Will my Lifereef overflow box work?

[Bowin]

Question...I have recently found a good deal on a Lifereef overflow box and jumped all over it because I've read and been told how good they are. In my haste to purchase I didn't realize that Lifereef's website suggests this particular model for tanks with a length greater than 48". My tank is a 90gal Surfline that is 48" and I purchased a Lifereef Double Slimline overflow. Does anyone know if this box can and will work for me and could I do it with a pump not rated at 1200gph? I love the craftsmanship of this product and wish to use and keep it if I can.

 

[spscrazy]

don't guess ask the best person....Jeff at lifereef! he is a really good guy and will be happy to help you figure it out I bought my overflow and skimmer from him

 

[Reefing Madness]

Of course it will work on your tank, not a problem there.
You can use a smaller return pumpr for it, that just means that the overflow will always be waiting for the pumps return volume, and won't be going at its normal gph rated. But, yea it will all work for you.

 

[Bowin]

Thanks guys. I sent Jeff a message but thought I'd check with others to hear what they had to say. This thing is built like a tank and it doesn't take an expert to notice it's quality of craftsmanship.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Its just a normal overflow box. They should not rate them by tank dimensions, but only by the volume of water the run.

 

[mcarroll]

Aside from just being physically larger than necessary, it should be fine with one important modification.

With dual U-tubes, you will probably need more flow than you need in the tank just to keep them primed. If there is not enough flow through each U-tube, then over time small bubbles will collect in the top of each tube and ultimately cause the siphon to break. U can call this a maintenance item and repeatedly evacuate the air manually, or hope the pair of U-tubes act as effective backups for each other, but I would not recommend either.

The correct way (IMO) would be to run a single U-tube for anything up to about 500 gph (more is usually quite noisy) and only use dual U-tubes for 600-1200 gph. 500 gph should be adequate up to about 100+ gallons of display volume me, FWIW.

-Matt

 

[Be102]

Aside from just being physically larger than necessary, it should be fine with one important modification.

With dual U-tubes, you will probably need more flow than you need in the tank just to keep them primed. If there is not enough flow through each U-tube, then over time small bubbles will collect in the top of each tube and ultimately cause the siphon to break. U can call this a maintenance item and repeatedly evacuate the air manually, or hope the pair of U-tubes act as effective backups for each other, but I would not recommend either.

The correct way (IMO) would be to run a single U-tube for anything up to about 500 gph (more is usually quite noisy) and only use dual U-tubes for 600-1200 gph. 500 gph should be adequate up to about 100+ gallons of display volume me, FWIW.

-Matt

Is it detrimental to have a larger overflow? I guess I am asking thinking longterm.. currently in a similar position as op, with a tank thats 36', but incase I upgrade to a 48 in the future.

 

[mcarroll]

Most of the concerns (there are some) were noted....mainly having too-low a flow rate to clear bubbles from the U-tube. There's nothing wrong with running a larger overflow box per se.