Overflow Question
- Thread starter stumpdog
- Start date
lemonshark
Member
If you see a tank with an overflow, look under the tank. You might find a refugium, sump, protein skimmer, canister filter, etc. The function of an overflow is to prevent these mentioned above from receiving too much water by controlling the water flow. Additionally it also controls how much water will drain down. This is possible by a grid that the overflow box has. This grid allows the water level to go in to the overflow box and siphoned down. If the water level goes too low and the water level doesn’t reach the grid, no water will go down to your equipment under your main tank and “OVERFLOW” it.
Good Luck!
Good Luck!
broomer5
Active Member
Hi Jeremy !
Welcome to the board !!
Actually that's a pretty good question.
As LemonShark mentioned, you'll almost always find some sort of sump or container underneath the tank in the stand.
Imagine for a second that you are pumping saltwater into your tank from a large trashcan of saltwater.
Eventually the tankwater level would keep rising and would overflow onto the floor - right.
An overflow allows this excess water that is being pumped into the tank to "over-flow" in a controlled manner, and not spill over the sides of the tank onto the floor. As this saltwater flows out of the tank it normally falls down through a pipe or drainhose to a sump or wet/dry filter below the tank. This sump can be a smaller glass tank, or rubbermaid plastic container, or one of several other designs.
In the sump is the pump ( just like the one described in the trashcan above ).
This pump is called a "return" pump .... because it returns saltwater in the sump back up to the tank.
It returns the water that came down the overflow.
An overflow can either be drilled tank hole that allows the water to fall down to the sump, or the overflow can be an external hang on the back type. The external ones have a U tube that allows the water in the tank to rise up and over the top edge of the tank, and then this water proceeds to fall down to the sump.
The biggest advantage I see when using an overflow .. you allow the very top layer of tankwater to be skimmed off the surface, and then this water can make it's way to the sump.
Down in the sump, many people will either have additional biofiltration like bioballs, or filter media.
Or they may have an in-sump protein skimmer.
Or they may have a planted macroalgae refugium.
Or they may grow pods in the refugium.
Or they may place some activated carbon down there.
Or they dose kalkwasser there.
Or they may dose other additives there.
Or they will do their water chages there.
Or they will place their heater down there.
Or they will run a calcium reactor there.
Or they will do any or all combinations of the above.
The real advantage of having an overflow ... is that it allows you to have a sump. Once you have the sump ........ your choices of how you want to filter, dose and maintain your water conditions increase greatly.
The overflow without the sump is meaningless ...... but a sump with a return pump, and a hose or pipe running from this pump back up to the tank will push water into the tank.
As the level in the tank rises ... it will naturally overflow back down another hose or pipe to the sump.
The water just goes around and around and around all the time the pump is running. What goes up must come down.
Since the water is always circulating like this ( as long as the pump's on ) you can place a lot of your equipment in the sump.
Heaters, skimmers, dosing equipment and the list goes on and on.
Overflows and sumps are a wonderful combination to have .... not absolutely necessary by no means ..... but they do give you a lot of flexibility and options to choose from - and most often allow you to keep the display tank clear of electrical equipment.
If I went into too much detail - sorry - drank a lot of coffee this morning
Welcome to the board !!
Actually that's a pretty good question.
As LemonShark mentioned, you'll almost always find some sort of sump or container underneath the tank in the stand.
Imagine for a second that you are pumping saltwater into your tank from a large trashcan of saltwater.
Eventually the tankwater level would keep rising and would overflow onto the floor - right.
An overflow allows this excess water that is being pumped into the tank to "over-flow" in a controlled manner, and not spill over the sides of the tank onto the floor. As this saltwater flows out of the tank it normally falls down through a pipe or drainhose to a sump or wet/dry filter below the tank. This sump can be a smaller glass tank, or rubbermaid plastic container, or one of several other designs.
In the sump is the pump ( just like the one described in the trashcan above ).
This pump is called a "return" pump .... because it returns saltwater in the sump back up to the tank.
It returns the water that came down the overflow.
An overflow can either be drilled tank hole that allows the water to fall down to the sump, or the overflow can be an external hang on the back type. The external ones have a U tube that allows the water in the tank to rise up and over the top edge of the tank, and then this water proceeds to fall down to the sump.
The biggest advantage I see when using an overflow .. you allow the very top layer of tankwater to be skimmed off the surface, and then this water can make it's way to the sump.
