@Greg - Thanks!! I'm started to get excited, it's starting to look like a tank!!
@ J.Llow - I have a Sequence Dart lined up for sump return duty. It might be a bit overkill but so I'll probably dial it back with a gate valve or a ball valve until I can get a frag tank/refugium online (in which case I'll T off of it). Or, if it looks like the tank can handle the pump at full bore, I'll do that.
If you valve a pump back it actually consumes less electricity, so that's kind of a neat trick. More head pressure seems like it should be more work, but it means the impeller turns less fast and consumption is based on motor speed instead of motor load.
A Herbie overflow is one where you have two drains in your overflow. One is an emergency backup, one is the "main drain." The main drain you throttle back with a valve so that the water drains at the same speed as the sump return. The end of the pipe is submerged in the sump, so there's no splashing. No air gets into the drain, and thus this eliminates microbubbles. Plus, it's nice and quiet.
The downside is that it's risky to have a valve on an overflow, if a snail or something gets in there, it could block the overflow. Hence, the emergency backup pipe. If for some reason water slows down in the main drain, the emergency backup pipe takes over.
Here's a link with more info -
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=344892