Silent and Failsafe Overflow System

[MX175]

Dennis, You did a really nice job cutting and fitting the 3 PVC runs the way you did. Very clean indeed.

Do you have a pic of your overflow setup from the tank side of the wall? Curious to see the entire drain plumbing setup.

 

[d2mini]

Thanks! Hopefully it works!
The only pics i have of the overflow right now are in my build thread, bottom of this page.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2144250&page=3
Pics don't show it plumbed yet but all you'll see from this side are the bulkheads and the elbows.

Speaking of elbows, if anyone has tips on cutting the teeth on the one end of the elbows, let me know!

 

[TheFishMan65]

Speaking of which, does anyone have tips on cutting those grooves?

I have had good luck cutting PVC with a Dremel tool.

 

[BeanAnimal]

To make sure there is no confusion...

There were "teeth" in the elbows on the prototype. My elbows no longer have teeth. I don't feel (in retrospect) that they are needed and are far to dangerous to easily cut with the power tools that most folks have access to.

 

[jdcook72]

To make sure there is no confusion...

There were "teeth" in the elbows on the prototype. My elbows no longer have teeth. I don't feel (in retrospect) that they are needed and are far to dangerous to easily cut with the power tools that most folks have access to.

What is the clearance between the opening of the elbow and the surface of the overflow box now?

 

[BeanAnimal]

I can fit a finger under it... maybe a little less. That is a 1/2" to 3/4" will be sufficient to not restrict flow (in most cases) and still prevent BIG stiff from getting sucked in while still allowing small stuff (happless shrimp and small fish) to make it to the sump.

We can get technical and do some math to derive the smallest opening that will not create restriction, but it is not worht the hassle

 

[d2mini]

Thanks, Bean.
Right now my elbows are just barely touching.
Trimming a little bit off will definitely be easier/safer than trying to cut teeth.

 

[Da Maui life]

Bean Overflow Build

Bean Overflow Build

Up-date from my last post on BA Overflow
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2181164

So I started my B.A. Overflow after a lot of research and planning. Hope this will add some good ideas to the forum and justices to Bean’s design.

Cell cast acrylic. Acrylic Box O.D. 18.0” x 4.0” x 5.0” Holes drilled 1.88” for 1" SCH 80 BH Joining acrylic Weld-On, applicator needle 27 gauge.

Router edges as needed.

Mockup plumbing all the pipes from 1.5 street down will be 1"

1" Street Elbow is about 3/8 off the bottom

Acrylic Box I.D. 17 3/4” x 3.1/2” x 4 3/4"

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I don't even want to know how expensive acrylic is on Maui. Been there 3 times and I'm broke every time when I leave LOL!! Maui No Ka 'Oi

 

[Da Maui life]

Tell me milk is hovering around 5 bucks a gal and Reg gas is 4.87 Acrylic it’s a frickin boat load like every thing, but cell cast cuts and routers so well I'll pay it!

 

[Da Maui life]

I need some help understanding hole placement (height) on my tank, the dimension from top of box to centerline of BH is 2.5 the water line in my tank is about 1 ¼ from the top. So would 3 ¼ - 3 ½ from top of tank be the right placement? All the plumbing to the sump will be 1" pipe straight down and into the sump head height is about 3 feet pump is Eheim 1260 635 gph will this work with out causing any issues.

Mahalo

 

[jdcook72]

Position the box in the tank so the top the of the box is just below where you want the water level in the tank. Drill then holes in the tank to line up with the box in that position. With about 23" of overflow edge and 635 GPH flow, I would think there would be very little rise of the tank's water level above the level of the overflow box (thin skimming layer). If the flow through the tank began to exceed the capacity of the overflow box the the skimming layer depth would increase and so would the level in the tank. Keep this in mind when setting the tank level. If the tank this is going in has a trim/brace on the top, I would place the top of the overflow box just above the bottom of the trim. That would hide the waterline in the tank and give a little leeway from the top edge of the tank to prevent overflow.

 

[ataller]

BeanAnimal,

I am fairly confident the answer is no, but I before I cut anymore holes in my floor I figured I would ask. Currently I have a basement sump, with a master 2" drain that the durso's from my overflow feed into. The hole through my floor to the basement would not accomodate 3 seperate PVC lines (2 drain and 1 feed). Which is why I decided to use the single 2" pipe.

