HOB overflow for sump?

[Faccia di Pesce]

I am trying to as a sump to my 40 gallon breeder. I was going to get a hob overflow but heard that they are not good and can flood your house. I was thinking about drilling but am nervous about that.

so is a HOB really that problematic? I’m driving my self crazy over this lol.
Thanks

 

[rob safron]

I have a dual one on a 125. For 4 years never an issue. The key is make sure if the drain siphon breaks, your tank can handle the return volume of water. If you pump fails your sump is large enough to handle the overflow till it breaks siphon. I test once a year. My dual siphons have built up air at time but never broke.

 

[Faccia di Pesce]

I have a dual one on a 125. For 4 years never an issue. The key is make sure if the drain siphon breaks, your tank can handle the return volume of water. If you pump fails your sump is large enough to handle the overflow till it breaks siphon. I test once a year. My dual siphons have built up air at time but never broke.

thanks. Still not clear about what you are saying but trying to do more research. Appreciate it

 

[Faccia di Pesce]

Thoughts on this?

 

[rob safron]

thanks. Still not clear about what you are saying but trying to do more research. Appreciate it

Yes took me a while to understand also. The issue with HOB overflow’s is losing the siphon. They use a U-Tube to draw water from the tank to the sump drain. With a drilled tank you don’t have to worry about water not flowing down to the sump. With HOB the siphon through the U-Tube can break, usually due to air buildup. If that siphon breaks the flow from the tank to sump stops but the return pump continues to push water up to the tank and eventually a flood of not setup correctly. Some will add a pump to the U-Tube to continuously suck any air buildup out of the U Tube.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Drill baby drill.

Drilled my first one three months ago and it made me anxious but I had no issues. I would never trust a HOB personally. I think at this point the designs have been error proofed as much as possible but drilling was easy enough and for a stock 40 breeder if you do break the tank its fairly cheap to replace.

 

[Faccia di Pesce]

Drill baby drill.

Drilled my first one three months ago and it made me anxious but I had no issues. I would never trust a HOB personally. I think at this point the designs have been error proofed as much as possible but drilling was easy enough and for a stock 40 breeder if you do break the tank its fairly cheap to replace.

I am petrified to drill lol. But I think I will try it. I can’t drill my 40gB since it’s full. Even if I drain it I risk shattering glass into sand. So I am going to buy a new 40gB for 50 bucks at pet o. 1 a gallon sale and if it breaks I am only out 50. But if it works I will then use my current I drilled as sump. I heard that a bigger sump is not a bad thing.

 

[Faccia di Pesce]

OK so I am going to drill. But I need to drill the right size hole. i have a 40 Gallon Breeder so I assume that I need at least a 600 GPH pump. But Since I am going with the Current USA Loop system I plan on getting this pump. So what Overflow Box would be best? How do determine which external overflow box to use for this which I assume will let me know how big to drill the bulkheads?

Any advice? Thanks for your patience with this frustrated newbie

 

[Faccia di Pesce]

Ok so now I am not going to drill LOL! I am done! I am going with overflow PF300 ESHOPPS and calling it a day. I don't want to remove everything from my tank (rock, sand, livestock). If this goes well I plan on upgrading in a few years to one of the RedSea reef ready tanks so I will just live with the HOB and use one of the smart level sensors to shut off pump in case of overflow. Thanks all.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

You want your overflow box rated high enough so the return pump can't outrun it. BRS lays out the hole sizes when you look at bulkheads on their page and most boxes will come with the bit for the overflow. Go to hobby lobby and get yourself some cheap glass panes to practice. Let the weight of the drill grind the hole.

 

[Faccia di Pesce]

You want your overflow box rated high enough so the return pump can't outrun it. BRS lays out the hole sizes when you look at bulkheads on their page and most boxes will come with the bit for the overflow. Go to hobby lobby and get yourself some cheap glass panes to practice. Let the weight of the drill grind the hole.

not drilling. To much drama. Going with PF300 from Eshopps. using a Autosmart to turn off pump if overflow. will upgrade in a year or so to a RedSea or another reef ready tank.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Missed that! Best of luck.

 

[jd371]

I have two tanks with the eshopps overflow, a 75g with the pf800 and a 20g in my workshop with the nano overflow. The 75g is over 5 years now with no issues at all and the 20g is going 2 years with no issues as well. You just have to make sure the flow through the U-tube is quick enough so no bubbles form in it over time and that the return section in the sump holds enough water that it runs dry before flooding the tank if the siphon ever stopped (never happened in both my tanks). The only drawback with these types is that they are noisy out of the box but can be rectified with a diy stockman standpipe. My 75g is right next to where I watch TV and you can barely hear it, the only sound I hear is the very faint sound of the water going down the drain hose.
I'm sure the people who had them overflow was due to the fact that they weren't set up properly.

 

[eggplantparrot]

I am petrified to drill lol. But I think I will try it. I can’t drill my 40gB since it’s full. Even if I drain it I risk shattering glass into sand. So I am going to buy a new 40gB for 50 bucks at pet o. 1 a gallon sale and if it breaks I am only out 50. But if it works I will then use my current I drilled as sump. I heard that a bigger sump is not a bad thing.

its not bad at all. just don't lean on the drill and let it "fall" its way through the glass.

worst part is just keeping the drill straight, but just have another person keep an eye on it 90 degrees from you and you will be fine.

 

[rob safron]

Key is to make sure you have good flow to keep air from trapping in the tube. Again I have the dual PF1200 but never had a siphon break. I would consider the dual Eshoops so you have the second drain as emergency plus mine setup this way is dead quiet. My main drain is full siphon.