Two overflow drains or a drain and a return

if I did this I guess I would just have to copy the drains that are in the kit I got making two more out of PVC what's the difference between the gravity drain and the syphon? Sorry for all the 101 questions. I guess I thought that drilled tanks were all gravity which is what made them safe.

 

I'm not missing the point.. it's all relative to size and flow. The main drain is not full open, it is throttled a bit... the secondary takes excess and runs the water down the inside of the pipe.... YOU do not need a 1.5" line a on a 65g tank... you throttle the main, your excess will be about 10gph and you do not need a 1.5" line to keep 10 gph quiet.

Most tanks have regular overflows... most folks are happy... Myself and you were not, so we used a Herbie and a Bean for silence and zero bubbles... we had the same product, you have more lines and bigger pipes.

A herbi would be simpler with dual overflows especially since he only has 1" drains... you can't use a Herbie (shouldn't) with water going down the emergency because it takes up capacity in a smaller hole... since he has equal size holes... two for mains with a very slight overflow down the emergency and you have a silent Herbie with zero adjustment. The only thing you don't have is a 3rd drain which in MHO is not necessary. Bean set out to make a fail safe design and he indeed made just that. I think it is overkill but to each his own... nothing wrong with peace of mind.

 

Right... the return returns.. I just speak of the whole point of sending water to the sump... to supply what you have in the sump. Didn't mean to confuse that with the return pump supplying stuff.

And I thought you said you had two overflow kits that came with the tank... if you have nothing and are starting from scratch even easier.

Also... let's not get confused and I don't mean to hijack... plumbing a dual overflow pre drilled tank is very simple. You will get it figured out and we can help.

What I and my friend are talking about is a custom overflow that people do. People convert a predrilled tank to a Herbie overflow... use the holes for different purposes and return the sump over the back of the tank. A Bean overflow is another custom setup that is configured a little different... most of the folks who do it do a complete custom setup with different holes drilled in different places in the tank. Both accomplish the same thing... they are truly completely silent 100%. The eliminate bubbles in the sump which not only make noise, but also cause splash and salt creep.

Since you are starting new, you should look into them. Bean is on the web, my Herbie write up is in my sig. Understand how they work, and if you decide you want to go that route, I or insanespain can help you out with that. I just like to debate designs... but the Bean is a proven overflow and what insanespain is saying is not wrong... we are just having a difference of opinion.

 

This is what I have, I divert half of one of the overflows through my refugium and the other (along with the othjer sides worth of overflow) into my sump. I then return up the back spliting the flow with a T. This adds directional flow to my tank. I love it and once I got the proper depths was not loud at all. I have 1.5 inch pvc pipe and am returning with a Mag 18

 

My question is on a restart. In my case the full siphon takes a couple minutes to get the air out and start to siphon. While this is happening, I usually get some water down the emergency for a couple minutes. Then the full siphon primes itself and the system equals out and runs as it should. I know there are tons of people running herbies, but how do they not overflow on a restart? I've tweaked and tuned and played with mine and done everything I can and it still usually hits the emergency for a bit on a restart. If I didnt have the third emergency standpipe, there's a chance my DT would overflow before the full siphon kicked in.

 

There really is no such thing as overkill when it comes to keeping your investment and your floor safe, and it's not much more complicated to go full Bean-animal than it is to do a Herbie. I however don't believe a Bean-animal will work in two separate overflows. All three stages need to be in the same overflow as the full siphon or water is going to hit the backup in the other overflow and be really noisy. I think the best option for you is a Herbie.

 

2 corner overflows if set at the same height should work just the same as one overflow box. The water will be the same level in each overflow, and will be dictated on the height you set your intakes. If water is hitting the emergency in one overflow, then you need to re-tune the full siphon in the other overflow to handle more flow.

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Nevermind, I was wrong. Sorry its still early lol. Yeah I guess u would need to tie the overflow boxes together with a pipe.

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Okay I've been thinking about the best way to do this.

Take one hole from each overflow and tie them together underneath the stand with a tee and then run into a gate valve. This will be the full siphon fed by and an intake from each overflow box.

Tie the remaining hole from each box together with a tee under the stand and run into the sump also. This will be the gravity drain for a herbie, fed by an intake from each overflow box.

Upsize to 1.5 inch and use a sweep Y to combine the pipes and use a 1.5 inch gate valve. This should be a sweet silent setup.

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Or you could just put a full siphon in each overflow and one of each of the two backups in each. You could use the two smaller holes for the siphon lines and they should still handle it. This would leave the big plumbing to serve as your backups.