diy overflow--no more noise

[slayer]

so im almost done with my 300 gall...when i brought it it had no overflow...so i drilled a 2 inch hole on each end of the tank and placed a 90 degree elbow facing upward and cut little teeth into it with a circular saw..it did skim the surface but not really good..so a couple of months later (last 2 weeks) i decided to build my own overflow...and this is what i came up with..its been running for 2 weeks ,(you can see where the water level dropped to when i installed them) and boy has the skimmer been turning out the gunk...I ordered a piece of black acrylic, cut out the dimensions of the box with a router and then routed some teeth into it..glued all the pieces together with weldon 16..and then the really scary part -glued it onto the inside of the tank, and clamped in place for 3 days...im glad to say it all worked out..my only regret (somewhat) is that now the water level can be seen in the tank as i did not place the box high enough.( previously it was high enough so that the frame of the tank covered it).At the same time i did not want to place it all the way to the top because if the teeth ever got blocked with algae then water would have to flow over the top of the teeth, and this might lead to an overflow....i also pointed the 90 degree elbows down inside the overflow,,,and happy to say no more gurgling!!!
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[tsciarini]

Very cool! Good work on the DIY!

 

[lifestudent]

Very nice workmanship! :thumbs: <span style="color: blue;">AND</span> I like the idea that the overflow box does not take up all that real estate in the tank like the ones take up the enter corner of the tank and drain from the bottom of the tank.

Bob

 

[vettesarebest]

Yes I like it as well. I wish I could build like that lol. Where did you get the black acrylic?

 

[slayer]

a buddy had some laying around , that i stole...hope he doesn't notice

 

[tsciarini]

Hmmm... I wonder if it was a guy named Jesse... I think I'll call him and ask,

"It's almost 9PM.... do you know where your black acrylic is?"

 

[sprayin70]

Great Job!!! Another successful DIY!!!

 

[slayer]

lol!! yeah lets not mention it to him (jessie)...

thankx david..great idea...i was thinking about getting a new pump to push water harder to raise the water level, but your idea is a lot simpler.....

 

[james s_]

slayer77 wrote: lol!! yeah lets not mention it to him (jessie)...

thankx david..great idea...i was thinking about getting a new pump to push water harder to raise the water level, but your idea is a lot simpler.....

not to mention that a bigger pump will not raise the water level it would just increase your turnover rate.looking good!

 

[broreefr]

slayer77 wrote: ..my only regret (somewhat) is that now the water level can be seen in the tank as i did not place the box high enough.( previously it was high enough so that the frame of the tank covered it).At the same time i did not want to place it all the way to the top because if the teeth ever got blocked with algae then water would have to flow over the top of the teeth, and this might lead to an overflow

I cant tell the size of the openings in the overflow but they look large enough that a small fish may get through it, I was thinking if you were to reduce the width of these slots that would eliminate small livestock maybe going through and it would definately raise your water level by reducing the flow, as long as your maintenance is good, there should not be an algae build up that would not be noticed long before there is a problem.

your DIY skills may very well open the door for a sub-forum here. quality work 4 sure

 

[slayer]

yeap,,,teeth are 1/4 inch wide....already had my two new perculas escape through them.. i thought they got harrassed by the other fish and died, but 2 days later i found them in my sump in the garage...they went through/ over the overflows down the piping into the crawl space under the house and up the piping into my garage where the sump is. that must have been a journey!!
im gonna fatten them up in the sump then place them back in the tank in a couple of months...

 

[justonemoretank]

Make sure while they are getting fattened up that they cannot find their way to the return pump! Ouch that would be a much worse trip back up to the tank than they had down to the sump. I used the black plastic "gutter guard" material to cover over my overflows to prevent anything from finding its way into the sump. It also works well as a safety net across the open back of the tank to prevent jumpers from escaping. If they make a jump for it they hit the black plastic screen and are bounced back into the tank.