Overflow box help

[Cove Beach]

Does anybody know where i can get a U tube style overflow box? My CPR unit has tried to flood my house for the last time!!!!

[Hop]

lifereef.com the best there is IMO

[DriftRtist]

Prob any U-tube style overflow will work well if it is properly manufactured and setup correctly by the user.

I personally can't settle for anything less then the best. Lifereef all the way!

[sirreal63]

I have had a few different U-Tube designs and this one is my favorite.
http://store.hurricanefilters.com/quprov.html The price is right as well.

[sjm817]

The best is a Lifereef, but any U Tube overflow is better than a CPR.

[malsavant]

Why is a u tube overflow better than a cpr?

[talon4x4]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10202287#post10202287 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sjm817
The best is a Lifereef, but any U Tube overflow is better than a CPR.


I would like to ask why as well. When I was asking around everyone recommended against the U-tube. So I got the CPR-100. I thought the Weir style overflow was supposed to be the best?!?

[sjm817]

The CPR is a terrible design. Unlike a U Tube overflow, it cant maintain a siphon on its own. A U Tube overflow uses the velocity of the water through the Tube to keep air from accumulating. Nothing else is needed. No "moving parts", nothing to plug in, nothing to clog, nothing to fail. The CPRs wide flat integral C Channel can not keep air from accumulating. It requires an external vacuum pump to do so. It is prone to failure. A failed vacuum pump, clogged airline, and the very common clogged air nipple will all cause the CPR to fail.

Cleaning is another issue. A U Tube overflow is very easy to keep clean since it is 3 simple components that are easily removed and cleaned. The CPR is one piece. You can not get into the internal channels to clean them.

[malsavant]

Is there a way to mod it to prevent the clogged nipple?

[sjm817]

The nipple is really tiny. It takes nothing to clog it. I would try replacing it with a larger one, and/or a 2nd for redundancy.

[malsavant]

Hmm, this sounds like a diy challenge. I'm going to see if I can manage this one. Haha.

[DarG]

I had a CPR and it never failed on me. Luckily, I never had the air nipple clog or my pump fail. You can keep the nipple clean and hope something large enough doesnt plug it up all at once.
You can keep a spare aqualifter pump and hope the in service one doesn't die when you arent home. But you just cannot get inside that C channel and clean it. You would have to remove the whole unit and soak it in bleach to kill the algae and then vinegar to get any calcium stuff.

That said, I'd take a CPR over a U-Tube unit that is not 100% reliable to maintain siphon when power goes out and resume siphon after power comes back on. Thankfully there are options.

Lifereef ... the build quality and the design is worth the money. You are talking about a critcial component of the tank.

[sjm817]

All U-Tube overflows (not just Lifereef) are 100% reliable after a power failure unless it is very poorly designed. Much more so than a CPR. That is why they dont require an external pump to keep them working.

[XSiVE]

I agree. A U-tube design will not lose siphon if designed properly by use of a baffle in the outside box.. or a J-tube design where the outlet of the tube is significantly lower than the standpipe in the outside box.

[DarG]

There are plenty of generic U-Tube overflows that I wouldnt trust to maintain siphon. I have one sitting on the shelf that claimed to keep siphon at power failure but doesnt do so reliably.
They are not all properly designed despite the concept being a simple one.

[sjm817]

True. There are some poorly built U Tube overflows. There are also many good ones. The CPR is always poor. The difference is one is a flawed design. The other is a good design that may have a poor implementation.

[DarG]

Right and I agree. I own a Lifereef dual. I had a CPR. Can't clean it and you have to rely on the air nipple staying clog free and the aqualifter pump (or other device) operating without failure. Too many variables that can cause failure.
But it's better than a poorly designed U-tube that definitely will lose siphon when the power goes out.

All I'm saying is that one should make sure that the U-tube overflow that they are buying is designed properly so that it will not fail when the power goes out. Despite it being easy to make a reliable U-tube overflow, it is a mistake to assume that they all are failsafe.

[sjm817]

We are in agreement. I've pimped LR overlows a lot. I ran a single for a couple of years and it was flawless. I also had an Amiracle that worked very well. Very reliable, but didn't have the flow capacity. There are a few overflows that I've seen that have a serious flaw in the design. All I'll say about the flaw is it is something basic to the principle of how a siphon works.

[malsavant]

Wait but that doesn't make sense. If there is a power outage for say 30 minutes there is no way a u tube overflow can maintain siphon. It will eventually draw all the water that it can out of the main tank and then lose suction. I mean have you tried it with your LR? It's just a matter of time before it loses siphon.

[sjm817]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10304038#post10304038 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by malsavant
Wait but that doesn't make sense. If there is a power outage for say 30 minutes there is no way a u tube overflow can maintain siphon. It will eventually draw all the water that it can out of the main tank and then lose suction. I mean have you tried it with your LR? It's just a matter of time before it loses siphon.
Nope. Doesn't work that way. It will hold siphon until....a long time. If it sat until the water evaporated out of the boxes and exposed the ends of the U-Tube, it would break siphon (weeks maybe?)