Sleek overflow options vs Canister with Lily Pipes

[ahud]

After seeing MikeyMikeMike's reef on youtube, I am really tempted to try a canister setup with lily pipes on my next reef. I have used lily pipes on my freshwater planted aquascapes for the past few years and love the look. Are there any overflow boxes that can compete with the clean look he accomplished?


I see the Eshopps Eclipse, and the Modular Marine. Both MIGHT work if installed on the side glass? The modular marine comes in white which I think may be less distracting than black.

Any thoughts?

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Prepare for the "you can't keep a reef tank with a canister filter" crowd lol

 

[afrokobe]

Im running a cannister filter (sicce whale) and I was planning to run lily pipes. I ran into a few problems:
1. the provided inlet had priming function. If I switched it with a lily pipe, I wasn't sure if I could still prime the cannister properly, without getting air bubbles.
2. I didn't want to clean the lily pipes regularly. I ran freshwater and they are a pain to clean. I can't imagine cleaning for saltwater. (they sell metal lily pipes, but I assume you wouldn't want to use those for a reef tank...)

At then end of the day I decided to just use the provided connections. If you do decide to go with lily pipes, get at least two pairs and get some quick disconnect fittings. This way you wont want to kill yourself every time you go to clean your pipes.

The hardcore ada freshwater guys get like 3 or 4 sets of lily pipes they swap out every week.

Make sure you set your expectations right, since that guy is a youtuber. If you want your tank to look like this, its going to take some maintenance

 

[ahud]

Prepare for the "you can't keep a reef tank with a canister filter" crowd lol

If they can convince me that his tank is not incredibly impressive...I will listen haha.

I understand the caveat that his setup comes a few downsides (cleaning lilies, cleaning prefilter every 3-4 days, limited equipment option, etc).

 

[Idech]

I’m new at this but I bought a Tunze Comline filter, where you can attach the Tunze 3155 ATO, which is pretty sleek. I also bought a Tunze skimmer. Tunze sells it as the Reefpack 500.

I haven’t installed it yet so I can’t say how efficient it is but I can’t wait to try it.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

I started with a 29 gallon fish only tank with a Eheim canister filter. Today I have a sump with a Reef Octopus skimmer and Modular Marine overflow. The Eheim is back on my FW tank and is totally silent. Canister filters are a real pain to clean. I like how much better the skimmer and filter socks work as well as being easier to clean. There have been times I have needed to turn off the skimmer to manage phosphate and nitrate levels. IMO, a white box is going to stand out so much more than a black one. The advantage to having a sump is more water also. If you go the Modular Marine route, check the standard size for your tank. I went with a too small one to start with.

 

[ahud]

Im running a cannister filter (sicce whale) and I was planning to run lily pipes. I ran into a few problems:
1. the provided inlet had priming function. If I switched it with a lily pipe, I wasn't sure if I could still prime the cannister properly, without getting air bubbles.
2. I didn't want to clean the lily pipes regularly. I ran freshwater and they are a pain to clean. I can't imagine cleaning for saltwater. (they sell metal lily pipes, but I assume you wouldn't want to use those for a reef tank...)

At then end of the day I decided to just use the provided connections. If you do decide to go with lily pipes, get at least two pairs and get some quick disconnect fittings. This way you wont want to kill yourself every time you go to clean your pipes.

The hardcore ada freshwater guys get like 3 or 4 sets of lily pipes they swap out every week.

Make sure you set your expectations right, since that guy is a youtuber. If you want your tank to look like this, its going to take some maintenance

For the initial prime, I always just sucked on one end of the tube...after that initial prime, you can leave water in the tubing with the double taps.

Can't use the metal ones, I checked. I love my SS lily pipes, but they are made with 304 stainless and it will rust eventually.

Agree, multiply lily pipes is mandatory. I have several sets from my planted tanks.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

I don't think you can run with stainless on a reef aquarium for pipes. I would research that.

 

[ahud]

I started with a 29 gallon fish only tank with a Eheim canister filter. Today I have a sump with a Reef Octopus skimmer and Modular Marine overflow. The Eheim is back on my FW tank and is totally silent. Canister filters are a real pain to clean. I like how much better the skimmer and filter socks work as well as being easier to clean. There have been times I have needed to turn off the skimmer to manage phosphate and nitrate levels. IMO, a white box is going to stand out so much more than a black one. The advantage to having a sump is more water also. If you go the Modular Marine route, check the standard size for your tank. I went with a too small one to start with.

I would not be breaking open the canister as often. Two options, install a prefilter before the canister with double taps so you can pop it off to clean. Or go with the Oase canister that has a built in prefilter.

