Joined herbie or 2 pipes

[Reefrookie733]

Hello all,
Working on my herbie setup at the moment, the picture below sent to me by Lapin shows a herbie going into the emergency drain vs two seperate piping and then down to the sump. The joined piping would allow me to use the other hole in the overflow for the original 1" returns. What are you thoughts about two styles?

If i keep the 2 pipe herbie i will just bring the return up and over the back of the tank which is not a problem.
Wes

 

[Crabs McJones]

Hello all,
Working on my herbie setup at the moment, the picture below sent to me by Lapin shows a herbie going into the emergency drain vs two seperate piping and then down to the sump. The joined piping would allow me to use the other hole in the overflow for the original 1" returns. What are you thoughts about two styles?

If i keep the 2 pipe herbie i will just bring the return up and over the back of the tank which is not a problem.
Wes

I'm not a fan of the single setup, the reason for the two pipes is if one becomes clogged the emergency is there to pickup the slack. So if a clog were to happen after where both pipes come together, theres nothing to take the overflow. Also, the reason for a gate valve on the main drain is to create a siphon, if you introduce air back into the system (where the emergency and primary drain meet) it defeats the purpose of a siphon.
Personally I would run your return over the edge. That is what I did on my 75 gallon

 

[Reefrookie733]

I'm not a fan of the single setup, the reason for the two pipes is if one becomes clogged the emergency is there to pickup the slack. So if a clog were to happen after where both pipes come together, theres nothing to take the overflow. Also, the reason for a gate valve on the main drain is to create a siphon, if you introduce air back into the system (where the emergency and primary drain meet) it defeats the purpose of a siphon.
Personally I would run your return over the edge. That is what I did on my 75 gallon

Thank you Mr. McJones

 

[Fish man]

Hey all. You must have a dedicated standpipe into your sump for the emergency overflow in order for a Herbie to work. The reason is that you can never get a perfectly static balance in your overflow. With a true Herbie you adjust your gate valve on the drain line to get a full siphon but no mater how close you get it it's never going to be perfectly level. It may take several minutes, even hours or days before it's noticeable but the level in your overflow is going to rise or fall. This is why it's nearly impossible to get a dry emergency overflow with a Herbie. Obviously if it falls your overflow will eventually drain down, start sucking air and lose siphon. That's why you adjust the valve so the water level in the overflow is rising ever so slightly until it trickles into the emergency overflow standpipe and down into your sump. That's the only way you are assured it's not lowering.

With the method shown here there is no way for the trickle to actually compensate for the constant slow rise in your overflow. This simply gives the water a way to bypass the gate/ball valve. The trickle is simply returning back through the same line and not bleeding off separately into your sump. Splitting the siphon is no different than having no emergency line at all. Eventually, even though it may take several minutes, even hours or days the second stand pipe will fill up and over fill your display tank to the point of a flood. Ask yourself this. If this method worked why wouldn't everybody do it this way? Hope this helps.