DIY external overflow?

[Hermie]

Slick design! My DIY was shoddy at best - something I built when I was learning how to plumb in this hobby. To this day I'm not sure how it was working. ;Playful My saying it was sketchy was giving it a lot more credit than it deserved, but it did work for maybe 6 months until I could afford the Eshopps.

The siphon on the eshopps - granted I was using the smallest model w/ only one U tube, microbubbles would eventually develop at the peak of the U and cause the break. It would take maybe 2-3mos before it would happen.

Yeah I'm worried about microbubbles in how I have it set now... I can't see into the tube with it being Opaque, so I am adding another overflow with a replacement tube from eshopps (1-1/4")... when I was doing all the math... it's really not that much more expensive to just buy the pre-built overflows but I'm penny pinching atm.

 

[WVNed]

Sep 07

May 09

This was up around 2 years without problems.

 

[Reef-junky]

It really doesn’t matter how many years a system runs without problems it only takes one time to have a flood all over the floor and odds are it will happen when your not there.

 

[WVNed]

Well I have only had that happen once. The front of a 55 gallon tank came loose.
I was there
The Pacu and Oscars went into buckets.

Stuff happens. It doesn't keep me from doing what I want.

 

[Mandelstam]

Nothing is without risk. Everything is just risk management and having plans for what to do when **** happens. Just because we feel in control doesn't mean that we are. Murphy is.

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

I would never use a hob without some kind of float switch to turn off the return. Lesson learned the hard way!

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

I tried the make the MAME with PVC - it didn't work well. I'm not saying that it can't, I just didn't succeed.

 

[Dancingmad]

It really doesn’t matter how many years a system runs without problems it only takes one time to have a flood all over the floor and odds are it will happen when your not there.

Truth! I haven't had that problem because I do a daily spot check of my systems doing a HOB overflow at one of their feeding times. It literally takes a glance to check if there are bubbles in your U-tube or wherever your siphon occurs (in the commercial product, maybe not in DIY).

A quick, basic equipment check on things that are easy (or most disastrous to fail) almost takes zero effort. HOB OF siphon good? Check. Skimmer not doing anything funky? Check. etc. I failed my routine during a busy week and missed the line going to my reactor was drip, drip, drippin' outside my sump for a couple days. It was unpleasant.

 

[Hermie]

I would never use a hob without some kind of float switch to turn off the return. Lesson learned the hard way!

I do want to install a float switch to shut my return off when the return chamber is low, but if the levels between the sump and DT are "correct", a tank can't overflow, which would be worse IMO than a pump burning itself out. Do you mean a float switch in the HOB (like the link you posted before) ? I don't fully understand the point there

 

[jd371]

Tested when I first set it up by breaking the siphon and my return runs dry before it’s even close to flooding. The only thing is the ATO will continue to pump water into the sump if the level is low. So I installed a float switch to shut off power to the ATO also the return pump so it doesn’t burn itself out, and I get an audible alarm.

 

[Hermie]

Tested when I first set it up by breaking the siphon and my return runs dry before it’s even close to flooding. The only thing is the ATO will continue to pump water into the sump if the level is low. So I installed a float switch to shut off power to the ATO also the return pump so it doesn’t burn itself out, and I get an audible alarm.

ahh yeah ATO, great point. Adding ATO is on my to-do list, will keep this in mind when I do.

 

[JohnnyTabasco]

I do want to install a float switch to shut my return off when the return chamber is low, but if the levels between the sump and DT are "correct", a tank can't overflow, which would be worse IMO than a pump burning itself out. Do you mean a float switch in the HOB (like the link you posted before) ? I don't fully understand the point there

I use the tunze thing with 3 float switches. So I have 1 in the sump, so the return pump can't run dry - then one in the HBO and one in the tank... As long as the float switches are maintained, I can't see any thing going wrong (knock on wood)

And maybe your tank wan't overflow, but the chamber in the HBO can't hold more than a liter of water. So that can easily overflow - even with the levels between your sump and DT being "correct"