Thanks for the kind words. I have several more in mind that should be coming out in the following months. New equipment coming in, new products..

you won't gain gph by doing that as the tubing still ends with the same width it'll just add more weight to the suction it's also what many people use in racks so they don't install drain boxes... drill all tanks with 2, 2" holes one for overflow and another as backup the 2" goes into 4-5" piping creating pull weight and this way they only need a sponge inside the tank...it requires less maintenance because of the gravity weight pull each tank have a ball valve for the drain so that if a tank in the rack somewhere breaks...leaks whatever the reason... close the valve and just unscrew the drain off the tank and replace it this way the entire rack keeps running the issue with that is that you need a much larger sump because the main drain pipe runs underwater so the sump will have to accommodate for that or just use the entire bottom rack as the excess water hold backup...something like making the entire bottom rack a 'sump'

Only reason I can see is they are a lot cheaper.

@ ohmyheadd The answer is NO. First of all,a 2 inch unrestricted full siphon will only flow 2400gph max with a minimum 36 inch vertical drop. Anything less than 36 inches and it’s less than 2400gph. You would need to install two separate overflow boxes to get close to your 5000gph rate.

@@kennethfarley8347 thanks for the reply,. I actually have this setup right now. I have two jebao dcp 20, 000 running at max (around 5200 gph each). Head height is at least 6 feet so quite a distance. The 2" siphon is more than capable of handling both pumps. I figure the head height is so big that my pumps are probably not pushing anywhere close to what they are rated at. but who knows

They aren't both siphon lines. Only the right one is. The other is an open channel that shouldn't have a valve on it. The siphon line should have a gate valve on it, as close to the bottom of the drain is as reasonable. They technically do not have to be below the water line to function, but they will be extremely loud and splash water everywhere. The siphon line needs to terminate just below the water line, so that it can easily purge all the air out of the line when it starts. The open line (left hand pipe) can end at any depth under the water.

www.homedepot.com/p/NIBCO-1-1-2-in-PVC-DWV-Hub-x-Hub-x-Cleanout-P-Trap-C4884HD112/100344828 I thought they looked cool, but honestly, the hole is too large that noise can get out. The best thing to do is buy them without it and drill a small hole in the top. Try it out, and if need be enlarge the hole a little. But when tuned properly (very little water flowing through open channel), you don't need a very large hole.

Probably none. I will say that when not using the U, it seems to take longer to start the siphon and get the back box to a stable level.

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If sized properly it is not needed. People do that because they oversize the plumbing and it doesn't have enough velocity to push the water down and out. Don't use 1.5" pipes on the siphon line unless you are flowing more than 1200 GPH. A properly designed system wont fail. Holes can become clogged with algae or something else. If your system is dependent on it to function properly it could be bad.

People have been doing it for decades. It isn't as safe, but the vast majority of reef keepers have done it. The biggest issue is noise that can be created if there is too much flow. A 1" durso will not flow much water without making noise. HTH

@@exoticmarinesystems7808 I have it set up for 1.5 inches and am only planning to turn over 300-350 gph. Will it be more loud or less loud with larger diameter? Thanks for your response, by the way!

You should be pretty good with 1.5" It will also allow for a partial clog and still be able to flow enough water. Some times open channel lines can be about experimenting with the hole on the top. To small, and it can start a siphon. Too large and more noise can escape through the hole.

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@@exoticmarinesystems7808 thank you! also check ur email!

Because the gate valve is still partially closed, limiting the amount of water that can flow through it. There is still some amount of water flowing down the open channel (center), so it is setting the height of the water in the box.

@@exoticmarinesystems7808 Ahhh. Great. Thanks for the reply.

So I'm all set up with the beanie. Do you have a video on tweeking it to syphon? I got it syphoning but when I drop the pump and turned it back on, it didn't syphon again. Thanks

@@nicwilliams00 I would need a little more information on your setup. But the usual culprits are using plumbing that is too large for the flow rate you have. Also, how far down into the sump water does your siphon line extend. You want it to only go down into the water about 1". Do you have the valve set up at the end of the line, or at the top right below the overflow. You want the valve as close to the sump as possible.

@@exoticmarinesystems7808 Hi thanks for reply. Pump is 1000l/h on a 95l display and 25l sump. All 3 lines are 1". Syphon line is 2.5" under water. I'll cut some off this to 1" today. Gate valve is 6" above water line. I need to order some more fitting for the elbows and tees in the OF box as I cut them down to see if that made a difference.

I am not really sure, but Lasco is one of the largest PVC plumbing manufactures in the Country, so I just go by what they say. I am also friends with several master plumbers they all agreed that this is basically right. A lot of people use tape, but it is not the proper procedure on PVC.

@@exoticmarinesystems7808 Seems the concern is probably overtightening due to lubrication. I've never actually had a PVC fitting split from overtightening though.

