HOB overflow

[diabeetus]

i want to set up a refugium but my tank is not drilled so i will be needing a HOB overflow and all the U tubes and accessories.

if anyone has any info on complete overflow set ups, which ones work better than others, what to avoid, or if you have one for sale let me know!! i appreciate everything

thanks,

Corey

[+mcallahan]

my best advice is DON'T. There are plenty of stories of people who have had them and they've worked flawlessly AND I've talked to many people who set them up right, and they overflowed several times. 1 tank overflow is 1 too many for me.

Save up some $$ and get a drilled tank with an overflow. There are plenty of good tank deals around OR you could get a tank and have prof or Shane @ Fishy Business drill it for you.

(Note: Bruce @ Aquatek gave me the above advice and I'm SOOO happy I took it)

[diabeetus]

what about a HOB Fuge?

[diabeetus]

my best advice is DON'T. There are plenty of stories of people who have had them and they've worked flawlessly AND I've talked to many people who set them up right, and they overflowed several times. 1 tank overflow is 1 too many for me.

Save up some $ and get a drilled tank with an overflow. There are plenty of good tank deals around OR you could get a tank and have prof or Shane @ Fishy Business drill it for you.

(Note: Bruce @ Aquatek gave me the above advice and I'm SOOO happy I took it)

lol its too late for that its an established tank running on hob filter and skimmer

[DaJMasta]

what about a HOB Fuge?

An easy enough mod with a HOB filter and thanks to it's design there's really no chance of draining your tank to the floor. It seems like both the in tank and external prebuilt ones are rather expensive, though the Aquaclear filter mod is pretty cheap.

[nemirn]

lol its too late for that its an established tank running on hob filter and skimmer

I have a tank with an HOB overflow.

It has never overflowed BUT that still doesn't stop me from me checking on it first thing in the morning just to make sure.

It's not a good feeling to have. Reefing shouldn't be stressful. (That's what kids are for.)

One time there was a tiny piece of debris caught in my skimmer that caused it to pump out tiny air bubbles.

I came home from work to find that my U-tube overflow had lost 90% of its siphon because so much air had collected in it.

It was easy to remedy, but if I had stayed out for happy hour, I would have come home to a soaked carpet and homicidal wife.

I am setting up a new tank w/ drilled overflow and will transfer all the contents to the new tank so I can just "set it and forget it."

[nemirn]

By the way, I've tried both u-tube and weir-style overflows.

Both work fine, but the u-tube is much easier to clean. Plus, you can see how much air is in the tube at a glance, where it is not so obvious in a weir-style.

[absolut_racer]

Pm sent.

[+KeeperOfTheZoo]

Late coming in on this between vacation and recovering from vacation.

Just want to say that with a properly set up overflow you can guarantee 100% that you will never have a flood.

It's simply a matter of correctly setting up the height of your overflow drain, the size of your return chamber in your sump and the overall capacity of your sump. Much harder to explain than set up!

First, divide your sump into chambers. Have your return chamber with your return pump be small enough that it can't flood your tank if your siphon gets broken and the pump pushes all the water up into your tank. My return chamber holds about 1 1/2 gallons. My DT can take that much extra water without overflowing.

On the other end, set the intake of your overflow high enough that if the pump cuts out and all the water drains down to your sump, the sump can handle the amount of water. There are calculators online that can help you figure out what volume of water will drain from x amount of surface area. My 125g drains about 10g of water when I cut the return pump and the water level drains below the level of the overflow intake.

I have a 20g sump, holds the overflow no problem.

So, if I loose siphon or my return pump there is no way I'll have a flood.

Hope that makes sense!

[pbnj]

Going on two years with a CPR overflow box that uses an AquaLifter and Ultra float switch and never had a single episode of tank overflow. If the siphon were to break, which it did before I installed the AquaLifter (not since), the float switch in the tank shuts-off the return pump. Both the Aqualifter and the float switch would have to fail at the same time in order to have an overflow.

....but if you have the means to drill the tank, why not.

[Crab Rangoon]

Going on two years with a CPR overflow box that uses an AquaLifter and Ultra float switch and never had a single episode of tank overflow. If the siphon were to break, which it did before I installed the AquaLifter (not since)...

Yeah, I cannot suggest this enough. It's certainly above & beyond the whole "out of box" purchase of an overflow box itself, but is a hell of a safe guard. I don't think they function so well without these, as they will do the job, just not as good as they potentially can. If you were to resort to using an actual overflow box to get into a sump & fuge at ground level, this is all I would condone.

