need 40b overflow recommendations

I'm in the planning stages for setting up a 40b. I'll have a 20L sump/fuge. Hoping to do a DYI LED lighting setup. I"m trying to figure out the best overflow design. It will be in my living room so I really want it to be pretty quiet. So far I"ve looked at several styles - glass holes type which I've read can be pretty loud - herbie - and beananimal 3 pipe. I love the idea of the beananimal version but I'm concerned making a big wide overflow box for it would block the light to the back of the tank and take up some space for corals. How narrow could I make the box if I did decide to do a beananimal style?

Anyone have any suggesions? I've done alot of searching and thread reading but still would like advice.

 

any suggestions?

 

I don't have any experience with the diy overflows, but I am running a eshopps overflow box. I have a gate valve on the overflow line and another on the return line and have been able to tune it so that it is dead silent.

 

Bean Animal is the best way to go, but like you said the overflow is going to take up some room. It has to be wide enough to accommodate the PVC elbows, so pretty wide. I think Herbie would be your best bet on a tank that small.

 

What is your return pump rating? A 40 is small enuff to where if you aren't running a crazy amount of flow, you could do with a single standpipe. The stand pipes are what can be loud, so if you don't need two, you're cutting possible noise by half.

The other thing you need to do is run a Durso or Stockman modded standpipe with the proper amount of venting. Stockmans take up less space, so that may be the way to go in this case, altho on our 40B we use a regular Durso (easier to build IMHO).

Finally, run a T off your main return back to the sump with a gate or ball valve. The valve is to control the amount of flow that is bled back into the sump (if any). By doing this, you can tune the return to the O/F for "max quiet". This will also perfectly match your pump to the O/F in terms of flow. It also allows you pump to run "wide open" with no backpressure.

HTH