Silent and Failsafe Overflow System

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Also to prevent chip out on the backside of the hole, remove the holesaw just before breaking through and finish the hole from the opposite side. The pilot hole will line it up perfectly and you will have a clean cut.

If at all possible, use a router and a template made with your holesaw and some wood. A bit of double sided tape and a flush trim bit will get you a perfect hole.

You obviously cant use a router if its too close to the edge. A holesaw will work fine, just not as clean. You dont want to overheat the tank either. Cut for a bit and let it cool, or use water as Bean mentioned.
 
Thaks for the guidance and I'll proceed with caution. I'm looking forward to installing the overflow box design that Bean described on theis thread.
 
Bean
Welcome back,,,
I am going to use your overflow design but with a DIY glass-hole style overflow. I have not drilled anything yet but I have 1.5 inch bulkheads on order. my overflow will go 3/4 the length of the tank. I am using a 900 GPH return pump and my current overflows goes directly into my DIY Skimmer. The skimmer can handle this flow but, Do you think that I can continue to do directly into my skimmer with your silent overflow design? The other two standpipe will go into the sump as for the emergency and only one would go into the skimmer. The output of the overflows is under water inside my skimmer. it is a venturi skimmer just to give you an idea what I am using. I was also wondering where did you get your true union ball valve at?
 
Good to be back :)

Good questions. I am not sure I can give informed answers to them but I will try.

The water level in the skimmer is affected by the water level in the sump and therefore the rate of flow in the siphon feed may be partially affected by the level in the sump and skimmer (due to the changes in overall head).

The secondary (open channel) standpipe will give the overflow some bandwidth and help compensate for the hopefully small variances in flow, allowing the siphon and skimmer to stay somewhat constant.

The elimination of bubbles at the skimmer input will also surely help the stability of the skimmer and its foam head.

I don't see a reason why this would not work, but that does not mean it will. I could be missing something here! I don't have the means to setup a model in my own system or I would give it a try before you take the plunge.

If there is any doubt, then an option would be to setup the siphon as indicated, but set the secondary overflow up at a fixed level above the siphon intake. This will ensure that the siphon ALWAYS has the exact same amount of head on it. Then the only variable would be the skimmer water level and sump level, both of which can be eliminated with the use of a Hartford loop on the skimmers outflow.
 
Oopps.. I forgot to mention the valves..

In the real world setup I used regular Ball valves and Unions below the valves, as nobody had true unions in stock. Lowes now carries B&K (I think) true union valves. Savko and Aquatic eco also carry them. I have not had to take the standpipes apart for any reason in 2 years. I used the unions primarily to facilitate removal of the sump if ever needed. I also used them so that I could redirect the standpipe flow to a skimmer of other tank if needed... I have not needed :)

I am a big proponent of feeding the skimmer with overflow water. Anthony Calfo tuned me on to this and makes some very good points as to why it is a better way to feed a skimmer. I compromised and feed my skimmer from the overflow box with an MiniJet 606.
 
Thanks for the quick answers, I do use a hartford loop on my skimmer so my water level inside is also the same height. My skimmer is too big to put in my sump, so it sits out side the sump and the output of the skimmer then goes into the sump through the hartford loop. The skimmer is 44 inch body by 10 wide, then the total height is somewhere around 54 inches. I currently have a 1 in input to the skimmer, but I am going to drill this out and put in a 1.5 inch input to ensure it can handle the overflows, this allows me to have more flow, if I decide later to add a bigger pump. Anthony also put me on the feeding from the overflows so I really like to keep this. Thanks for the info, you have helped me on other projects and I always appreciate bouncing ideas off of you.
 
Thanks for the kind words. I always enjoy seeing your projects and am still in awe of you plane. The only thing it is missing is some girlie nose art!
 
Bean

I'll work on the girl art for you for the plane, thank you for for the complement, As you can tell I like to build things. Anyways back to the standpipes.

Another question that I cant get figured in my head.

Does it matter if the siphon standpipe is on one side of the overflow compared to the other two standpipes, as far as flow goes and the siphon getting the majority of the flow? Let me explain.

My tank is 60 inches long, the overflow box I am building is 42 in. I have a 19 in center brace that I cannot put the bulkheads under do to that fact that I cannot get my hands in the overflow to screw the bulkhead nuts on. So I am thinking of putting the Emergency standpipe on the far left of the overflow (left side of the tanks center brace) and then the open channel standpipe on the right side of the center brace, then the Siphon on the far right of the overflow. I am thinking of this for the plumbing cross over that would have to happen on the outside of the tank, if I put the siphon in the middle like you have, due to the fact that I am going directly to my skimmer with the siphon standpipe. And the other two will go directly into the sump


My overflow box is only 3 inches deep so instead of using street elbows I am going to use acrylic tubing or PVC pipe that is cut in half to create a half moon "bulkhead" that will act like the elbows but are formed around the bulkhead that are wedged between the front and back walls of the overflow to do the same job as your elbows but with out the deeper overflow box.

Hope this makes some sort of sense to you. The attachment will have a crude drawing of what I am thinking of, sorry I don't have access to CAD for you.
 

Attachments

It should not make a difference, the flow through the open channel standpipe is adjusted by the siphon the same as a dam's spillways must handle the excess flow that is not being directed through the turbines in the dam's core.

It would not hurt to move the open channel bulkhead up to create a minimum water level before it kicks in.
 
<a
It would not hurt to move the open channel bulkhead up to create a minimum water level before it kicks in. [/B]
Click to expand...


Cool, I was thinking about doing just that, Have a great relaxing Sunday.
 
I just purchased a ReeFlo snapper and am wrapping my head around how to get it plumbed in. I am replacing one of the Velocity T4 pumps with it but am trying not to end up with a PVC jungle.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11989919#post11989919 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
I just purchased a ReeFlo snapper and am wrapping my head around how to get it plumbed in. I am replacing one of the Velocity T4 pumps with it but am trying not to end up with a PVC jungle.
Click to expand...

no doubt here you'll get it done right
 
das, its not a matter of knowing how to do it, it is a matter of NEATLY fitting all of the 1.5" plumbing into the crapmed space and still keeping a fairly friction free system. The pump as $200 and sadly I will have close to that in fittings!
 
BeAn, thought I'd ask a question about the necessity of using 1.5 inch pipe.

Obviously 1.5 inch pipe has the capacity to handle flow rates that are well beyond what most people would consider sending to the sump for a 90 gallon tank. and three 1.5 inch pipes has a capacity that goes way beyond wretched excess. (not that that is a bad thing!)

So I'm wondering -- are you sending the closed loop flow over the overflow as well, or are you just using the overflow for flow to the sump? If you're sending all of the tank's flow through the overflows, I can see why so much capacity is needed. OTOH if you're just using 3x-5x flow rates for sump filtration, then I can't see that three 1.5 inch pipes is absolutely necessary. I was thinking that it would be possible to downsize some of the pipes, that would make the PVC jungle less of a problem.
 
NO the closed loop flow is not going over the falls, the closed loop intake is drilled below the overflow.

The pipes could be downsized and still handle the flow... BUT the smaller the pipe diamter, the less open channel flow it can handle before air noise becomes a problem.

The overflow pipe size is not creating my PVC jungle problems, it is the return plumbing, refugium, waterchange sump, closed loop, 6' skimmer and other equipment that is driving me nuts. I like a clean tidy look and with this much equipment it is hard to keep it that way!

I will post photos when I get it all worked out
 
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