renovate my tank! overflow ideas

[asylumdown]

Well the house has been on the market for a year and a half at this point, and with oil prices plunging like the mercury in winter, I'm not confident it's going to sell any time soon, so we're talking about taking it off the market for a while. This of course means I don't have to worry about the tank looking pretty for showings and if I'm not going to be able to set up a new tank in a new house, I need a spring project!

I have always HATED my internal overflows and want them gone, so my plan (pending final spousal approval) is to put all the corals and fish I want to keep in my sump for a few weeks, drain the tank, and cut the buggers out.

I'm thinking I'll probably silicone two sheets of glass over the existing holes, but then I'll need to figure out what to replace them with.

What do you guys think? I want something relatively unobtrusive, and professional looking but I have limited space in the joist space on either side of the tank to run plumbing down (hence why the overflows were made to be internal).

Would you guys go with an internal cost to coast overflow with a bean animal set-up, or something more like this: http://reefbuilders.com/2014/11/10/h2overflow-siphon-stopper-unique-plumbing-accessories/ sadly, I would require three of those to handle the flow of my 2800-3000 kph return pump, so it's not ideal, and I'm not sure I'd have space for that many pipes.

I would Loooove a ghost overflow, but I don't have the space for the box that sits outside of the tank.

Any ideas? I'm thinking I'll need at least a 2" pipe to handle the flow.

[CM125]

That overflow thing looks awesome, otherwise a coast to coast always works, I still stand by not needing a BA over a herbie though

[asylumdown]

I had a terrible experience with a herbie when I first set up the tank, though admittedly I set it up wrong for how a Herbie functions.

And I like those overflows too. I just wish they made them larger so I didn't need three. It looks like they'd be closer to a durso in operation though.

[CM125]

I had a terrible experience with a herbie when I first set up the tank, though admittedly I set it up wrong for how a Herbie functions.

And I like those overflows too. I just wish they made them larger so I didn't need three. It looks like they'd be closer to a durso in operation though.

You could probably herbie those...

[IanWR]

I read over your build thread to get a sense of what you are working with. You say you don't have room for external boxes (via a ghost style overflow, eg) but are considering drilling the sides? I must be missing something obvious but if you have room for a bulkhead and elbow, why not a box? I think you should be able to have a slim ghost style overflow internally (running the full width of that side) and use an external box that fits between the joists. I'm not sure what that width is, but if it is enough for 3 holes you have your bean. You would not need 2" bulkheads, I think bean's original setup was pushing 2500gph and he used 1" bulkheads with 1.5" pipe.

I don't know if you still use the 3 way valve, bean will need all 3 lines to be independent to the sump. You could bring you return up and over the opposite side and create a nice surface flow to help push everything towards the overflow.

Btw, reading that thread from the beginning has left my mind blown. Do you still have the tiered water feature in the back?

As always will tag along to see what you come up with.

- Ian