Will this overflow work?

[thelub]

That looks like a disaster in about 2.5 minutes.

Look at this one http://youtu.be/65yVr7DiDls

[Tetrameck]

I think a better idea is to get a strong circulation pump, put it on a timer, aim it along the bottom and have it stir up the tank a few times a day. Maybe even have one on each end of the tank and put them on alternating "aggitation" schedules. Most the gunk will get pushed into the water column and sucked in your canister intake.

[GraphicGr8s]

Originally Posted by thelub

That looks like a disaster in about 2.5 minutes.

Look at this one http://youtu.be/65yVr7DiDls

Why would it be a disaster? He's got a plastic tub he's using as a tank. Easy to drill per one of his posts and he wants to try to suck some of the detritus off the bottom. Will it do that efficiently? No it won't. But it shouldn't cause a disaster any more than your link will. Remember his is a straight overflow. There is no siphon involved. It reaches the bottom of the pipe and water flows out. The drawback to his idea is efficiency. Rather the lack of it. It never runs a full pipe of water so flow is slow.

[Kado]

I've actually tries that style overflow from uarujoey on my indoor aquaponics system. Works really good, nice and quiet.



But I switch to this, much more simple and I can run a bit of mechanical filtration.

Originally Posted by GraphicGr8s

Why would it be a disaster? He's got a plastic tub he's using as a tank. Easy to drill per one of his posts and he wants to try to suck some of the detritus off the bottom. Will it do that efficiently? No it won't. But it shouldn't cause a disaster any more than your link will. Remember his is a straight overflow. There is no siphon involved. It reaches the bottom of the pipe and water flows out. The drawback to his idea is efficiency. Rather the lack of it. It never runs a full pipe of water so flow is slow.

Thanks for all the help Graphic! Still debating on what type of overflow I want to use. I did notice that after trying out the 2 styles of overflows on my indoor system, the one from Uarujoey did seem to flow just a bit better. But the style that I'm currently using still handles the flow well and I can see some mulm being sucked from the bottom of the tank.

[Hoppy]

Originally Posted by GraphicGr8s

.....The drawback to his idea is efficiency. Rather the lack of it. It never runs a full pipe of water so flow is slow.

If the return pump provides enough flow to raise the water level to the top of the over-the-lip leg of the tee, won't it then run with a nearly full or full pipe of water? It seems to me that the level of the water in the tee, or the flow rate through the tee, depends entirely on the return flow rate.

[AaronT]

You want something like this.
http://www.aquariumlife.net/projects...erflow/120.asp

[GraphicGr8s]

Originally Posted by Hoppy

If the return pump provides enough flow to raise the water level to the top of the over-the-lip leg of the tee, won't it then run with a nearly full or full pipe of water? It seems to me that the level of the water in the tee, or the flow rate through the tee, depends entirely on the return flow rate.

Yep. Your correct. In fact so long as that pipe is open to the atmosphere he could run the pipe totally submerged and not worry about overflowing the "tank" or siphoning if power goes out. I've just found that even submerged it doesn't always flow 100% 100% of the time. It takes patience to get it balanced correctly and consistently.

Now someone will come along and say they've gotten it to work and it was easy peasy. And it really is. It's the "consistently" part that makes it a bit harder. But it is fully doable

[GraphicGr8s]

Originally Posted by AaronT

You want something like this.
http://www.aquariumlife.net/projects...erflow/120.asp

From the looks of it that's a siphon. The OP's design was simple an overflow and would never get into siphoning anything unless it clogged.

[AaronT]

Originally Posted by GraphicGr8s

From the looks of it that's a siphon. The OP's design was simple an overflow and would never get into siphoning anything unless it clogged.

Not soley, it's a constant overflow siphon. The 'T' that goes up is exposed to air so yes the inlet is siphoning, but then it falls over the 'U' as an overflow internally. Several people in my club use them and they work great and are a great way to reduce noise and CO2 loss.

Look at the second and third pictures. The red portion is not protruding into the tank water so that part is open. You can also just put a cap with a hole at that spot, but using the elbow allows you to hang it on the tank nicely.

[GraphicGr8s]

It is still basically a siphon. It is made so that it will stop when water level reaches the tee.
The OP said he could drill the tub since it was plastic. Why go through all the extra hassle and worry about losing the siphon if you don't have to? And he doesn't have to.

I mean look at the design of the straight overflow. 2 elbows and pipe. Pretty simple and no worries about losing siphon.

[Kado]

Well I got everything hooked up and it's working great. Made a few design changes though. Instead of drilling a hole near the top and running a pvc pipe to the bottom, I just drilled a hole near the bottom and connected the pipe from there.

Thanks for all the help!