overflow/pump curiosity

[Chameleon Bob]

Just for curoisity reasons to see if what I have is a good setup I'm asking for opinions. I have a 55 gal display, tidepool 2 sump 15 gal, diy 20 gal refuge. The sump drains into the refuge then back to the tank, the pipe that drains the tank is 1 inch, pipe that drains sump 1 inch and my return pipe is 5/8 ID. I don't remember what the ID is for the 1 inch hose but I know it fits a 1 inch bulkhead. What is the best overflow/pump to run?? I'd appreciate all recommendations.

[Chameleon Bob]

Ok since I'm not getting any hits on this i'm going to tell ya i'm now running a mag 7 and a what looks like a homemade u tube overflow which I bought used from a LFS which they told me it was rated at 700 gph.

[Parrothead]

I'd look into the cpr overflow boxes with the aqua lifter pump, you can get one that will match your return pump, with the old school overflows you get a power failure and you are not there when the power comes back on you will wish you did have the cpr/aqualifter setup

[Chameleon Bob]

I was thinking about going with one, but like always there's bad reviews. One was the aqua lifter failing. With a my mag 7 and I'm figuring I'm pumping 420 gph so would I go with the cs90 which is rated at 600gph? or go with an 800gph?

[Parrothead]

You have to maintain your equipment and nothing last forever, alot of people that use them, know that the life expect. is about 2 years, thats about 9 - 12 dollars per year, compared to 1200.00 + for home repairs, cleaning ect. when the tank overflows.

Your other opt. would be a drilled tank

[gregony]

Lifereef claims they've never had anyone complain of flooding using their overflow. They're a bit more than the CPR though. I've never used either so I can't comment either way - just giving you another option if you're uncomfortable with the CPR.
You can check them out at www.lifereef.com.
But Robert is astoundingly correct in pointing out that nothing lasts forever. It's amazing how some people think stuff that moves should move forever and nothing should ever wear out. You should always plan on something failing.
If the overflow stops working, it should NOT flood your house. You can install a float switch in the sump to turn off the return pump if the sump tries to empty. Float switches also wear out, do not use the float switch to activate the pump, only use it to turn it off, so the float switch is only used once in great while to prevent a catastrophe. You can also plumb the sump so that it won't flood the tank if water stops flowing into it. Yeah, you might damage the pump (running it dry) but the sump I just built will only empty a few gallons if water stops flowing into it. The nominal tank level can be kept a little low to accomodate this. The pump I bought has a dry run cutoff feature, so it isn't automatic that it will get damaged if it does run dry.

[Chameleon Bob]

Thanks Greg I never thought about using a float switch that way. I've never heard of lifereef but will check them out. Thanks again

[Monte455]

I have one of the old school overflow boxes without the CPR/Aqualifter pump, it has yet to fail me the way that most would think, you just need to be very cautious of your sump/evaporation area, know you high/low limits and mark the evaporation tank (or the sump area that gets lower as the water evaporates), basically when properly set up, there is not enough water in the return area of the sump to overflow the main display tank, and vice versa, should the power fail the water from the retun pipe must be able to break the siphon before it overflows the sump tank.

My sump set up origionally came with a single Hagen AquaClear 70 for the return pump. This pump is rated at 400 GPH, which was not bad, but I wanted more flow. So having another one of these powerheads lying around I set it up with the two of them as return pumps, figure I am reaching at max 800 GPH in a 55 gallon display with 10 gallon sump/refugium. I did however have to make my own overflow pipe out of 1 1/2 PVC to handle the increased flow. I set up the siphon just like the aqualifer set up with the air line drilled and sealed at the highest point on the PVC overflow pipe, then just place an airline clamp on the airline hose to hold the siphon after you start it going. So far the system works great, the powerhead return pumps have been awsome, been working with them in this set up for 13 years, and only once did I have to replace an impeller on the one I had used as a power head for some time because I placed a pre filter on the pump and ran it in reverse, seems to have caused to much stress on the plastic impeller and it eventually just would spin anymore, but bought the new impeller for about $15 and it up and running like normal again. But do the math, each pump cost about $60-70, has a 400 GPH at 6ft head, and lasts for at least a decade. However I must admit, I am in the market for just a single return pump that can match the flow rate or do better as I will be upgrading to a much larger (90 + gallon) tank this spring, and just want to simplify my electrical chaos.