The prefilter in my opinion is what makes the whole thing more doable.

 

[ahud]

And just to rephrase a little. What I am really looking for is if you have come across a tank, method, overflow, etc that is really clean and sleek while allowing you to have a sump.

I'm hoping to have my cake and eat it to (clean setup + sump).

And if you watch his videos, he covers his whole system. Its well thought out, albeit more risk and effort than a sump IMO. He let the aesthetics dictate his decision.

 

[TaylorPilot]

If you really want to hide the tubes, drill them from the bottom and have them come up behind the rock work. Although I know from my time keeping fresh and saltwater, I would not be doing the maintenance required to keep a canister filter on a saltwater tank clean. People can't even find the time to pops a few filter socks in (thus the $400 roller mat craze). If you could commit to doing the type of maintenance required to keep the canister going long term, I think you would fall into the sub-1% category of people keeping reef tanks.

 

[ahud]

I decided I am going to try it. For better or worse..I guess if it becomes too much I could convert to a sump.

Long term, I hope to balance it out to where I can clean the pre-filter once a week when I do my weekly water change. Don't think I will need to mess with the canister very often, but will have to wait and see.

 

[bruno.haid]

Totally works, I had a Hydor which was great but ultimately replaced it with a sump because it’s in my bedroom and didn’t like the almost imperceptible hum, and switching it off for a couple of hours turns into an anaerobic nightmare quickly.

Fully agree re Oase, the prefilter is pure maintenance gold, otherwise you need to take the whole thing apart more than weekly.

 

[bruno.haid]

Also as for the original question: there’s a pure glass overflow system by a Japanese company at http://mame-design.jp/aqua/goods/aqua-goods-ofw.shtml

Mine got lost in the mail so still waiting for the replacement, but happy to let you know how it works in about 2 weeks if that’s an alternative you’d consider.

Seems to work fine for normal setups, but in my case it’s a heavily automated 9 gallon tank that I’d like to keep filled to the brim with 2.5 gallon sump, so I hope it restarts the siphon swiftly and reliably enough.

 

[afrokobe]

Also as for the original question: there’s a pure glass overflow system by a Japanese company at http://mame-design.jp/aqua/goods/aqua-goods-ofw.shtml

Mine got lost in the mail so still waiting for the replacement, but happy to let you know how it works in about 2 weeks if that’s an alternative you’d consider.

Seems to work fine for normal setups, but in my case it’s a heavily automated 9 gallon tank that I’d like to keep filled to the brim with 2.5 gallon sump, so I hope it restarts the siphon swiftly and reliably enough.

Let me know your thoughts on the mame. I've heard mixed reviews and I was very interested before just going hob and canister filter.

 

[MrMreef]

Clear PVC bean animal?

 

[ahud]

Also as for the original question: there’s a pure glass overflow system by a Japanese company at http://mame-design.jp/aqua/goods/aqua-goods-ofw.shtml

Mine got lost in the mail so still waiting for the replacement, but happy to let you know how it works in about 2 weeks if that’s an alternative you’d consider.

Seems to work fine for normal setups, but in my case it’s a heavily automated 9 gallon tank that I’d like to keep filled to the brim with 2.5 gallon sump, so I hope it restarts the siphon swiftly and reliably enough.

Please do update me. Interested to see how cleaning it is.

I have a few projects that have to get finished before I can start my reef. So I am soaking up info and flip flopping on decisions lol.

 

[ahud]

How are the FIJi cube overflow boxes accepted? I dont see as much about them. They have a 4” overflow box! Seems the smallest on the market with two drains.

Modular Marine has a 4” box, but it only has one drain. I contacted them about making me a two drain nano box, but they said they can’t do that at this time due to the order volume they are experiencing.

 

[ahud]

Forgot to add:
Passing on the eshopps overflows. I read multiple accounts of people having issues with water noise because of the stepped design.

 

[JoshH]

How are the FIJi cube overflow boxes accepted? I dont see as much about them. They have a 4” overflow box! Seems the smallest on the market with two drains.

Modular Marine has a 4” box, but it only has one drain. I contacted them about making me a two drain nano box, but they said they can’t do that at this time due to the order volume they are experiencing.

Fiji Cube makes good stuff from everything I have heard. Definately a sleek and clean design. I have no personal experience with them though you could also do as Taylor suggested and drill from the bottom of the tank and put the pipes wherever you wanted. Drill some rocks and hide them inside that. A TON of work and your rockwork would have to touch the surface of the water but totally doable