Insane's Shallow Nano Build (Need overflow advice, stuck)

Thanks alot! Hopefully this one is better than the 65.

Polk monitor 70 fronts, cs 1 center channel, onkyo rc430 Hdmi switching receiver, an old 10 inch powered sub, 46 inch Samsung lcd

 

Your fish will be jammin'

 

So I have been banging my head against the wall trying to come up with an overflow for this tank that will make me happy. I have been prototyping with a 10 gallon sump and a square bucket that I drilled for bulkheads to act as the display tank. I just can't come up with something I"m happy with. My original idea was just 2 gravity drains, 1 inch bulkheads with screens, no overflow box, street ells drilled for vent tubes. So I tried this, and while it could handle full flow from a mag 3, it was insanely loud, with stupid amounts of bubbles in the sump. So off to the hardware store, came back and put reverse durso's in the sump. This helped a little, but still too many bubbles, still too loud for me. Next thing i did was put a valve on one bulkhead with a screen, and put an elbow up turned on the other bulkhead, bam, instant herbie with no overflow box. Tuned the valve on the siphon and I had an instant quiet overflow with no bubbles. But when the valve was shut off to simulate a drain clog on the siphon drain, the single 1 inch upwards facing elbow drain couldn't handle all of the flow on it's own. So this setup would require a third gravity drain with upwards facing elbow to handle the flow if the siphon clogged, or any of the 3 clogged for that matter. Basically a modified bean animal with no overflow box. I don't wanna drill that many holes in this tank, it's too small. And the bulkheads with the elbows protrude into the tank quite a bit, this tank is super skinny. So now I'm thinking about an overflow box, but not too sure I want it taking up the space. I've attached some pictures of a mach up i did for size comparison. My thinking is to build an overflow box that is vertical and goes down to the floor of the tank. But keep it skinny, and drill two bulkheads in the back of the tank to do a herbie setup through the back wall. But again, my emergency drain can't handle the flow, so I would need a bigger drain for the emergency possibly. I just can't decide on a good way to do this. It has to be quiet with no bubbles, bc I am spoiled from running a bean animal for the past 2 years with zero issues.


_MG_3156 by rspain85, on Flickr



_MG_3154 by rspain85, on Flickr

 

Have you considered an external overflow box? So instead of drilling holes in the bottom, you'd do it in the back of the tank. Then the overflow box would be on the back.

That's how I'd do it; then you don't take up any room in the tank itself.

 

Hmm I haven't thought about an external. How would this work? I assume you would need some decent sized bulkheads passing through to the box, a couple 1.5 inch. Then the water level in the box would be the same as the tank, and you would just do a standard herbie through the bottom of the external overflow?

 

Definitely thinking external is the way to go. Thanks for that suggestion evolved. It makes so much sense, and I can run a full blown bean animal.

 

Yeah do this...http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/reef-savvy-8x3-300-gallon-rimless-149810.html
only small scale!

 

LOL, I literally just watched their youtube video for that ghost overflow! Makes so much sense!

 

Can I suggest something extreme? Shave off half inch from the top of the back wall (or have someone do it) preferably almost full length to go external overflow with the BeAn, no? Itd take forever to DIY, itd also be one badass rimless nano.

 

Holy cow, now we are getting crazy lol. That would be awesome, but for that you would have to build a glass box attached directly to the rear wall with silicone, since water would run down the back glass. This prevents running a background on the tank, and I just think it wouldn't look right. I was thinking bulkheads passing through to an acrylic box, like a reverse glass-holes kit. Or basically like that reef savy setup. That way I could paint the back glass black and you would never see the overflow box. I may be missing something but i dont see how you could hide a setup like you are talking about.