Best cost in ATL for a new 120G RR tank.
- Thread starter knightmetro
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As a newbie, this may not make much sense, but here goes. My issue with the single corner overflow has nothing to do with the turnover volume, as I believe it is adequate with the appropriate power heads in the tank for flow. The problem for me is the lack of redundancy. If you look, the single overflow supports one drain and one return. If the drain got clogged for any reason, a flood seems to be a sure thing. With the dual overflows, at least you have a safety net. Just my thoughts.
I have never had anything but a HOB and a BA so I can't say if measures are present which would eliminate those concerns. But I would share those concerns. In my opinion, one of the key side benefits of the BA is the double redundancy built into it. I like double redundancy. Hehehehe
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I work for the department of redundancy department.:thumbs:
Yep, Deep Blue has overflows in the corners. PM sent in reply to OP.
As for 'redundancy'... most tanks under 120g only have one overflow. It would take some horrific bad luck to clog one if it's assembled/installed properly. I've only seen it happen once, but it had a makeshift standpipe and a large turbo snail "that could". It wasn't done right.
Make that twice - I saw another that had 2 drains/returns in one overflow weir and it almost overflowed too - because the "professional" (COUGH) that installed it put a sponge and bioballs in the weir instead of standpipes (!!) and eventually the sponge clogged with detritus and nearly overflowed that tank.
I could write a book with some of the atrocities we've encountered and repaired.
Jenn
As for 'redundancy'... most tanks under 120g only have one overflow. It would take some horrific bad luck to clog one if it's assembled/installed properly. I've only seen it happen once, but it had a makeshift standpipe and a large turbo snail "that could". It wasn't done right.
Make that twice - I saw another that had 2 drains/returns in one overflow weir and it almost overflowed too - because the "professional" (COUGH) that installed it put a sponge and bioballs in the weir instead of standpipes (!!) and eventually the sponge clogged with detritus and nearly overflowed that tank.
I could write a book with some of the atrocities we've encountered and repaired.
Jenn
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">Water will flow either way up or down depending on a pump or gravity. That being said.</span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">Probably more info than you were LQQKing for, sorry…</span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">A BA runs on 3 channels. </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">An emergency:</span></span><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana"> that is only used during start up and that’s it.</span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">An open channel:</span></span><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana"> that is nothing more than a simple tee and a street 90* and the top of the tee is reduced down to ¼”fmpt to allow a push to connect (some call it a john quest) fitting and then a ¼” tube (ice maker water supply hose) this stops above the normal waterline so during startup or if the water rises up it will turn into a full siphon and remove water fast and gurgle while doing it. This does not have a ball valve (bv) on it. And the sides of the 90 do not have a hole drilled in it. </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">Then the full siphon: </span></span><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">this is turned back down in the water and most of the water will go through this. It has a bv on it and depending on pump and drain size will determined where the bv is open too. This does all the work and the bv keeps the level of the water set and keeps the flow set to where it does not go up and down and gurgle and suck are as it restricts some of the siphon </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">Mine only stays closed about a third closed ( ) if I notice the water level up higher than normal it normally means that I have a snail that has went over the overflow wall and got in the drain and is stopped at the bv to which this does not happen much. </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">If you want it to run as close as a ba this is what I would do. Take the return hole and turn it into a drain. If they are the same size it does not matter which is which. If it’s two different sizes I would TRY and take the larger hole for the siphon with the bv and the smaller one as the open channel. Don’t glue the tops. I would put a bv on each drain make sure they are the same size with unions on the ends after the bulkheads. This way if the open channel does not flow enough you could swap the tops around and switch the open channel to the larger drain and the siphon to the smaller one. And at the bottom just open switch the bv handle settings. </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">No mater how you do it the drain need to stop no deeper than 1” in the sump and you need to have all drains flowing down either straight or slopped and stay away from a horizontal run. If you use a filter soc make sure the top of the soc is lower than the top of the sump and as it fills up it will overflow. It could slightly raise the water up in the of in the tank but the main thing that nobody told me is when you restart a tank and the filter soc has a higher water level due to getting full from filter particles it will make the drains act differently. I tried restarting after feeding the tank long time ago and it took me an hour to figure out why.