overflow box on the outside... crazy idea ?

jph · 09-20-2006, 01:28 PM

so i had this idea for my new tank. in order to put the least amount of tubing or other visible foreign objects in the tank, how does this sound, has anyone done this before, or am i just crazy ?

if i drill some holes/slots in the back, about one or two inches from the top of my tank, that will skim the surface and flow into an overflow box that i'll glue to the back of the tank, then plumb that overflow to the sump.

can anyone think any reasons why i should NOT do this ? i'd like to keep as much out of the tank as possible.

thanks!
J.

Wiskey · 09-20-2006, 01:31 PM

Really cool idea IMHO, but if it is a glass tank I would be worried about cracking.

My friend has a 170G acrilic tank with an external overflow just like you describe.

Whiskey

Fly Guy · 09-20-2006, 01:42 PM

I have an external coast to coast overflow box on one of my tanks and think its awesome. Leaves all the space in the tank for your reef.

I saw a pic a while back of where the exact same thing was done with a glass tank....it was a fairly big tank too.........cant remember where though sorry.

jph · 09-20-2006, 02:02 PM

thanks, just the kind of replies that i was hoping for

it's an acrylic tank, so drilling should not be a problem.

J.

Fly Guy · 09-20-2006, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jph

thanks, just the kind of replies that i was hoping for

it's an acrylic tank, so drilling should not be a problem.

J.

if you want pictures of how i designed mine let me know. I didnt build the tank myself but i did design it as at the time i was doing it i never could find any good plans for doing so and the guy who made my tank had never done one before that was how i wanted it.

kappaknight · 09-20-2006, 03:38 PM

You don't even need an overflow really.. just a pipe down to the sump on the outside is fine.

Fly Guy · 09-20-2006, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kappaknight

You don't even need an overflow really.. just a pipe down to the sump on the outside is fine.

apples and oranges comparing a sinlge bulkhead overflow to a coast to coast or even a half coast to coast overflow.

zxcv123 · 09-20-2006, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kappaknight

You don't even need an overflow really.. just a pipe down to the sump on the outside is fine.

true although you will achive more flow with a box becaue the pressure will push more water through the bulkhead

Fly Guy · 09-20-2006, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zxcv123

true although you will achive more flow with a box becaue the pressure will push more water through the bulkhead

It has nothing to do with total flow. Its about surface skimming. Thats why you see tanks with dual overflow boxes on each side of the tank. It surely isnt for convenience as they take up a lot of space. It isnt for flow either as they could easily be designed to simply accept more water and for one box to handle the job. Its to skim from both sides of the tank over a larger part of the surface. With a coast to coast your tank drains over the entire back of the tank, combined with good flow skims the entire surface of the tank. Even a normal internal overflow box or like i said a "half" coast to coast will do a much better job than a simple bulkhead overflow set up.

You could make a simple single bulkhead overflow as big as you like to deal with your flow rates.

jph · 09-20-2006, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fly Guy

if you want pictures of how i designed mine let me know. I didnt build the tank myself but i did design it as at the time i was doing it i never could find any good plans for doing so and the guy who made my tank had never done one before that was how i wanted it.

YES ! please, a picture says more than.. well, you know

i'm planning to drill holes (slots?) near the left and right side of the back.
approx. along a 12" line. on the back (outside) i'll glue two 12" wide boxes, with a 1" bulkhead in the bottom, to which i'll connect a durso standpipe.
(which will drain into the sump)

but as always, i may change my mind if i see something that looks better

thanks!
J.

Fly Guy · 09-20-2006, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jph

YES ! please, a picture says more than.. well, you know

i'm planning to drill holes (slots?) near the left and right side of the back.
approx. along a 12" line. on the back (outside) i'll glue two 12" wide boxes, with a 1" bulkhead in the bottom, to which i'll connect a durso standpipe.
(which will drain into the sump)

but as always, i may change my mind if i see something that looks better

thanks!
J.

Slots would be better, but im not sure what kind of router set up could do this on a assembled tank....it really needs done befor the tank is assembled.

I actually had the same guy who made my sump make me the slotted acrylci that goes in the slot as the guy who made my tank would have charged me $50 to add the slots initially........the guy who built my sump did it for me for $15. Eggcrate would work fine as well, just not look quite as good

Were you planning on building those external overflow boxes yourself?? If so, making a box like mine would not be any harder to do, and if i ujnderstand what you are thinking corectly, wont take any more acrylic either..... ill dig up some pics

You could simply cut the slot ouot of the back of your tank with a decent size table saw and cover it with eggcrate to keep the critters out.

Fly Guy · 09-20-2006, 04:42 PM

Mine isnt actually a 100% coast to coast overflow....i have 5" in the middle that allows for tank strength and space for two cls returns.

You dont need to apy attention to all of this piping in the last pic....i kind of went a little exreme on my CLS

....the only pipes you need to look at are the two coming out of the bottom of the overflow box.............2 REALLY short dursos may need to go into 2 1 1/2" drains in the overflow box for noise......depending on how you pipe it down to the sump

Fly Guy · 09-20-2006, 04:56 PM

I was just thinking.....You could actually forget about the slot altogether and drill holes across the back......that would simplify the whole process and reduce it to simply gluing the box on the back.......drill your bulkhead holes first, as well as the bulkhead holes for any cls returns in the tank first as well......will make it a little easier but i dont hink doing it this way would be any harder than what you were thinking of doing in the first place............maybe even a little bit easier as you will be buiding one box instead of two

jph · 09-20-2006, 05:00 PM

thanks for all that!
i think i have a pretty good idea what i'll be doing now.

and i's about 100% different from what i was going to do two weeks ago! heh.

J.

Fly Guy · 09-20-2006, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jph

thanks for all that!
i think i have a pretty good idea what i'll be doing now.

and i's about 100% different from what i was going to do two weeks ago! heh.

J.

no prob. I will add this as well. If i had it to do over again, I would have made three different spots in that coast to coast that would have allowed me to put bulkheads for cls returns across the back. One in in the middle like it is with two and then two others that could hold one bulkhead, so those cls returns you see on the sides would be only 1 return instead of two. I can direct them any direction i want but id still rather have 2 more across the top instead of sides............When i had this tank built it was before i fell in love with the OM 8-way on my opther tank and it was intended to be plumbed with a 4 way instead of an 8 way. Just something to keep in mind depending on how you plan on doing your cls.

The reuslt of it would have still been coast to coast, but kind of a split up coast to coast.