overflow box and refugium question.

[MikePowell]

I have a 37 gallon tank that I am setting up. It will have a 29 gallon refugium and I am wondering what kind of overflow box I should get, and what size and kind of return pump to use to get the water back into the tank. Please help me. (I see so many threads go unanswered)=*(

[lsuberl]

I'm looking to setup a 37g tank as well (the 30" long variety) and need an overflow. I've been impressed with all the praise of the Lifereef product. I'm also wondering what anybody knows about the product at Oceanpro Aquatics. It's much less expensive and uses 2 U-tubes. I can't look at the picture and tell anything about what kind of fittings it has. Has anybody seen/used this model before?

[Tennsquire]

Owning a Lifereef overflow, I agree that they are well-built. However, I think any type of u-tube overflow will work for you. Keep the tube clean so it flows clean and doesn't lose siphon. Just stay away from the non-tube type (ie, the CPR channel type overflows that need a powerhead to clear bubbles). There are other u-tube overflows as well (Amiricle comes to mind, but there are others). I also have a couple of no-name brands, and they have never overflowed or lost siphon when the power goes out.

As for a return pump, you don't need much for a 37 but you want enough flow so that bubbles don't accumulate in the overflow. Probably better to have a larger pump and "T" off the return back to the sump so you can control flow as needed. This also depends on how much "head" your pump has to fight against (distance between the sump and the tank). I have Mag 7's as returns on both my 75 reef and my 40 prop tank. Found that slowing down the return in the reef helped my skimmer out by keeping the water in the sump longer for skimming. You could probably go with a 500 gph pump as your return, throttled back a bit. Just have to make sure it doesn't overwhelm your overflow. HTH