freshwater to 75 gallon saltwater reef with fish evolution.

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I see a problem with your design, the part inside the aquarium need to be lower than the t. diy overflows - Oscarfishlover.com
diyoverflow.jpg
 
Any bend in your flow will reduce the possible flow rate to some extent. That's why a lot o DIY's use hoses instead of pipes. Getting everything adjusted properly will take a lot of trial and error. But I guess that's the fun of a DIY project? ;)
 
or you could go all crazy an do something like this
overflow_1024.jpg


i saw this one on google too, i think there is a video or at least a picture of it built and on the tank.

this is what i keep running into. there are no specs on these builds.

you know how when you go to the grocery store and look at the nutritional data... pick up 4 boxes of cereal read it and the related ingredients. then figure out what would be best for you after seeing them all side by side. thats what i would like for these diy overflows.

oh well, i will learn. every one pays for an education in some way shape or form.
 
coffeetwitch said:

I also read that his syphon break is only an inch below the waterline, your t is your syphon break, if is lower than the u bend on the inside of the aquarium then it won't break the syphon until it has emptied your overflow. You need to maintain the water in the pipe so that when the water starts to go into the pipe it already has the syphon. You can either raise the syphon break or lower the inside u to maintain the syphon when your pump shuts off. Hth
 
I also read that his syphon break is only an inch below the waterline, your t is your syphon break, if is lower than the u bend on the inside of the aquarium then it won't break the syphon until it has emptied your overflow. You need to maintain the water in the pipe so that when the water starts to go into the pipe it already has the syphon. You can either raise the syphon break or lower the inside u to maintain the syphon when your pump shuts off. Hth


you sir are correct!!! thank you for the heads up.

i just tested it in the sink. every time i got it primed it lost it when i stopped the water...

ill have to make the appropriate changes.
 
it would work very well. thats what would happen.

i changed it around to match something similar to what. tdwright said. only i did put the in tank bottom u lower than the t on the outside. drilled and taped for the air valve on the top. sadly i didnt get it quit vertical. stuck it under the tub faucet and let it run. it may have been the pressure of the water coming out but it started draining right out of the box. i didnt have to prime the back tube and suck the air out. i tested a quick power out and it started back up. even with the check valve out and no suction.

how much did it flow? idk.

but with the tub faucet half open it kept up , with the faucet full blast not so much. granted there was some spillage on the in pipe because of size difference. i know some of the joints haven't fully cured before i started pushing water through so hopefully i didn't mess that up too bad. still pretty cool to see it work as well as it did.

i was thinking just putting a sponge on top of the suction tube instead of an elbow or egg create or something like that. maybe a 2" or 3" to 1" reducer depending on what i have room for, that should help out a lot as far as linear overflow goes.
 
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Gutter gaurd the plastic kind works well.... a sponge would quickly fill up and block your flow I would think. Maybe with a coarse enough sponge it might work.
 
yeah thats what i was thinking. and easy to clean if need be...

guys im so lonst on this plumbing now.

some of these questions i have asked before, sorry for the repitition.

so i make a smaller overflow for the fuge. 1/2pvc "flows 200" gph.

two overflows. one pump, so i would need a pump capable of ???


another option is a pump that flows??? and t on the return or supply line to the fuge?

or i keep this overflow and redo my sump to its more of a linear progression to the pump
 
current plan is this:

i will run the existing 1" overflow for the skimmer section.

i build an overflow just for the refugium section. i will duplicate the one i have just made, except out of 3/4 pvc.

i will run a mag drive 9.5 for the return. from the return's trunk line i will "t" left and right with a valve on each to help balance, more or less, between what the overflows feed or dont. with any luck these will remain fully closed.
 
coffeetwitch said:
yeah thats what i was thinking. and easy to clean if need be...

guys im so lonst on this plumbing now.

some of these questions i have asked before, sorry for the repitition.

so i make a smaller overflow for the fuge. 1/2pvc "flows 200" gph.

two overflows. one pump, so i would need a pump capable of ???

another option is a pump that flows??? and t on the return or supply line to the fuge?

or i keep this overflow and redo my sump to its more of a linear progression to the pump

You don't "need a pump capable of" anything since your overflow will only drain as much as your pump returns into the tank. You just can't get a too big pump since all the water your overflow can't handle to return into the sump will stay in the tank. Hope that helps a little. IMO 2 1.25" lines should handle your 750 or 800 gph just fine.
 
Ausfish said:
You don't "need a pump capable of" anything since your overflow will only drain as much as your pump returns into the tank. You just can't get a too big pump since all the water your overflow can't handle to return into the sump will stay in the tank. Hope that helps a little. IMO 2 1.25" lines should handle your 750 or 800 gph just fine.

+1

And coffee, don't drive yourself crazy with this, I know it gets really confusing after a while and you wanna do it right, but a lot of it is try-and-error ;)
 
I was snooping around in the DIY area. Was chatting with a guy about his twin pipe set up. I have moments where things make sense, since? Whatever. Anyway, I'm still lost on flow rates but I'm not shy on building anymore. I'm digging up the idea from idk how many pages ago, and build an overflow out of 3/4 just for the refugium. And the 1" that I have for the skimmer. And run the mag 9.5. If it's wrong I have filtration that works until I fix it. If I have to build again oh well, I like making stuff. If I have to change pumps I will. Trial and error right? At this point I'm curious about this stuff and would like to learn facts behind some of this.
 
coffeetwitch said:
I was snooping around in the DIY area. Was chatting with a guy about his twin pipe set up. I have moments where things make sense, since? Whatever. Anyway, I'm still lost on flow rates but I'm not shy on building anymore. I'm digging up the idea from idk how many pages ago, and build an overflow out of 3/4 just for the refugium. And the 1" that I have for the skimmer. And run the mag 9.5. If it's wrong I have filtration that works until I fix it. If I have to build again oh well, I like making stuff. If I have to change pumps I will. Trial and error right? At this point I'm curious about this stuff and would like to learn facts behind some of this.

Sounds great. You'll figure it out eventually. Hey, if Blondie here can do it, everybody can ;)
 
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