Hob overflow box

[Emarley]

Hello fellow reefers,

Just bought a new bracelets tank for a really good price that I was going to drill and sump, only problem is I didn't realise its tempered glass so not going to be able to drill it.
Thinking about using a hob overflow box, here in the UK the only ones I've seen for sale are the,

Reef octopus ob300s
Aqua medic ob2500
Or unbranded ones from auction sites

No experience at all with hob overflows so are they worth using? Have read about tanks overflowing if there is a siphon break.

Thanks in advance

Dom

 

[JC1977]

Hello fellow reefers,

Just bought a new bracelets tank for a really good price that I was going to drill and sump, only problem is I didn't realise its tempered glass so not going to be able to drill it.
Thinking about using a hob overflow box, here in the UK the only ones I've seen for sale are the,

Reef octopus ob300s
Aqua medic ob2500
Or unbranded ones from auction sites

No experience at all with hob overflows so are they worth using? Have read about tanks overflowing if there is a siphon break.

Thanks in advance

Dom

Check out Lifereef they make a couple models of hob overflows. I used one years ago on a 75 gallon tank and never had an issue with it.

 

[theMeat]

Think either the reef octopus or aqua medic is a good choice and ime better and safer than anything with a u-tube

 

[hoffmeyerz]

Check out Lifereef they make a couple models of hob overflows. I used one years ago on a 75 gallon tank and never had an issue with it.

I second the Lifereef overflow. I currently use one on my 75gal and it works great. It won't lose siphon unless you pull the tube out, just starts right back up when the pump comes back on from a stoppage. He also makes a silencer if it runs noisy.

 

[Colodano]

Used one with a U-tube and had so many issues with it, and usually when I was out of town and had someone checking on the tanks.
Used a CPR with an aqualifter on the little air nipple for years and no issues at all.

 

[PotatoPig]

Check out Lifereef they make a couple models of hob overflows. I used one years ago on a 75 gallon tank and never had an issue with it.

Adding a shoutout to Jeff at Lifereef also. Using the PF-600 on my 75 gallon for six months now - works great at both max flow and ~25-50 gph min flow from the pump.

Only issue I ever had was the day I cleaned the siphon it seemed to attract bubbles at the lowest flow state, but the issue vanished later on at the same flow and I regularly run it at a low flow for days at a time. My guess is the bubbles stick to the freshly cleaned pipe more than they do after it has a very thin biofilm.

For flood prevention - the pump should be in a return chamber in the sump that limits how much it can pump back to the tank so in the unlikely event the siphon breaks the pump doesn’t have enough access to water in the rest of the sump to cause a flood. Chambering off the sump like this will also help with other sump maintenance and management so you’ll want to do it regardless.

 

[ScottJ]

Also would recommend Lifereef! You should see if he can do international shipping. It's an excellent product IMHO.