Silent and Failsafe Overflow System

[BrklynArch]

I can only answer #3. You have to glue any fitting that is above the water during normal operation.
What I did with my set up was to use slip bulkheads on the inside of the overflow and glue the elbows and their related pieces together. I then only need to slide the "glued" elbows from the slip bulkhead if I need to.

ok so it sounds like everything gets glued except for the 90 street elbows inside the tank....
still not sure of what the pieces are that connect the tee's to the bulkhead on the outside or the piece that connects to the top of the tee's between the threaded cap....would love to pick up the rest of the stuff and get moving but im at a stand at the moment

 

[bad santa]

If your talking about the piece from the bulkhead to the elbow, then that's just a short piece of pipe that your using 1" or 1 1/2".

 

[bad santa]

For the top piece from the tee to the cap you can use a piece of your PVC pipe and put the cap on that. I did it this way and the cap fits snug on the PVC pipe. The way the pic shows is with a coupling that is female slip to male threaded, you can find it at HD. HTH

 

[BrklynArch]

thanks santa
just gotta grab some unions and get building!

 

[bhammer]

Been using this system for almost 2 years now. Overall, I've been happy. The only real issue I have is that sometimes, I will end up with a massive sucking sound. I have found that this is usually caused by stuff getting stuck between the bottom of the overflow and the standpipe. I have thought about increasing the distance by a 1/4 inch or so. My thinking would tell me that if the inlet starts to pick up trash, it would increase the amount of water in my overflow but it doesn't. I think what happens is that the second running standpipe starts to get more of a full siphon and never really recovers when the water level gets low and sucks air.

Anyone else run into this issue?

 

[JTL]

I getting ready to order my glass, probably today, and I have a couple of questions. The weir will be internal coast to coast, about 48". How far down from the top of the tank should I set this. On my existing tank I think the water rises about 1/2" above the weir, I suppose due to friction or tension. If I set overflow at 1" that appears to give me about 1/2" water level from the top of the tank. Sound reasonable?

Secondly, how far down from the top should I drill the holes for the plumbing coming through the backside of the tank. If I keep them 1 3/4" from the top (1" bulkheads) is that too high considering that the emergency drain is turned up and the others are turned down. I plan on using 1" plumbing. John

 

[JTL]

Post padding is against the rules here...

Come on now, the guy gave a positive comment and furthermore wasn't your response just as much a pad.

 

[BeanAnimal]

No JTL, my response was not "as much of a pad". Clearly, I don't need to "pad" my post count for any reason. If you click on the posters name and then "find other posts by xxx" you will see that his motive was not to be supportive or engage in conversation, he simply clicked on the posts in the top of each forum and posted one sentance nonsense to PAD his post count.

I get an email each time somebody posts to this thread and I do my best to come here and answer the questions when I can. If you see me skip a question, it is because I don't have time to give a thoughtful answer and hope that one of the other subscribers to this thread can step in and offer assistance. In general, people that blatantly ignore rules and/or common snese irk me. They irk me more when they waste MY time. The guy ignored the rules and common sense and wasted my time, so I pointed out the rules.

I have zero free time today and you may be wondering why I have taken the time to respond in length to your post... Frankly, because I am somewhat astonished that you would actually take the time to call me out in my own thread over someting so trivial. I would have rather spent the time answering your questions so that you can get on with your build, but now I am out of time.

 

[JTL]

No JTL, my response was not "as much of a pad". Clearly, I don't need to "pad" my post count for any reason. If you click on the posters name and then "find other posts by xxx" you will see that his motive was not to be supportive or engage in conversation, he simply clicked on the posts in the top of each forum and posted one sentance nonsense to PAD his post count.

I get an email each time somebody posts to this thread and I do my best to come here and answer the questions when I can. If you see me skip a question, it is because I don't have time to give a thoughtful answer and hope that one of the other subscribers to this thread can step in and offer assistance. In general, people that blatantly ignore rules and/or common snese irk me. They irk me more when they waste MY time. The guy ignored the rules and common sense and wasted my time, so I pointed out the rules.

I have zero free time today and you may be wondering why I have taken the time to respond in length to your post... Frankly, because I am somewhat astonished that you would actually take the time to call me out in my own thread over someting so trivial. I would have rather spent the time answering your questions so that you can get on with your build, but now I am out of time.

In fact I do wonder, but I will do fine without you and your thread. Your arrogance is at times very irritating. By the way, your time is no more valuable than anyone elses.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Sadly, it appears that you are looking for a fight and I am not going to be able to help you with that. Personal attacks are uncalled for and have no place here.

For the record, my time is valuable to me and has nothing to do with anybody elses time. I choose to spend some of my time here at RC helping other members of the reefing community who value that help. I do so because I enjoy helping, not because I expect anything in return.

Your general questions were answered on page (1) of the thread, post #10 and every 10 or 15 pages thereafter, most recently on page 137 (of this split) if I remember correctly.

In general, the top of the weir should be set at the lower edge of the trim. This gives plenty of room for water flow and allows the water line to stay hidden even when the return pump is off.

In general, the edge of the bulkhead should be at least 1.5x hole diameters away from the edge of the glass. Again, if you look at page (1) post #10 you will see the basic dimensions.

 

[rayn]

In fact I do wonder, but I will do fine without you and your thread. Your arrogance is at times very irritating. By the way, your time is no more valuable than anyone elses.

