Ok...this question is for everybody AND ESPECIALLY Win because I know you have your 8 footer setup like this....how do you plumb in canister filters into an internal overflow? If the 210 gallon deal goes through it has dual internal overflows and I wanna run my two xp4's on it rather than a sump. Just wondering how this hooks up or if there is anything I need to do special.

Thanks.

EDITED so Win didn't think I didn't want him to answer! Hey its late and i'm tired and it sounded good in my head before I typed it!

ever feel like the bad kid?

haha...why?

lol everybody but me?!

oh crap...sorry...didn't mean to make it sound like that!

I meant...this question is for everybody...but Win especially...

Meant to have it read as it was directed towards you since you have the same setup but anyone can chime in if they want!

Sorry man!

And I edited the original post to clear up any confusion! haha! Now it says what I was thinking in my head but couldn't get it out while typing apparently! haha! Sorry about that man!

well on my tank, its simple, i have 4 holes drilled on my bottom glass, 2 in each over flow. the way i have it, i have a bulkhead installed, with an adaptor to go from the size of the bulkhead to a 5/8" hosebarb fitting. basically 1 just has a suction screen on it, and the other has my spraybar attatched. and one flows in, one flows out. obviously the one with the spray bar is the Outlet, and the one with the suction screen is the inlet.


see? 2 holes drilled in each of the overflows.


put a bulkhead in each one, with (for rena hose 5/8" hose barb) the appropriate fitting to attatch hoses.




on the inside, on the inlet side you put a suction screen. on the outlet side you build your spray bar.

thats how i did mine, its prooving to work exceptionally well for me!


you know if you have any more questions i would be more than happy to clarify for you

Awesome...thanks for the pics...that looks easy enough. Wasn't sure if you needed to use the standpipe like i've seen in some overflows with a sump.

I know the tank has two overflows in it so it should work out nicely with the two renas like you have. Thanks again for the pics man!

nope, no stand pipe required. and the nice thing about using 2 canisters, you can go right ahead and fill the overflows up with media and use those in effect like another biofilter... in the case of my tank... the overflows are 2 feet high and like 6 or 8" square... quite a bit of biomedia can go in there. im going to be ordering a case of 3000 bioballs online and filling them both up to the top. i mean there WILL be waterflow there, so i see no reason to waste the available space. i know your thinking... damn... its gonna be hard to clean that with 100's of lose bioballs in there... well... i intend to string the bioballs together on a string so its like a rope of bioballs... easy to remove for cleaning that way just another idea ive had today that i intend to test out.

nice...never thought of using them to house more biomedia! And the string idea sounds like it will work great!

Now with overflows how do they remove debri from the bottom of the tank since the top layer of water is water overflows into them? Is it all in how your current is moving in your tank? Also what if you dilled small holes in the bottom and also the middle of the overflow itself to allow more debri to be collected? Would that work? Or even putting another bulkhead screen towards the bottom of the overflow to allow for debri on the bottom to be sucked in as well?

having a set up like this, i would suggest to install a gate valve
or ball valve on both piping. this is to give safe servicing when
cleaning the canister.


additional idea: removing the internal box could create a mild current
inside the tank that could carry the crap and waste towards the overflow
bulkhead. installing a good screen that will allow crap to get in will
give you a chance of no poo at all over your substrate. Just re-direct the
spray bar at the other end of your tank, opposite the suction line.

well the overflow works like a protein skimmer... pulling proteins and oil and metabolic wastes which tend to float (that foamy shit you see floating on the top of your water when you let your tank skip a water change)... it sucks them straight off into the filter.

its much more commonly seen on saltwater reef tanks, but the principle works just the same for freshwater.

basically if you have enough current in your tank, it will stay stirred up enough to keep stuff from really settling on the bottom of the tank. on my tank, with two rena xp4's if i put in flakes, generally very little will hit the bottom of the tank, teh particles will swirl around in the current for a bit before finally drifting into the overflow. infact... i get enough surface current that if i just sprinkle flakes in ontop of the water, they go straight into the overflow. i have to pinch the flakes, and release them under water to get them to kinda sink so the fish get a chance to eat them.

now alot of the newer tanks have submerged feeding tubes that do the same thing without having to get into the tank.

i personally wouldnt drill holes in it, water follows the path of least resistance, the overflow will just not overflow, and instead just flow thru the hole you ahve drilled instead, thus defeating the purpose of having the overflow in the first place.