I was planning on modifying my setup to your silent setup. However, since all of my drains drain into one 2" pvc pipe, I am thinking that a true siphon will not form, since the siphon will end up pulling air from one of the other drains. Is this correct? If so I will just have to make the hole in my floor a little bit bigger. That way I can run separate lines.

Thanks,

Adam

 

[Da Maui life]

Position the box in the tank so the top the of the box is just below where you want the water level in the tank. Drill then holes in the tank to line up with the box in that position. With about 23" of overflow edge and 635 GPH flow, I would think there would be very little rise of the tank's water level above the level of the overflow box (thin skimming layer). If the flow through the tank began to exceed the capacity of the overflow box the the skimming layer depth would increase and so would the level in the tank. Keep this in mind when setting the tank level. If the tank this is going in has a trim/brace on the top, I would place the top of the overflow box just above the bottom of the trim. That would hide the waterline in the tank and give a little leeway from the top edge of the tank to prevent overflow.

Ok so what your saying and I'm thinking are the about the same for hole position.

"œPosition the box in the tank so the top the of the box is just below where you want the water level in the tank."

"œIf the tank this is going in has a trim/brace on the top, I would place the top of the overflow box just above the bottom of the trim. That would hide the waterline in the tank and give a little leeway from the top edge of the tank to"

Yes my acrylic tank has Euro style bracing all four sides, (as noted in my OP) can't put the "œoverflow box just above the bottom of the trim"œ, bracing will interfere and I don't think it would be smart to put the box just below the bottom of the brace that would only give a ¼" from the top of tank, not much leeway from the top edge of the tank to prevent overflow, but thanks for the advice.

 

[iheartJMS]

Hey guys, I have a question in regards to my beananimal setup. Sorry for the weird wording, I'm just copy/pasting from another thread:

One more question I do have which I'm also going to post in the beananimal thread (thanks for pointing me towards that ). I did decide to actually go with the 1" piping since I didn't realize how big the 1.5" stuff is until I saw it in person. Definitely seems overkill for my 40 breed especially since I don't plan to push anywhere near what the 1.5" piping can handle. I probably won't even be utilizing all of the 1" piping's potential. The 1" piping will still work flawlessly as designed and still be silent, correct?

And for the 90* street elbows that are inside the tank in the overflow (the 1" x 1.25" street elbows) I ended up buying one that was 1"x1.25" and two that were regular 1" slip elbows. The reason for that was that there was only one of the 1"x1.25" left in the box and I didn't feel like asking an employee to run to the back since the store was about to close. I plan on using the one I bought with the main full siphon pipe and the other two regular elbows with the others. This won't be an issue will it? I know I've seen other peoples' setups who use standard 1"x1" elbows with no problems.

Thanks for the help

 

[jdcook72]

Ok so what your saying and I'm thinking are the about the same for hole position.

"œPosition the box in the tank so the top the of the box is just below where you want the water level in the tank."

Yes my acrylic tank has Euro style bracing all four sides, (as noted in my OP) can't put the "œoverflow box just above the bottom of the trim"œ, bracing will interfere and I don't think it would be smart to put the box just below the bottom of the brace that would only give a ¼" from the top of tank, not much leeway from the top edge of the tank to prevent overflow, but thanks for the advice.

I didn't realize you had euro bracing. When I mentioned bracing, I was referring to the type of bracing that is common on glass tanks that form a border around the top lip of the tank. Those comments wouldn't apply to the bracing on your tank and I think you understand why. Still, the top of the overflow box sets the water level in the tank so position accordingly.

 

[Da Maui life]

I didn't realize you had euro bracing. When I mentioned bracing, I was referring to the type of bracing that is common on glass tanks that form a border around the top lip of the tank. Those comments wouldn't apply to the bracing on your tank and I think you understand why. Still, the top of the overflow box sets the water level in the tank so position accordingly.

Got it.
Mahalo!:beer:

 

[RicoJ]

Can I use Krylon Fusion to paint my acrylic or glass overflow?

 

[Da Maui life]

Fusion is a no prep paint geared more for plastic, bonds easily to most plastics, PVC, resin and more. It seems to bond very well to PVC not sure about glass.

I have used Rustoleum brand on the back of my QT tank and it works well but so would any other brand. As for acrylic I would get the colored acrylic, and not mess with trying to paint it.

 

[SoLiD]

You could also apply any color of vinyl to the outside of the glass.

http://www.maast.org/