Herbie overflow

[Treebeard]

I am drilling my tank and adding an Elite Aquatics 2-DRAIN overflow box, and ditching the old U-tube siphon overflow and going with a Herbie overflow. Do the drains going into the sump need to be fully submerged below the water in the sump? The current system only uses one 1" drain and I have it dropping into the sump into a sock filter. The noise was not an issue because the sump is in the basement below the DT on the main floor. The drain currently runs about 3 feet horizontally before it does a 90 into the sump and as I understand that is a bad thing and I need to eliminate horizontal runs, correct?

[warriorcookie]

For a herbie you want your siphon tube to go through a gate valve then the pipe exits about an inch below the surface of the water in your sump. If you take the pipe too far below the surface it will have difficulties clearing the air when the overflow starts up and the siphon is establishing.

The emergency line I left a few inches above the water level so when water is coming down it I can hear it tinkling into the water. That way I know to adjust the gate valve on the siphon line.


Perhaps consider a 3rd drain line for a "Bean Animal" style. I have a herbie and it needs adjusting from time to time. The Bean Animal needs less adjusting plus is considered by some to be safer.



I can't comment on horizontal runs as my sump is underneath. I have some 45's. I'd imagine horizontal runs would be more problematic than vertical/diagonal.

[gregzz4]

Horizontal is not a big deal, as long as there is a slight angle downhill
You don't want to hear gurgling trapped air in the siphon line, and you do not want standing water in the emergency line as it will turn rancid
My 5 foot horizontal runs drop about 1 inch

[Treebeard]

OK, thanks guys.