Down in the sump, many people will either have additional biofiltration like bioballs, or filter media.
Or they may have an in-sump protein skimmer.
Or they may have a planted macroalgae refugium.
Or they may grow pods in the refugium.
Or they may place some activated carbon down there.
Or they dose kalkwasser there.
Or they may dose other additives there.
Or they will do their water chages there.
Or they will place their heater down there.
Or they will run a calcium reactor there.
Or they will do any or all combinations of the above.
The real advantage of having an overflow ... is that it allows you to have a sump. Once you have the sump ........ your choices of how you want to filter, dose and maintain your water conditions increase greatly.
The overflow without the sump is meaningless ...... but a sump with a return pump, and a hose or pipe running from this pump back up to the tank will push water into the tank.
As the level in the tank rises ... it will naturally overflow back down another hose or pipe to the sump.
The water just goes around and around and around all the time the pump is running. What goes up must come down.
Since the water is always circulating like this ( as long as the pump's on ) you can place a lot of your equipment in the sump.
Heaters, skimmers, dosing equipment and the list goes on and on.
Overflows and sumps are a wonderful combination to have .... not absolutely necessary by no means ..... but they do give you a lot of flexibility and options to choose from - and most often allow you to keep the display tank clear of electrical equipment.
If I went into too much detail - sorry - drank a lot of coffee this morning
stumpdog
Member
I appreciate both of the replies. If I had a 55 gal. tank, how big of a sump would I need? Is there generally a diveder in the sump, which seperates inbound (dirty) water and outbound (clean) water?
If I currently have a hang on skimmer can I use it in the sump or do I need a different type of skimmer?
Thanks again.
If I currently have a hang on skimmer can I use it in the sump or do I need a different type of skimmer?
Thanks again.
lemonshark
Member
It depends on the filtration system you are planning to have.
Wet/Dry or Berlin Sump
A wet/dry filter will take space from your sump but not the Berlin method of filtration, which only uses a 100 micro filter sock. The wet/dry will limit space, so you will need a large sump when using a wet/dry so you can fit your protein skimmer nicely.
For a 55gl tank I use a 29gl tall fish tank for my sump and I placed all kinds of things.
Heater
Protein skimmer
Powerheads
Pump
Etc.
You can put sand, live rock, a DIY wet/dry tower or DIY Berlin method. There is a filtration options to select from.
Chouse according to what you will be keeping in your aquarium.
Wet/Dry or Berlin Sump
A wet/dry filter will take space from your sump but not the Berlin method of filtration, which only uses a 100 micro filter sock. The wet/dry will limit space, so you will need a large sump when using a wet/dry so you can fit your protein skimmer nicely.
For a 55gl tank I use a 29gl tall fish tank for my sump and I placed all kinds of things.
Heater
Protein skimmer
Powerheads
Pump
Etc.
You can put sand, live rock, a DIY wet/dry tower or DIY Berlin method. There is a filtration options to select from.
Chouse according to what you will be keeping in your aquarium.
lemonshark
Member
yup!
stumpdog
Member
Lemonshark-Thanks for the diagram that was great! I just want to make sure I understand it. The water comes from the overflow into the far left compartment. Here it runs through the filter. Then there is a glass divider, where the skimmer is, right? The skimmer takes water from the left part and dumps it in the right part which leads back to the tank? If this is so why do you need two partitions. Sorry.
Jeremy
Jeremy
lemonshark
Member
Because this setup is using a power filter to clean waste that are drained down from your tank. You can put two hang-on filters to suck in waste. The divider will prevent debris from moving to the skimmer section. The second divider will help keep any waste from crossing past the skimmer to the returning pump.
The water level rises to the edge of the divider and drip down to the middle section that will fill up and start rising to the edge of the second divider that will fill up the returning pump section.
If you don’t have a power filter you can use a 100 micro sock filter. You won’t need dividers if you use the sock, but if you decide to use a sponge for additional filtration, you will need dividers to hold the sponge at the middle of the sump.
Here is what I'm talking about:
The water level rises to the edge of the divider and drip down to the middle section that will fill up and start rising to the edge of the second divider that will fill up the returning pump section.
If you don’t have a power filter you can use a 100 micro sock filter. You won’t need dividers if you use the sock, but if you decide to use a sponge for additional filtration, you will need dividers to hold the sponge at the middle of the sump.
Here is what I'm talking about: