- Location
- MA
What you your opinions on hang on overflow boxes? Pros.......Cons? Considering using one.
Overflow boxes
- Thread starter redtigrinus
- Start date
- Location
- Bronx/Westchester
I assume you are talking about Hang on Back overflows?
Absolutely no problem if you maintain it correctly. I use the CPR brand, and never ever ever had a single problem. I like it cause if you adjust it correctly with the lid and accessories and etc, it's dead silent.
Bottom line, it does its job well. I think most people are against HOB overflows because they don't maintain it correctly which causes all kinds of problems like clogging.
Absolutely no problem if you maintain it correctly. I use the CPR brand, and never ever ever had a single problem. I like it cause if you adjust it correctly with the lid and accessories and etc, it's dead silent.
Bottom line, it does its job well. I think most people are against HOB overflows because they don't maintain it correctly which causes all kinds of problems like clogging.
- Location
- Hicksville, NY
I have no choice but to use a HOB overflow because the glass on my 46 is tempered and cannot be drilled.
- Location
- MA
And how is that working out for you?
I ran a hang on overflow box for years on one of my tanks and also never had an issue with it.
IMO they are easier to maintain than a built in overflow..if a fish jumps in, you reach in and take it out, you can always see if anything gets clogged in there and clean it out and they can be made to run very quietly.
Hooked up properly and to the proper sized sump and you will never have an issue with water overflowing if the power goes out either.
IMO they are easier to maintain than a built in overflow..if a fish jumps in, you reach in and take it out, you can always see if anything gets clogged in there and clean it out and they can be made to run very quietly.
Hooked up properly and to the proper sized sump and you will never have an issue with water overflowing if the power goes out either.
- Location
- MA
Thanks for all you guys input. I have heard of problems with them flooding. Any one have any experience with this? Also do you all have a brand preference?
- Location
- Hicksville, NY
It's OK but it's a source of 24/7 worry and panic for me. I am almost always worried that, for some reason (a bunch of snails getting in the tube, a temporary blockage of the grates by a fish etc) I am going to lose siphon and will proceed to dump gallons of fishtank water all over our LR carpet. I guess I should get an auto-shutoff valve on the tank so if this DOES happen in the middle of the night it will just shut everything down until we wake up in the AM and fix whatever it was that caused it.
- Location
- Hicksville, NY
What about a blockage by a snail :snail:? I've heard horror stories about that happening. I'm considering putting gutter guard all over the top of mine - one of these days...
- Location
- MA
Im concerned about potential flooding.
- Location
- Hicksville, NY
Mine is the ESHOPPS PF-300. It was noisy as hell until I made the Durso Pipe mod - now all we hear is a little trickle that we all got used to. It beat the smell of the sponge getting full of detritus, the toilet sound of NO sponge and the possibility of a flood from the sponge getting blocked.
- Location
- Hicksville, NY
There is always the possibility. You can safeguard against it, but the potential is always there. Like I said earlier, one of these days I'm going to just suck it up and add an auto-shutoff water level switch to my tank so if it goes too high, BAM! the return pump just shuts off.
I know corals and fish are expensive, but divorce from flooding our living room would cost me a HELL of a lot more!!!
- Location
- MA
So overall do you all prefer the HOB overflow or are there more benefit to having a built in overflow?
- Location
- Flushing, NY
i will say I will never go with hang on overflow boxes ever again. If you somehow get some air stuck in the siphon tube, the siphon goes a bit slower. If it accumulates even more, then eventually you're draining slower then the return pump and you'll have an overflow on your tank rim. This has happened to me personally once. This *can* be avoided by regularly making sure this doesn't happen and everything's clean, but my rule of thumb is prepare for worse case scenario that people will be lazy/busy to keep it clean. I've had built in overflow from AGA, and my custom external overflow, never had an issue with either one. With the AGA one, I had a black plastic cover it from a potential fish jumping in, and my external has no way for fish to get in unless its smaller then the teeth of the box. I never have had to clean either one ever.
- Location
- Upper East Side of NYC
If I had to do it over again, I'd get a drilled tank. That being said, I use an HOB overflow now and will continue to until this tank is retired, which won't be for years/until I move.
I started with a CPR CS90. It worked OK, except for 2 flaws. 1) the design of it is such that ... gunk collected at the bottom of one of the baffles. Because of the sizing of the baffle, it was near impossible to clean it, even with a turkey baster 2) you have to run a tiny suction pump (like a tom's aqua lifter) to remove the micro bubbles from the siphon to keep it going. That adds another point of failure, obviously, to the system. OK. Mutter. Also, in my case I had a lot of debris collect in the little nipple onto which that pump connected and does its suctioning. It had the potential to clog and stop the siphon - and thus cause a flood when my return emptied my sump into the DT - if the nipple clogged completely. I wound up giving in to my OCD and cleaning the thing every other day, which is good as the it DID slowly clog. It was a bomb waiting to go off. I'm ok with maintenance requirements, but this bordered on the silly. Not cleaning a hole 2 mm across every day might result in 10-20g of water on my floor? Yeah no.
Wound up upgrading to a Life Reef. Would buy it again and again and would never buy any other. www.lifereef.com. It's a superior device in every way. Hand made by a guy who has made literally thousands of them and knows what he's doing. You can tell as soon as you unpack it (and he packs it WELL) that it's built like a tank, with precision, and to work, period. If you need an HOB overflow, look no further.
I started with a CPR CS90. It worked OK, except for 2 flaws. 1) the design of it is such that ... gunk collected at the bottom of one of the baffles. Because of the sizing of the baffle, it was near impossible to clean it, even with a turkey baster 2) you have to run a tiny suction pump (like a tom's aqua lifter) to remove the micro bubbles from the siphon to keep it going. That adds another point of failure, obviously, to the system. OK. Mutter. Also, in my case I had a lot of debris collect in the little nipple onto which that pump connected and does its suctioning. It had the potential to clog and stop the siphon - and thus cause a flood when my return emptied my sump into the DT - if the nipple clogged completely. I wound up giving in to my OCD and cleaning the thing every other day, which is good as the it DID slowly clog. It was a bomb waiting to go off. I'm ok with maintenance requirements, but this bordered on the silly. Not cleaning a hole 2 mm across every day might result in 10-20g of water on my floor? Yeah no.
Wound up upgrading to a Life Reef. Would buy it again and again and would never buy any other. www.lifereef.com. It's a superior device in every way. Hand made by a guy who has made literally thousands of them and knows what he's doing. You can tell as soon as you unpack it (and he packs it WELL) that it's built like a tank, with precision, and to work, period. If you need an HOB overflow, look no further.
- Location
- parsippany nj
I have had a couple one i didn't trust at all if the power went out it would not hold the siphon for more than 10 min i really don't rember what brand it was. Then i got an ehopps i had for like 9 mouths and and never had a problem with it. as far as a snail getting into it you couple make a eggcreat cover so they cant get in. my new tank is drilled with 2 overflows witch i feel alot safer with i would never go back to an overflow box again
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