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Herbie Overflow Question

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speyside712 View Drop Down
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    Posted: April 20 2017 at 10:56am
Hi everyone,
I am setting up a new 90 gallon and just finished all of the plumbing.  I have tested every failure scenario I can think of so far to make sure I can't flood the place and so far so good:

main overflow clogged
backup overflow clogged
both overflows clogged
power outage
power outage with check valve failure
power outage with snail parked on syphon block
power outage with snail parked on syphon block and check valve failure

....you get the point.

My question is about the backup drain pipe.  It sounds like most people leave this pipe wide open at the top, but I was hoping to add a strainer to the top of this pipe to prevent a rogue turbo snail from clogging it.

I was planning to just snap this one in place with a slip to thread fitting (without glueing it), so that I can easily take it off an rinse any debris off.

Is there a reason not to do this and to use an open standpipe instead?  It seems like everyone in the community uses a plain old open standpipe so I was curious if there was a reason why?
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Krazie4Acans View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Krazie4Acans Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 20 2017 at 11:20am
I can think of a couple of reasons. The backup drain pipe height is already quite high in the overflow and although the strainer doesn't restrict much flow it does cause a slight increase in water height as the amount of flow going through it increases. This might be enough to cause overflowing in some cases.

The other would be the possibility of something plugging the slots in the strainer and preventing it from being able to drain enough water fast enough and causing an overflow.

That's all I could come up with.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote speyside712 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 20 2017 at 11:34am
I planned to have a strainer when I cut the pvc pipe originally and I planned for the extra height, so the water is about in inch below the overflow baffles with the strainer in place.

I agree with you that it would probably be more likely to clog by small debry, and probably less likely to clog due to something big like a turbo snail.  I guess if I clean it often though that wouldn't be a problem?


I do have one other flood scenario that i'm not sure how to fix.  Maybe one of you has planned for this or thought of a way around it?

Imagine if both overflow pipes were to clog, the return runs out of water pretty fast and there isn't enough water in the sump's return pump section to overflow the display.  However the auto-top off will turn on in this situation as it monitors the return pump section's water level.  I have a Tunze auto-topoff that has some safety features.  I believe one of the features is that it won't run for more than a set amount of time.  But in the case that this failed (i know i know, 3 things failing all at once is unlikely... but can't be too careful) is there a way to stop the auto-top off from running indefinitely until it runs out of water in the reservoir, flooding the display?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Krazie4Acans Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 20 2017 at 11:43am
Well there are ways. I personally have an apex and I have a float switch in the over flow. If the water in the overflow reaches that switch it shuts off the return pump and sends me an email that the overflow is blocked.

I'm not sure that there is a way to do it without some external system like an Apex or Reef Angle or other controller.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote speyside712 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 20 2017 at 11:47am
I am planning to buy the new Apex so that would work.

I have a reef octopus return pump that uses a float switch too and shuts off when the water gets too low, however in this situation the water would get too low but then come back up due to the auto-top off, triggering it to turn back on.

My pump is compatible with the apex though, i assume i could set it up so that once the float switch is tripped if stays off indefinitely until I turn it back on?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Krazie4Acans Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 20 2017 at 11:57am
Without the Apex your pump would shut off which means the water level in the sump would rise again and turn off the ATO. If it continues to cycle like this for a long period of time then it could still overflow.

With the Apex you can choose to either have it turn off and stay off until you turn it back on (latch condition) or turn off and turn back on after a period of time. It's up to you. For this to work you don't even need an Apex compatible pump because you are simply turning off the pump power outlet so it works with any pump.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote evan127 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 21 2017 at 4:47pm
You're subjecting these poor snails to your crazy experiments? ;)

Jokes aside, everything sounds solid. I would use a strainer on every drain input. It won't affect water flow whatsoever.
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