Side Drilled Overflow Plumbing Question?

[Greguls]

Hey, I am getting ready to drill and plumb my side overflow box. It is an internal overflow box and my current plan is to drill a 1 inch hole and put a strainer on it and flow down into the sump below the aquarium. Where in the overflow box should the hole be drilled? Should I use more than one 1" hole for some sort of redundancy? If I should use two holes what should be the setup inside the box as far as hole placement and additional plumbing? Any help is appreciated!

 

[jayhawk]

Placement depends on what system you want to use. It also depends on if the return is also within the overflow box. With a Durso standpipe system you can use one hole. An inch is good with a standard schedule 40 bulkhead. If you use schedule 80, the hole will need to be over and inch. The hole placement in the overflow needs to accommodate the durso shape. I would build your durso then make the hole. If you go with the herbie setup you will need two holes. One for the herbie and one for emergency overflow. Regardless of the option you choose, I would make the standpipes and mock them up. I wouldn't recommend not using some form of standpipe. If you use a bulkhead and strainer, the flushing noise will drive you crazy...unless you are hard of hearing. Hope this helps.

 

[Greguls]

So after much research across the interwebs, I have decided to go with 2 holes inside my overflow box, one with a 90 deg elbow facing down and the other with a 90 deg elbow facing up for backup draining in case the other hole plugs or stops for whatever reason. the upward facing elbow will always be above the normal waterline in the overflow, due to the downward facing elbow taking care of all flow. I was just wondering if this sounds like something that would work?

 

[EricB]

Have you considered a BeanAnimal type overflow?