U shaped or siphon tube overflow better?

[Yao]

I've been looking at overflow boxes to figure out which I should get. I've seen ones with the acrylic upside down U for water flow, or ones where water runs over in a tube.
Can anyone tell me if one works better than the other, or if they're pretty much the same. Thanks!

 

[TCTFish]

The one thing I don't like about U-tubes is that they are a pain to get a siphon started or restarted if the siphon fails. The 'run over' tubes are more hazardous to little fish. Just need some type of netting to protect them.

 

[ccCapt]

I've used the U shaped tube overflow since I set up my tank. I never had a problem with it and it's never lost it's siphon. Some ppl have problems with bubbles accumulating at the top of the U, but if your return pump is strong enough you should not have that problem.
After cleaning the U tube, you must put a piece of airline tubing through it to the top and suck out the air to start the siphon, or drill out the top, put in a check valve with a piece of airline and start the siphon that way. Might be a little hassle there, but as I said, it's worked fine for me for over 15 yrs.

 

[bapski]

I've used the U shaped tube overflow since I set up my tank. I never had a problem with it and it's never lost it's siphon. Some ppl have problems with bubbles accumulating at the top of the U, but if your return pump is strong enough you should not have that problem.
After cleaning the U tube, you must put a piece of airline tubing through it to the top and suck out the air to start the siphon, or drill out the top, put in a check valve with a piece of airline and start the siphon that way. Might be a little hassle there, but as I said, it's worked fine for me for over 15 yrs.

am having the exact problem with my U shaped overflow. would you be kind enough to elaborate further on your modified overflow tube? pics will be highly appreciated. thanks