Alternatively, purchasing a larger model of used AquaClear HOB filter to turn into a fuge is great. It may not be pretty, but it's certainly much stealthier than any of the HOB overflow options.. You simply modify the pump to have lesser pull, and gut the basket contents of the filter, and you're pretty much all set to drop in some algae. My favorite part of using an AC filter is that the pump is on the intake side, and that the return is a steady stream simply pouring, not pumping, back into the tank. This will keep you from chopping up & demolishing pods that spill in, not to mention any stray algae that makes it s way back into the tank - which saves you from picking a bunch of small green pieces out of the tank OR a pump.

[+KeeperOfTheZoo]

I don't think HOB overflows are any more obtrusive than the built in style of overflows.

If I had my choice I'd go with a predrilled tank just to streamline things, but really a HOB is not the kiss of death some make it out to be. And if you ever decide to do something other than saltwater the tank doesn't have random holes.

I may be the exeption but I like both salt and fresh water tanks. I have 4 freshwater tanks to my one saltwater. Have a drilled 55g and an undrilled 55g that Im trying to find the time to get running. Will be salt and a planted fresh tank.

+1 on the aqualifter.

[+mcallahan]

Yeah, I cannot suggest this enough. It's certainly above & beyond the whole "out of box" purchase of an overflow box itself, but is a hell of a safe guard. I don't think they function so well without these, as they will do the job, just not as good as they potentially can. If you were to resort to using an actual overflow box to get into a sump & fuge at ground level, this is all I would condone.

This would be the only way I would setup an HOB overflow if I had NO choice but to do a HOB overflow. I still say they are bad news as my friend did the same aqualifter/small sump/professional setup and he still had overflows - 3 in the span of 9 months. He switched to an internal overflow (drilled tank) and he's had NO issues since.

There is something to be said for a setup that takes modifications to get it work mostly right. To me, it's like buying a used car knowing that you have to knock it on the hood, pump the gas and turn the key just right to get it to start or add oil to the pan every week because the car burns so much oil. These types of things are called band-aids and avoiding the real issue - they don't work right!

I personally prefer going with setups that have long track records of working w/out modification to get them to work - i.e. internal overflows.

Alternatively, purchasing a larger model of used AquaClear HOB filter to turn into a fuge is great. It may not be pretty, but it's certainly much stealthier than any of the HOB overflow options.. You simply modify the pump to have lesser pull, and gut the basket contents of the filter, and you're pretty much all set to drop in some algae. My favorite part of using an AC filter is that the pump is on the intake side, and that the return is a steady stream simply pouring, not pumping, back into the tank. This will keep you from chopping up & demolishing pods that spill in, not to mention any stray algae that makes it s way back into the tank - which saves you from picking a bunch of small green pieces out of the tank OR a pump.

This is fantastic advice. I went with the CPR HOB fuge and it worked great I almost want to buy another one so I can have a source of constant pods dumping straight into my tank w/out hoping for them to get past my return pump. Modifying an aquaclear filter would work great too as a fuge and be a lot less money than a CPR HOB fuge.

[+KeeperOfTheZoo]

Then there are those of us who see the challenge of tinkering, modification, taking things apart, making them better and never accepting out of the box as part of the joy of any hobby or endeavor.

But then, I'd rather build things myself or repurpose/modify something old any day.

[diabeetus]

Late coming in on this between vacation and recovering from vacation.

Just want to say that with a properly set up overflow you can guarantee 100% that you will never have a flood.

It's simply a matter of correctly setting up the height of your overflow drain, the size of your return chamber in your sump and the overall capacity of your sump. Much harder to explain than set up!

First, divide your sump into chambers. Have your return chamber with your return pump be small enough that it can't flood your tank if your siphon gets broken and the pump pushes all the water up into your tank. My return chamber holds about 1 1/2 gallons. My DT can take that much extra water without overflowing.

On the other end, set the intake of your overflow high enough that if the pump cuts out and all the water drains down to your sump, the sump can handle the amount of water. There are calculators online that can help you figure out what volume of water will drain from x amount of surface area. My 125g drains about 10g of water when I cut the return pump and the water level drains below the level of the overflow intake.

I have a 20g sump, holds the overflow no problem.

So, if I loose siphon or my return pump there is no way I'll have a flood.

Hope that makes sense!

wow, this is great stuff!! any chance you know a calculation website? im sure i can find one but if you know one off hand, that would be so helpful!!

[diabeetus]

i wish i knew who made my tank so i can find out if its drill-able /:

[+o0zarkawater]

For those interested in trying a HOB refugium made from an aquaclear HOB filter, you may want to check your local PetsMart. I just got back from the one out in Round Rock by Ikea, and they had the 70gal Aquaclear on clearance for $13 down from the original $52 price. They were all out of them though. I don't know if this means it is on clearance at every petsmart, so your mileage may vary! Worth $13 just to give it a shot if you can find one.