</span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">As for the return just take it up and over the back rim and into the tank. Make sure just below the surface you have a hole say 1/8” drilled facing down so during pumps off it will not drain a lot of water back to the sump. Make sure you add a couple of tee’s and bv while running the return. </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana"></span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">1st to loop the water in the sump. This way if your pump is too big you can loop it back in the sump but I think valving the pump back some would be better as you might not want all of that flow in the sump and it just acts as more head pressure. You can also use the pump to pump the water to another location during a water change. You can also use the loop so it could mix the new water and the rest of the old water in the sump during the wc before sending the new water to the dt. </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">2nd to feed a reactor or 2. </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">Probably more info than you were LQQKing for, sorry…</span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">A BA runs on 3 channels. </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">An emergency:</span></span><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana"> that is only used during start up and that’s it.</span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">An open channel:</span></span><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana"> that is nothing more than a simple tee and a street 90* and the top of the tee is reduced down to ¼”fmpt to allow a push to connect (some call it a john quest) fitting and then a ¼” tube (ice maker water supply hose) this stops above the normal waterline so during startup or if the water rises up it will turn into a full siphon and remove water fast and gurgle while doing it. This does not have a ball valve (bv) on it. And the sides of the 90 do not have a hole drilled in it. </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">Then the full siphon: </span></span><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">this is turned back down in the water and most of the water will go through this. It has a bv on it and depending on pump and drain size will determined where the bv is open too. This does all the work and the bv keeps the level of the water set and keeps the flow set to where it does not go up and down and gurgle and suck are as it restricts some of the siphon </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">Mine only stays closed about a third closed ( ) if I notice the water level up higher than normal it normally means that I have a snail that has went over the overflow wall and got in the drain and is stopped at the bv to which this does not happen much. </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">If you want it to run as close as a ba this is what I would do. Take the return hole and turn it into a drain. If they are the same size it does not matter which is which. If it’s two different sizes I would TRY and take the larger hole for the siphon with the bv and the smaller one as the open channel. Don’t glue the tops. I would put a bv on each drain make sure they are the same size with unions on the ends after the bulkheads. This way if the open channel does not flow enough you could swap the tops around and switch the open channel to the larger drain and the siphon to the smaller one. And at the bottom just open switch the bv handle settings. </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">No mater how you do it the drain need to stop no deeper than 1” in the sump and you need to have all drains flowing down either straight or slopped and stay away from a horizontal run. If you use a filter soc make sure the top of the soc is lower than the top of the sump and as it fills up it will overflow. It could slightly raise the water up in the of in the tank but the main thing that nobody told me is when you restart a tank and the filter soc has a higher water level due to getting full from filter particles it will make the drains act differently. I tried restarting after feeding the tank long time ago and it took me an hour to figure out why.</span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">As for the return just take it up and over the back rim and into the tank. Make sure just below the surface you have a hole say 1/8” drilled facing down so during pumps off it will not drain a lot of water back to the sump. Make sure you add a couple of tee’s and bv while running the return. </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana"></span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">1st to loop the water in the sump. This way if your pump is too big you can loop it back in the sump but I think valving the pump back some would be better as you might not want all of that flow in the sump and it just acts as more head pressure. You can also use the pump to pump the water to another location during a water change. You can also use the loop so it could mix the new water and the rest of the old water in the sump during the wc before sending the new water to the dt. </span></span>
<span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Verdana">2nd to feed a reactor or 2. </span></span>
That's a valid concern. I will be using an Apex system controller, which will have level sensors attached
I will also have a screen cover over the top of the overflow chamber to prevent snails, etc., from going into the overflow pipe.
In the unlikely event of a blockage, I will have the Apex turn off the return pump and shoot me an email on my iPhone
I think I'm leaning towards the Deep Blue 120. Has the corner overflows and the low iron front end.
I'm just going to sell the used 120 I have and put it towards the new one.
I'm just going to sell the used 120 I have and put it towards the new one.
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How much you gona sell the 120 for? I bought my 135 and it had some scratches when I looked at it carefully. But once I filled it with water it was not very noticeable, most people look at my tank and I have never heard "man your tank has some scratches on it you should fix that". I hear man that tank is awesome those corals look great.
