New Overflow

[sagent3000]

anyone know anything about a calfo overflow? here is the link http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx">http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx</a>

does anyone know anyone that has done this type of overflow and what kind of success they have had?

 

[sagent3000]

no its going to be larger something 72" long and at least 30" wide at least 200 gallon.

i look at peoples large tanks (glix with that UGLY BB) and others and decided that i want to build mine. i like my 75 but its to small for what i want

 

[jetchris]

calfo overflow is the way to go! Serves the same purpose of RR tanks but doesnt have the big vertical HUGE overflow boxes, also calfo styke looks alot better.

 

[sagent3000]

now that you have screwed up my original plans chris.....lol where can i get a pre drilled tank thats at least 200 gallons?

also does anyone know if i can do more than three holes in the overflow?

 

[simon_kruger]

I have a Calfo hybrid overflow system on my 300G overflow made by MRC. Its an 8ft long tank so the overflow is 8ft wide by 4 inches Tall and 4 inches Deep. I personally opted to have two central overflow boxes installed as I wanted the tank be flat against the wall. Again my choice. The overflow is awesome and has never blocked or caused me issues. The only one item i would tell you about is pls make sure your tank is absolutely level. Over 8ft you notice a minor difference easily with the Calfo system.

Would i change it. NO, I love what Tim did on my tank.

 

[sagent3000]

here is the design tell me what you think

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[jetchris]

looks great, I wouldnt put 4 holes behind your calfo, 2each 1.5" will be fine. I would add 2 more green holes with only 4 that means your getting approx 1100 gph out of each CL return thats insane! At least add one more in the caneter of the tank. Heres something else to think of. If you make your calfo overflow 60" long that gives you 6" space on each side. In that space you can put your sump returns in each of those spaces "it will looks cool" and you wont have to worry to much about back siphoning when your return pump shuts off.

 

[sagent3000]

thanks chris for your advice. now let me ask this question when i was reading about the calfo it said that the 3 intakes were mandatory thats why i did four. just let me know if you are saying i will be okay with just the two and i will go with it.

about the closed loop pump, wouldn't it be the same as if i had a couple of tunzes in the tank? i just want to be sure i have enough flow because there will be no powerheads in the tank and i want to keep SPS's

 

[jetchris]

if i am not mistaken people sometimes put an extra fail safe drain that sits a little higher than the other 2. The reason for this is because if somehow both drains get blocked the water level will rise and flow into the 3rd hole down to the sump. I wouldnt worry about the 3rd hole just make sure you have a snail guard over your 2 drain intakes. Also mosy people that have 3 drains have 1" drains. A snail or something else is alot less likely to clog a drain that is 1.5". This would be a good question to ask on Reef Central. I might be wrong about my answer ? 3 drains might make the water flow better over the top. Remember each 1.5" drain is gonna drain about 600gph. Definetly do some more research on that. About the cl , a tunze pump disperses water in a wide scattered pattern. A cl return shoots out in one spot like a strong water hose. Go ahead and do a total of 5 return holes for your cl and put loc line y's on a couple returns on the inside of the tank. So basically you will have flow coming from 10 differnet locations plus your sump returns. anywhere from 450gph to 900gph from each hole. Its a good thing i work for uncle scam or i wouldnt have time to write this

 

[skriz]

If this is going to be a glass tank, I would keep 4 holes in the back. You can keep them plugged; BUT, if you ever need them, they're their for you to use.

I wish I had predrilled my tank a little more to begin with. Now, I want to change some things around and I can't.

 

[skriz]

Also, I have 1.5" drains and they drain A LOT of water. I would thing you probably only use one and the second as a backup. Your first one may also be too much depending on how much turnover you wanted.

I like the larger drain since it makes it more difficult for anything to get stuck and block the drain. Not sure if it would make too much sense for you though. You'd have to run some numbers and see.

 

[sagent3000]

okay here is the final design for the whole tank. i have not decided on the lights but this is the tank and the sump. i have changed the closed loop pump to a reeflo dart that pumps 3600gph

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[sagent3000]

thats bean so that means i will be fine. i will drill the four holes and plumb them but will only open two of them unless i need the others. the water will come in and be diverted: some into the refugium and the rest will be skimmed through a skimmer that has a diameter of 12" and will be powered by 3 sedra needle wheel pumps

 

[jetchris]

bean , where is your website? Sageant dont make your cl returns 1.5" stick to 1". Why did you change the pump? I liked the other one better with 5 returns instead of 4.

 

[sagent3000]

well the oceans motions 4 - way only has four heads thats why i only have four returns in the tank. thats also why i went down on the pump. it would also help me reduced the complexity of the plumbing.

 

[jetchris]

oh i didnt know you had an OM , well then everything looks good

 

[kwl1763]

You'll love it. Mine has an 8ft long external Calfo like overflow on a 10ft tank. I'll never go back!

 

[sagent3000]

with that being said what if i open the first and thrid one all the way. the second one halfway and the fouth one a quater of the way will that work?

 

[sagent3000]

BeanAnimal;190308 wrote: One of them has to be setup to create a full siphon (no way for air to enter). It has to be adjusted via a valve so that the siphon IS NOT able to keep up with the return pump. The remainder of the flow that is not handled by the siphon flows freely down the other standpipe(s). The emergency standpipe should be dry at all times except for a minute or so at startup or in the case of a clogged primary standpipe.

The open channel standpipes perform a vital function. By tuning the siphon so that a portion of the flow goes to the open channel standpipe(s) the siphon is fairly self adjusting. If you try to dial a siphon in to MATCH the return pump, you will constantly be fighting to keep it adjusted.

okay now i am offically lost as hell. here is a picture of the example i saw. let mek now how its supposed to be set up and how the fourth drain would play in.

>http://www.beananimal.com/media/4054/back-wide_500x375.jpg</a>