That was a waste. I usually stay out of bickering, but look at how many people and tanks this thread has helped. Even still bean comes into help out any who ask.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Been using this system for almost 2 years now. Overall, I've been happy. The only real issue I have is that sometimes, I will end up with a massive sucking sound. I have found that this is usually caused by stuff getting stuck between the bottom of the overflow and the standpipe. I have thought about increasing the distance by a 1/4 inch or so. My thinking would tell me that if the inlet starts to pick up trash, it would increase the amount of water in my overflow but it doesn't. I think what happens is that the second running standpipe starts to get more of a full siphon and never really recovers when the water level gets low and sucks air.

Anyone else run into this issue?

The reduced intake area (due to restriction) can cause two things:

1. As you noticed, it can reduce the flow in the siphon, causing the flow in the open channel to increase. This will correct itself if you remove the blockage, as the siphon by nature of its physics will draw as much water as it can.
2. The other side effect of a blockage is a reduction in the intake area and the chance that a vortex will form, sucking air into the siphon. This may or may not clear itself once the blockage is cleared, as vertexes are harder to break once they are formed.

In any case, I think I would rather deal with the blockage and sucking sound at the intake as opossed to a blockage in siphon regulator valve.

 

[BeanAnimal]

For the top piece from the tee to the cap you can use a piece of your PVC pipe and put the cap on that. I did it this way and the cap fits snug on the PVC pipe. The way the pic shows is with a coupling that is female slip to male threaded, you can find it at HD. HTH

The only problem with a slip cap is making it 100% air-tight. I suppose teflon paste or silicone grease could be used if the fit is tight enough.

Remember, most people that have problems do so because of air leaks in the siphon standpipe or having the pipe submerged too far into the sump.

 

[bad santa]

The only problem with a slip cap is making it 100% air-tight. I suppose teflon paste or silicone grease could be used if the fit is tight enough.

Remember, most people that have problems do so because of air leaks in the siphon standpipe or having the pipe submerged too far into the sump.

Your correct, I used Teflon paste on the cap to make it airtight.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Quick dumb question.....i found most of the parts for the standpipes over at HD
im just a bit confused on a few pieces.....
1. What do you use to connect the sanitary T to the back of the bulkhead.(mine is threaded)...not much room so im trying to keep it as slim as possible

If hte BH is threaded you are going to need a threaded to slip adaptor and a short section of pipe.

The adaptor is Male NPT x Female Slip

2. whats the piece that goes above the sanitary T between the threaded cap, cant seem to find it and the guy at HD is also stumped. i thought it was just a threaded adapter to accept the threaded cap but from what pictures ive seen the cap fits all the way down and mine would have a good 1" of threading left.

I used a threaded (female) cap and the adaptor shown above. There are many possible combinations so

3. What parts do people glue? is the whole thing glued or are some parts left unglued incase it needs to be taken apart. like the 90 street elbows in the overflow that connect directly to the bulkhead

Thanks in advance guys / beananimal!

As others mentioned, all parts external to the tank/overflow get solvent cemented. You can leave the internal parts just friction fitted. In some cases the intake elbow in the siphon can leak a tiny bit of air if it is above water. In most cases it is underwater so not an issue.

 

[BrklynArch]

Thanks Bean... & Santa
I feel confident enough to get started now and finally order some glass in the next few days for the overflow box and my sump.
I came across that Teflon paste yesterday but wasn't sure if it worked better than the tape? Also another bone head question, I've been playing with various PVC parts the last couple of days and I find that it's pretty hard to separate peices even while dry fitted, so if I apply Teflon tape/paste at the top of the standpipe to accept the threaded cap how would I remove it for maintenance or a clog up or something? I had to apply quite a bit of torque to get the cap off the threaded receiving piece, so I would think once everything is cemented up twisting on that sucker while the standpipe is connected to the bulkhead might crack the glass or damage the standpipe someplace else down the run

 

[JTL]

That was a waste. I usually stay out of bickering, but look at how many people and tanks this thread has helped. Even still bean comes into help out any who ask.

Then stay out of it.

 

[BeanAnimal]

In most cases, PTFE paste works better than tape (for PVC fittings). The fittings are tight due to friction, as the female socket is actually slightly tapered. They will go together very easily when cement is added. The teflon tape or paste make the connection easy due their high level of lubricity. You will not have any problems

 

[BeanAnimal]

Everyone:
It would be best (and greatly please me) if we just ignored the current situation (no matter what is said) and stayed on topic. If the moderators need to intervene, things are going to get ugly and the thread closed.

 

[BrklynArch]

Thanks Bean & Santa I appreciate the help
I feel confident to start putting this puppy together this weekend & finally get some glass ordered for the overflow and sump.

Just a few more quick one that just came to mind....
1-I came across that Teflon paste yesterday and wasn't sure if it was a better option than the tape. Do you guys find it makes a better bond?

2- has anyone used the "magic lube" offered by glass holes to secure the gaskets to the BH? And would it make for a good solution to grease up my ballvalves with? I find them a little tough to turn. Ive read silicone grease would work but thought the magic lube was handy why not use that?


Oh man I'm sorry for the double post I'm on the iPad and thought I lost my last post befor hitting send so I re wrote it....my bad

3- I have been playing around with various PVC parts the past few days and I find that when I dryfit them it takes quite a bit or force to pull them apart, especially the threaded caps at the top of the standpipes. Now if I use Teflon tape/paste to secure the caps how would I remove them for maintenance in the future? I needed to apply quite a bit of torque to get the threaded cap off dry fit, so I figured once everything is cemented in place wouldnt such a force cause a problem at the bulkhead or possibly cause a crack somewhere down the standpipe line?