Neptune Aquatics

What’s your experience with HOB overflows?

Thinking about possibly adding more water volume to the tank via hob overflow and a sump. I’m sure it’s not as good as a directly plumbed system but wonder if it can do the job somewhat decently. Anyone have experience with this? Noise level, equipment fails, other inherent challenges, etc? Is it a feasible add on or not worth the trouble?
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I had one on my first tank. I hated it! If it loses the siphon it will just flood our house with all the water from the sump. And it’s loud as hell.
 
The good thing is your tank is small. You could easily move everything to a holding tank, drill, plump and return everything back to the tank in the same day.
 
But remember when you sell your tank, it would become undesirable if the buyers want a true AIO


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Well that pretty much answers it. Not one positive experience... tells me I should stay away from this idea. Thanks everyone!


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A long time ago on my home tank I added a HOB overflow to go to a small sump to feed a refugium on a counter above the tank, but still had a HOB skimmer. It was stressful because I was ALWAYS wondering if the overflow was backed up by air. It was difficult to adjust valves to keep the flow just right. Oh yeah - I had no ATO, so the level was almost never just right. Oh man, I forgot how stressful that was! Like @Kensington Reefer said, the air remover is necessary. If you end up going that route, let me know because I have that venturi attachment. It would work pretty well if you have an ATO.
 
Didn’t know that. I thought people preferred plumbed systems.

I think AIO is awesome if you don't want to deal with sump/plumbing flood worry, want to keep some equipment out of the display, or do not have a space that permits another level for a sump. I was bummed that except for our big tank, there is no space at all in my massive classroom that allows plumbing down to a sump (counters everywhere). Then I saw a BioCube, then AIO rectangular tanks.
 
Thanks, everyone. Nixing the idea. Probably makes more sense to look into upgrading to a plumbed system.


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In the old days I had a 10g nano with a 10g sump under it, using a HOB siphon. I think that twice, the siphon failed (snail, algae, whatever) and the return pump happily kept pumping water up into the nano and over the side onto the floor. Nothing like 10 gallons of saltwater to freshen up the furniture and rugs! I added a BACKUP overflow, so if one failed, the other would do double duty, but still keep up with the return pump.

If you really want to do it, you need some way to shut off the return pump if your main tank level rises and an overflow is immanent. Like a normally closed float switch or something. Also a water alarm on the floor in case it happens when you are at home.

V
 
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