HOB overflows

[Hermie]

My advice is that if you are considering buying an overflow or making a DIY one, then buy one. The only reason to make a DIY one is to save money, if you can afford it, buy a prebuilt one because they are designed to work in a reef tank, and by that, I mean, they look twenty times better and they are less distracting than big pvc parts.

 

[beaslbob]

...

On a side note, does pvc cement have any negative impact when exposed to seawater?

Not that I know of. Many many people use pvc with pvc cement and have no problems.

and also the securing is just the pipes resting on the top of the glass with pipes on either side. Will try to do another drawing the is easier to understand.

 

[beaslbob]

I see what you are going for. So essentially this is simply a pipe sticking into the water and secured somewhere else to prevent the trap elbow from dropping below desired water levels. Water level could essentially be fine tuned based on the pipe elevation if kept level. I can imagine putting another upside down elbow in the tank pointing up with slots cut in it for skimming, but would have to get creative with a Guard so I don’t suck in fish.

On a side note, does pvc cement have any negative impact when exposed to seawater?

about 4 posts down is some pvc ideas:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/this-guy-want-a-beaslbob-trap.36891/

Those use extra tubes to prime making it more complicated.

Another option is to "tee" at the bottom of the external water trap and run a pipe up to above the tank level. Leave that one open and you can add water in that pipe to prime or for that matter dose stuff as well.

my .02

 

[Aimulator64]

I have had a little change in heart for now. I do believe that I will eventually get a HOB overflow, just for the compact design and the ability to have a wider skimming area, and the ability to have a small volume of water inside the overflow which will allow me to dose before the sump and potentially add easy-access media bags that I can more easily monitor.

For now, the goal is to either replace my AC50 with a Seachem Tidal 75, or get a Seachem tidal 35 to go alongside the AC50 to add cheap surface skimming and additional basket space. I would love to be able to dedicate one filter to Purigen and Chemipure elite and the other to carbon and filter floss. Probably will put the purigen and Chemipure in the Tidal as its the one that will be skimming the oils off the surface.

 

[beaslbob]

I have had a little change in heart for now. I do believe that I will eventually get a HOB overflow, just for the compact design and the ability to have a wider skimming area, and the ability to have a small volume of water inside the overflow which will allow me to dose before the sump and potentially add easy-access media bags that I can more easily monitor.

For now, the goal is to either replace my AC50 with a Seachem Tidal 75, or get a Seachem tidal 35 to go alongside the AC50 to add cheap surface skimming and additional basket space. I would love to be able to dedicate one filter to Purigen and Chemipure elite and the other to carbon and filter floss. Probably will put the purigen and Chemipure in the Tidal as its the one that will be skimming the oils off the surface.

And that is a fine option as well. I just kind like building my own stuff. But that's not for everyone.

my .02

 

[Aimulator64]

And that is a fine option as well. I just kind like building my own stuff. But that's not for everyone.

my .02

I will probably do ALOT more diy stuff once I’m in a house with a basement and do a house-wide sump in the basement

 

[Richard Hercher]

As you can see the key is for the sump to run dry before the display floods.

Ah. That’s tricky. My current plan shifts between using another 75 gallon tank as a sump, and/or to use a 100 or more gallon Rubbermaid feed tank as a Refugium. I’ve got the space in the basement, and picture this system as eventually running a few different display tanks through the house (the one upstairs, but eventually replaced with a larger tank; a basement in-wall tank behind the bar, and maybe a nanoreef upstairs somewhere). The point is to make it a bit of a science center piece for my kid (the 7 year old who says she wants to be a marine biologist). For now, there’s no way for the sump to run dry with starting with any water in the current display tank)

 

[beaslbob]

That can be tricky.

But the sump does not have to be the entire 75 tank. You can partition in so that a small portion is the actual sump by using partition. Some even just run another container in the sump where the pump is. That smaller container is then the actual sump. Surrounded by the much larger 75g refugium area.

 

[chiefifd]

I know this thread is an old one. ;Blackeye KyOsIBa515 had placed his return nozzles too low in the water column and had an overflow when the return pipe/pipes reversed their flow. A simple small diameter hole drilled in the return lines near the tanks water-line would break the syphon and prevent this. You do need to clean the hole out every now and then. You can place the return line where ever in the tank you like. Any size drilled hole, 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch should work fine and break the syphon.