Should I redo my plumbing?

[MastaMind82]

I have yet to add any live stock to my tank and I am wondering if I should redo my plumbing. My current overflow box only has 1 drain and that is starting to scare me, I can get a new one that has 2. I couldn't drill my back glass unfortunately so I'm stuck with overflow boxes. The first image is basically (not to scale) what I have now, the second image is what I was thinking of changing it to. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[WIReefer]

I run a 55 gallon with a hob single drain overflow as long as you keep it maintained you will be fine.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

I run a 55 gallon with a hob single drain overflow as long as you keep it maintained you will be fine.

Agreed,

I have same on 65 that has a wet dry and i use vacuum hose to connect the overflow to my wet dry. I would pull the gate off the drain line. No reason for it there.

 

[MastaMind82]

Agreed,

I have same on 65 that has a wet dry and i use vacuum hose to connect the overflow to my wet dry. I would pull the gate off the drain line. No reason for it there.

Sorry still learning here, what is a wet dry?

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Sorry still learning here, what is a wet dry?

Never be sorry. If anything just shows how old I am. Hardly anyone uses them any more.

So in the pic the blue hose is a vacuum hose. It is coming down from the bulk head in the overflow. It plugs into that pvc 90. Right under there is a plate with holes that makes the water sprinkle or shower down and pass thru blue bioballs which house bacteria to help break down waste. Once the the blue it falls into the bottom and goes to the right. You can’t see it, but hidden behind the divider is my pump and heater. That is part of the sump. The sump ends to the right where the orange sticker on the upper right is.

 

[MastaMind82]

@Mastiffsrule oh wow, yeah in all of my research I hadn't seen a setup like that. It does look pretty neat though. With the single drain from the overflow how do you recommend to quiet it down a bit? I had that sponge deal around the pipe in the overflow box but it seemed to create more resistance for the water to drain in, so I pulled it out of there.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

That’s the sticky part @WIReefer was talking about. The maintenance. The sponge, ugh. I am not sure which brand you have, I have a Marine Depot. Grab a few extra sponges to keep on hand to switch out so you don’t have to clean every day. Then save up and clean all at once, you can keep them in a small bucket of Rodi so they don’t dry out and become harder to clean.

There is not much to do about the noise. With the sponge it should not be too bad. If you are running a really strong pump you can slow it down which will help, depends on the size of your tank. 7-8 x‘s turn over would be plenty with good circulation inside the tank as well.

 

[WIReefer]

That’s the sticky part @WIReefer was talking about. The maintenance. The sponge, ugh. I am not sure which brand you have, I have a Marine Depot. Grab a few extra sponges to keep on hand to switch out so you don’t have to clean every day. Then save up and clean all at once, you can keep them in a small bucket of Rodi so they don’t dry out and become harder to clean.

There is not much to do about the noise. With the sponge it should not be too bad. If you are running a really strong pump you can slow it down which will help, depends on the size of your tank. 7-8 x‘s turn over would be plenty with good circulation inside the tank as well.

I removed the sponge and run it without it and just make sure algae is removed sponge was a pain!

 

[MastaMind82]

I removed the sponge and run it without it and just make sure algae is removed sponge was a pain!

Awesome, thank you for your input/help