Is It Possible

[heath]

I would like to add a sump to my coral tank (46 gal bow front) without drilling the tank. I know that I need a return pump but, how do I get the water flow from the tank to the sump. I'm not sure if gravity will do it. any suggestions !!!
I don't want to tear the tank apart to have holes drilled..

 

[averhoog]

You could use a pail and bring the water down lol not sure it could've done you would need a syhon but if it stop it power outage it wouldn't start back up

 

[reeferkeeper420]

You can buy HOB oveflows, never used em so i dont know how good they are.

 

[reefgeek]

HOB overflows eventually fail (provided they are not checked and cleaned regularly) when they do fail they can make quite the mess, burn up any pumps and heaters in the sump etc. That being said there are a number of reefers that use them or have used them in the past. Personally I would either drill your tank or purchase a new one pre-drilled as there is a lot less worry of a flood.

 

[Sewerat]

I ran an eshopps overflow on my 90 for almost a year, never cleaned it, never looked at it, never an issue. Close call once but that was only because I tried to quiet it down a little the wrong way but using a sponge. There are better ways to quiet them down. Two good systems out there one fair system and a lot of crap ones. If you set them up right there will be no issues

Does this mean another plumbing job???

 

[yveterinarian]

Heath, when I had my 90 gallon corner tank It was not drilled. I made overflow pipes out of Sch40 white pvc pipe according to the directions on this page: http://www.angelfire.com/ab/rayjay/DIYoverflow.html They worked very well and are self-starting once you get the air out of them. I made three for the tank so that if one failed the other two would continue working properly. They were designed by my friend Ray who was an engineer by trade. They were easy to make and relatively inexpensive. I would test them every now and then to make sure no air had collected and slowed down their movement. If you have any questions about them, I would be happy to answer them for you.

 

[dale]

i used 2 hob overflow boxes for a few years.. 2 for reliability,, but i still checked them every day to make sure they werent losing siphon..
these are what i used and look the best that ive seen ,, they are pricy though,, $150??

http://www.cpraquatic.com/products/overflows.html

 

[EricTMah]

I've always used HOB overflow boxes.

Like mentioned above. Maintenance is key when keeping reliable!

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[barebottomcouple]

i believe with all the equipment we use on our reefs that there is an inherent risk with everything (ask scubasteve and his 125)...but imo if used properly and well maintained hob overflows should work no problem. I am pretty sure J_T on here might be able to help build one...he's pretty ingenious also maybe run 2 units so if one fails.....

 

[heath]

thanks Yvette, that's the idea that I was thinking of. Its a coral tank and the stuff is coming along nicely and I really didn't want to rip it all apart and start over..

 

[monizb]

Hob over flow with aqua lifter pump but be careful because if pump fails u will have a big mess to clean happen to buddy twice

 

[EricTMah]

Aqua lifters are garbage for this. Use a MaxiJet 1200 and use the venturi to prime the overflow box.

Just from my experience

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[Sewerat]

Never ran one with Aqua lifter, again one more price of equipment to fail. Gravity is constant, never fluctuates, and hey ever present. I oversized my u tubes on my eshopps and played with a few sizes, even two tubes at once. I found the biggest tube to run the best. I also noticed that the tube would fill with air slowly if I slowed the water down but if water flow increased the bubble would dissipate by themselves. I have two, I think useable ones one is in use on my frag tank, I'm not looking to sell but can likely let you borrow one until you get your own if you want to test it out

 

[Reef Hero]

I have used HOB overflows for over 5 years. Please do yourself a favour and buy one that works. I tried a couple from brand name manufacturers and was quite disappointed with the results even in the short term. Eventually I bought the LifeReef brand and they are the best..... Seriously though they really are! The key to any hob overflow is the suction pipe and how deep it is submerged on each side. It was proven a looooong time ago that a 1" u tube is what seems to keep a pull with enough velocity and volume so that micro bubbles do not build up over time. Because it creates a good velocity and is properly kept submerged it is also extremely (and honestly go look it up, Google it, I'm serious) effective at start ups even after long term power loss. Mine has never failed once and you will find that pretty much no one else who bought one from Lifereef has had it fail either. The problem with the brand name ones is that they have greatly changed the design of the suction tube and in some cases how it is submerged also. They don't need an an aqualifier pump to continue to operate after the initial suction is started..... But yes I do use an aqualifter to start initial suction.... Maintenance is important too and even more so if you buy one not designed like the lifereef mentioned above. Usually it is vital to keep the box side that is in your tank cleaned out so that enough water can actually fall down to be suctioned up and over into the box side outside your tank where it falls down into sump or whatever.... Common mistake is to think that when micro bubbles are building in the suction tube (ultimately causing a large bubble or a large space near the top where no water exist in the tube) that you need to crank back on the return pump or that too much water in general is being forced into the hob overflow. This is pretty much never going to be true. In order to keep proper suction, the water level in the box which is submerged in your tank should be kept so that the water level is only a couple inches below that of your tanks water level. This ensures that the suction will have enough head so as to not be taking in micro bubbles from the surface of the water. I have always run 2 hob overflows, one on each side of tank, because yes one time I had a snail plug one.... The water rose quite high in the tank but never overflowed. Alarm was triggered because of low water level in sump and high in tank.... Yes, an alarm like this would be extra but provides so much more too than this, but that is a whole other discussion....bottom line I want to get across to anyone going hob overflow (prefilter) is don't stray from the original design..... Check out the lifereef. That's original design


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[heath]

thank you, will check it out..

 

[Sewerat]

I agree on the lifereef system. I just never personally used one. But I do plan on one on his skimmers one day.

 

[scubasteve]

I would like to add a sump to my coral tank (46 gal bow front) without drilling the tank. I know that I need a return pump but, how do I get the water flow from the tank to the sump. I'm not sure if gravity will do it. any suggestions !!!
I don't want to tear the tank apart to have holes drilled..

My system uses an overflow heather lol no holes drilled and never had a failure during a power outage either ill send a pic tomorrow they run around $100 tho