@@EricJohnson-dc2ej Neither have I, but I have heard of people that have. The paste is really easy to use, but messy. All things being equal, I don't really see any downside to using the paste over the tape.

Any of our overflows would allow you to operate your system with little to no sounds. How much flow are you wanting to put through the system?

@@exoticmarinesystems7808 flow it has two 406's and an fx4 on it now. I try to keep the current going but the betta do not seem to like alot of flow, the corydoras, variety of tetras, and boat load of shrip love it

The purpose of the emergency drain is to process any water that cannot be drained through the two other drains. The reason I put them in the return section is because it makes it easier to plumb the system and keep the pipes out of the way. If you ran all three pipes to the drain section, they would be very crowded and would probably cover up some portion of the sock section, making them harder to remove. You do NOT want to drain your emergency drain outside the tank. It would do one of two things. First, the water level in the sump would lower to the point that the pump would draw in air and stop working. Secondly, your ATO would begin adding fresh water to offset the water loss. It would continue to run until the top off tank is empty, lowering your salinity. As far as draining dirty water in the back of the sump, this drain is for emergencies to keep your tank from overflowing onto the floor. Don't be too concerned about where it is located. You just want it to safely get your water into the sump in the event of a drain clog.

I personally believe that unless it is a very small tank that Bean Animal is the only way to go. You really need a siphon and an open drain to make it "set it and forget it" simple.

@@exoticmarinesystems7808 so basically turn the drain into a bean, the one on right in that thumbnail, below the water line? All it is, is a u shaped PVC?

@@mogtrader8 You have to have three drain lines to be able to do a bean animal. You cannot do it with two. With two, it is basically a bean animal but without an emergency drain.

@@exoticmarinesystems7808 the eshop small overflow has only two drains. as such, should i go durso? i feel better keeping the emergency. but if u have any ideas, please let me know. thanks

@@mogtrader8 If you keep your flow levels at a point where the open channel can support the whole flow, then you pretty much have an emergency drain. In a normal mode, the siphon handles 99% of the flow and the open channel handles the other little bit. If the siphon gets clogged (either completely or partially), the open channel will handle more flow (loudly). The problem becomes when people operate at such a high flow that the siphon can handle it, but the open channel can't by itself. More than a few 100 GPH, it is impossible to make an open channel silent...

Good deal!

@@tstanley01 Yeah really looking forward to it... hoping I can successfully get over 2000gph quietly.

My comment probably would have made more sense if I had changed profiles. I am exotic marine systems. Lol

@@tstanley01 hahaha...I figured you were from the company. Do you think I can get 2500gph or more with the 1.5 bulkhead kit?

@@GSP-76 Absolutely. Itnis the quietest on the market as well. The rear box sits higher, so you can run the water level higher in the box, and the total effective weir length is the longest out there as well. Only a c2c built in overflow give better performance. But those have their own issues. My goal was to make the best of borh worlds, and from people's response, I got pretty close.

Are you talking about the bulkhead fittings?

In my experience, when you get a decent amount of flow going, it will create a little water tornado like you get in your bathtub. With the U pipe, you can flow a lot of water. Plus it helps with start up. It delays the siphon starting for a second or two and allow it to become full submerged. I don't know why, but it makes the surge finish faster.

@@exoticmarinesystems7808 makes sense now, the tornado part is the visualization I needed. I was going to set up my new overflow like a Herbie, just with 3 straight pipes in gradual lengths instead of the 2

That is one of the reasons I suggested against using sch 80 plumbing. I just went and measured the restriction of the threaded coupling, and it reduced it down about 1/8" for about 1.5" of length. The restriction would not cause any significant reduction in flow for that little bit of distance. Now if it was for the entire length of pipe, it would add more. There are a few reasons we sale them with threaded bulkheads on the bottom. When you can thread into the bottom of the bulkhead, it removes the need to put a union under the box so that the plumbing can be removed for service. For certain shallow tanks, adding a union takes up too much vertical space, making it hard to mount a stand off at the top of the stand before angling the pipe into the stand. Also, a 1.5" union at Lowe's is over $8, so just removing those three pieces saves around $25 alone. I stand by my assertion that since the introduction of furniture grade sch 40 PVC, there aren't really any good reasons to use sch 80 pvc that would restrict flow and would probably never see more than 3-10 PSI.

Yes, you can. If you don't mind your neighbors being able to hear it.

@@exoticmarinesystems7808 isn’t that kind of over reaction . how can my neighbour hear water flow in my tank ?

It can. Its the siphon line that has to be sized according to the amount of water you are flowing.

it was worded in a strange way, but what they meant was there is no such thing as too big of diameter for downpipes without full siphon. the only time diameter can be too big is if your GPH is not enough to create the full siphon.

Yes, that is what I was saying, or atleast trying to say...LOL

ok yeah that's what i thought... emergency pipe can be as large as you want. thanks