diy over flow question

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
dannieman

dannieman

Candiru
MFK Member
Apr 17, 2009
142
3
48
SoCal
alright well i received a rio hyperflow pump 20 in a trade and i would like to turn a spare 30gal into a sump for my 135. the question is that if the pump is rated for 1290 GPH with a max head of 10.8 ft, should i run 2 1in over flows since they are rated for 600 GPH each? or should i just run a single 1.25 in overflow because the pump wont meet the 1290 GPH? or maybe i should mix and match and have a 1.25in overflow and a 1/2in over flow lol. im basing the numbers on the sticky about pipe sizing. any input is appreciated because i have never done anything like this before :D
 
im not sure where everyone is getting this ball valve requirement to tune your overflow from. this is asking for problems. a properly set up overflow that is designed to handle more flow than your pump can possibly put out will only flow the amount of water that is put into the tank. so if you have an overflow setup to flow 1300 gph but a pump that will only put out 1290 then your overflow will only flow 1290 gph. the key to overflows is to make it capable of handling more flow than required that way if it starts to clog up then you have room to spare.

i would suggest two 1.25 or one 1.5 inch overflow for your pump with the two 1.25 you will have a flow capability of around 1800 gph
 
mike_sema said:
I would run 2 over flows @ 1.25, with a ball valve on each to control flow, so this way if you wanted to upgrade your pump you will not have to mess with making /buying new over flows
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i thought ball valves were just for the return line?

rotccapt said:
i would suggest two 1.25 or one 1.5 inch overflow for your pump with the two 1.25 you will have a flow capability of around 1800 gph
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i think i like the idea of 2 1.25 overflows and i just realized what your talking about. even though i have a flow capability higher than the pump, my pump is the one that limits the amount of water to actually flow over the over flow right?
 
I run two of the ones outlined in the link in my sig with a pump similar to what you have. Works great and is very quiet. I do run ball valves on everything but that is so I can turn off the flow and access my filter without having to run the tank down.
 
Don't forget that as the overflow gets "seasoned" it will flow less gph unless you clean it. Also, if you go bigger and aren't near the max flow it will be quieter. I have 2 pumps putting out around 1000gph and use 2 Eshopps PF-800 Overflow Boxes with 1 inch drains and they struggle to keep up if I don't use a bypass on one of the pumps. They are very loud at max too. If I had it to do again, I'd upgrade to two of the PF-1200 with twin 1" drains on each. I like over kill just incase I loose a siphon, I still have enough capacity to keep up with the pumps.
 
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