Rich's DIY Overflow

[rdnelson]

Thought I would try my hand at building a DIY Overflow. I am sure I could have bought one for about the same price but that takes the fun out of it.

This morning I got all the acrylic cut and bent and started a bit of the assembly. Here is the first batch of pics.

Rich
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[KrisDeitz]

Awesome job!

 

[rdnelson]

Thanks bud. I appreciate it. Made a little more progress. Here are a couple more pics.

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[KrisDeitz]

I tried to make one when I first got in the hobby and it worked for a month then started having issues. Hope yours works out better!

 

[rdnelson]

LOL I hope so too. As long as I don't end up with a flood.

 

[raz0945]

Nice going Rich! I have not seen anyone try one, it looks complicated-with bending the acrylic. I like your choice of authors - Staurt Woods. Holley

 

[rdnelson]

LOL on the authors. I like him too but have not read that one yet. My father-in-law sends us a box full of books every few months and that one happened to be on top of the box and about the right size. LOL

Running a leak test at the moment. I think I have a small leak in the wier but the main body is holding water well. By this afternoon, i hope to have it complete and working. Cross your fingers, toes and eyes for me please. LOL

 

[rdnelson]

Up and running. I will install a 90 on the bulkhead to quiet it down a bit and I need an aqua lifter for the suction but then it is on to building the sump.
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[rdnelson]

Here is a video of it in action.

 

[eagle9252]

this LQQKs familiar. I just did some test today and mine is not flowing fast enough. I built it for a 40gal DT and now I have a 75gal DT. not pictured but I have street elbow on it now. and its all 1-1/4"

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[rdnelson]

Nice Eagle. I haven't check the flow rate yet but I believe it will be enough for my 45. Got to be better than the canister filter I currently have right? LOL I have to pick up an Aqua Lifter for mine. I tried using a power head but that just didn't give enough suction to get the siphon started. Better safe than sorry right?

 

[eagle9252]

if you look at mine i dont have anything but a fitting and a check valve hooked up

 

[eagle9252]

i hooked it to the powerhead and it has increased the flow. but thinking of making a wider one.

 

[eagle9252]

i hooked it to the powerhead and it has increased the flow. but thinking of making a wider one. I changed the street elbow out and went with a modified bean. have to post a pic later.

 

[rdnelson]

I put a street elbow in mine but it was still making a bit of noise and gulping. I than drilled a small hole in the top of the street elbow and put an air valve in it to allow a little air in while keeping the entire elbow below the water line. Now it runs extremely quiet. I bought a used aqua lifter and tied it instead of using a power head. Still not happy with the way it starts up. Getting a bit too close to overflowing the tank (well for now a cooler that simulates a tank) before the siphon really kicks in. I think it is because I put a check valve in line. My hopes was that it would help to prevent losing the siphon but I think it is restricting flow too much and the aqua lifter is having a hard time over coming that. I have time before I put it in action for good because I still need to build my sump so I am going to continue to tweak it.

 

[gort]

WOW.... that is nice. How do you bend it?? Heat it up ? How. I want to make a few brackets for my sump to hold hoses and probes. I have been leery of getting the bends done.

Cut with what? Jig saw?

I have drilled it before

 

[rdnelson]

Gort;701643 wrote: WOW.... that is nice. How do you bend it?? Heat it up ? How. I want to make a few brackets for my sump to hold hoses and probes. I have been leery of getting the bends done.

Cut with what? Jig saw?

I have drilled it before

Thanks. I used a propane torch to heat it when I bent it. I tried my wife's hair dryer but that just wasn't enough heat. The key to using a torch is to keep the flame a decent distance away and keep it moving evenly over the area to bend. If I were to do it again, I think I would just cut flat pieces and weld them all together. That way I would have better control over the dimensions of all sections.

I have heard that using a Jig Saw doesn't work well. I used my table saw, router table and a cut off blade in my dremel tool. Worked great. It really was a lot easier than I expected it would be.

 

[eagle9252]

I had problems and so far so good. I used a modified bean animal. The street elbow was not low enough because the box is not deep enough but I added a tube to it and it made it somewhat quitter but flow was not good. So I set a tee on it with a 90* turned down. It did better but noise and flushed real bad. I added the pieces in the 90* to keep it up. I slide it off the bulkhead just a bit and added the push connect fitting on top, it’s what I had. With the line open it flows slow and blocked it flows fast and gurgles. It seems that it is real good at the moment. I think I might add another tube or I might rebuild for more flow.

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