue is, the seapora reef ready tank I’m looking at has only two holes, and the bottom is tempered, so drilling more is not an option. Since I want this tank to sit flush against the wall, running an exterior return isn’t an option, which leaves me with only one bulkhead to use for the overflow system. Under conventional wisdom, this would only leave a Durso overflow as a valid option, because it uses one bulkhead whereas the herbie and bean animal systems require two. That said, reading multiple sources online have suggested that both the herbie and the bean animal, due to their primary drain pipe employing a siphon far more significantly than a durso does, are substantially quieter, especially if you plan on running a high flow rate from tank to sump.
I certainly cannot afford a custom alternative as a means of getting a third hole to use a herbie, and given that this tank would be in a small apartment with sensitive neighbors, it would be important to me to achieve the most silent solution. So, it appeared I would be stuck with the compromises inherent in a durso system. However, after a lot of thought, I think I may have come up with a means of employing the advantages of a herbie system whilst working around the limitation of one bulkhead.
A traditional herbie works by adjusting the flow through the primary drain with a gate valve, and any imperfection within the adjustment or sudden unexpected fluctuations in drainage would be handled by the emergency backup. The gate valve being only applicable to the lower drainpipe. So, could you simply split the overflow following the bulkhead, and use a gate valve located underwater to achieve the same? The emergency drain line would still bypass the gate valve, and the primary drain can still employ the strong siphon, right? In my current AIO, shortly after a heavy feeding, I noticed I was having problems with flow. As it turns out, the excess mysis had clogged up my filter sponge located directly behind my overflow’s teeth, resulting in constant erratic fluctuations in the water height within my return chamber. So, while there is the obvious compromise of only having one bulkhead worth of drainage, wouldn’t the primary location an issue could occur, that being the guard over the primary drain, remain unaffected?
As of now, based on my intuition, the only significant potential compromise I am having trouble proving/disproving is the noise component. Would having the backup plumbed directly into the main drain prevent it from forming the complete siphon that keeps it silent? If so, could this issue be solved using check valves to prevent backflow that would break the siphon’s seal?
The last thing I suppose is worth mentioning is the fact that this will be an absolute pain in the butt to adjust initially, since you’d have to reach behind/into the overflow box to access the gate valve underwater. That said, after the initial adjustment, unless you switch out return pumps, I would suspect you would have little to no reason to ever have to adjust it further.
So, with all this being said, could this modification prove to be an effective version of a herbie using only one bulkhead?
