I was thinking why aren't powerhead/pumps used as overflows? It seems like you can take a powerhead or a pump to get the water to overflow over the top of the aquarium and down to the sump. The reason I ask is because recently I took a old HOB filter I had which had a bad pump and used a Maxi-Jet to get the water into the HOB and now the filter is working. I'm using this for a small frag tank and it's been working for about a month now. So the thought came to me why can't the same method be used instead of traditional overflow boxes and bulkheads. I'm just curious, don't think I will try it.
Using a powerhead or pump to create overflow
- Thread starter aiq25
- Start date
Vinny Kreyling
Premium Member
IF the main pump fails or the circuit trips & the powerhead keeps going you get a flood.
firemedix911
New member
This plus efficiency. Surface skimming is a key part of overflows IMHO.
sleepydoc
Team RC
+1
If you think about the flow, you never want more going out the overflow than you have coming back in, or more coming back in than is going out.
With a passive overflow system, these two are automatically matched. With a hang on back filter, they are automatically matched as well. If you have a pump discharging water, you have to figure out a way to perfectly match that flow with a return pump, which is virtually impossible.
For the passive systems, just look at the beananimal setup to see the safeguards we put in place to make sure the overflow always matches the return pump flow
If you think about the flow, you never want more going out the overflow than you have coming back in, or more coming back in than is going out.
With a passive overflow system, these two are automatically matched. With a hang on back filter, they are automatically matched as well. If you have a pump discharging water, you have to figure out a way to perfectly match that flow with a return pump, which is virtually impossible.
For the passive systems, just look at the beananimal setup to see the safeguards we put in place to make sure the overflow always matches the return pump flow
Yea I never thought about all of these. I'm just curious. Thanks for the info!
