29 gal external overflow all DIY - yep another one

[impur]

Had a sad day yesterday, my mandarin decided to try carpet surfing. Found her dried up near my fuge yesterday after work. Very depressing, i'd had her for 8 months and brought her back from almost certain starvation by training her to eat frozen foods. I had hoped to keep that fish into old age.

 

[ctreefer]

That's a bummer, sorry dude. Its rare to hear of people getting mandarin's to eat frozen.

 

[sr71pav]

How did you hold the glass upright when you glued it on for the overflow? Is the silicon really strong enough to do that without support? I'm planning on doing something similar to my 15 early next year and I'm just trying to get all the info and figure out everything I need for it.

 

[impur]

I just used my tape measure to hold up the glass. See this pic, the bulkhead is resting on the tape measure.

Then for the sides I used a lot of silicon and used a couple books to hold the glass straight. Maybe not the mark of a pro, but it worked great for me!

 

[sr71pav]

I saw the tape measure. Just figured it was sitting there, I never even considered the bulkhead was sitting on it. Easy enough!

 

[impur]

Yep, pretty simple. Those bulkheads are from the electrical department at HD. I used them cuz they had a more pronounced lip that seals against the washer much better. I put some silicon around where the bulkhead meets the glass inside the overflow box, and used the washer on the outside. Has worked like a charm for 8 months now!!

 

[sidjam]

did you get the washers for the bulkheads from HD too?

 

[impur]

The wide washers i used I found at ACE hardware. The first ones i tried leaked, i did get those at HD.

 

[impur]

Well did my WC after dosing chemi clean and wow what a difference. All my cyno is completely gone. All livestock was normal thru the treatment, i just added an airstone to help oxygenate the water. Dosed on saturday at 5:00 pm and did my WC at 5:00 pm on Tuesday. Great stuff i highly recommend it if all other attempts fail

Of course after going thru all this, adding carbon and skimming a bit wet, the Rio needlewheel pump on my skimmer quit. What a load of crap, it was only 8 months old!!! So i had a maxijet laying around, busted it out and went to town trying to make a needlewheel for it and a venturi. Here is how it came out:

Cut down a bioball for the needlewheel:

Used the venturi from the Rio and a short piece of tubing to attach it to the maxijet

This thing produces much more, much finer bubbles, and is about half the size!

 

[daFrimpster]

OUtstanding thread! Thanks for documenting this so well. I have been kicking the idea around as I have a couple 29's laying around. The wife asked me what I want for christmas. I think I want the stuff I need to upgrade my 10g gal to a 29 much like yours.

 

[impur]

Thanks!! Sounds like a perfect xmas present!!! Hope the wife comes thru for ya.

 

[sidjam]

i'm getting ready to do this on my 29g. i read your whole thread, great work by the way. i may have missed this but i was wondering how big of a section of the black frame did you take out? just trying to figure out how wide to make my overflow. i know this depends on your return pump. i was thinking a mag5 or a mag3 with a closed loop. i will more than likely stick with your overflow width that way i can go with a bigger pump if i decide to.

 

[impur]

If i remember correctly I cut out 11" of the glass and 12" of the black plastic molding.

 

[daFrimpster]

How did you decide the width of the cutout? Did oyu try and estimate the flow? I wonder how it would work with making the overflow coast to coast or nearly coast to coast? I might have to try that.

 

[B Pierce]

Impur, I have been thinking of doing this to the tank in my room, does the overflow run very quiet?

thanks

 

[impur]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6239155#post6239155 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by daFrimpster
How did you decide the width of the cutout? Did oyu try and estimate the flow? I wonder how it would work with making the overflow coast to coast or nearly coast to coast? I might have to try that.

I used a calculator off the front page here at RC. I knew the scwd would cut back on the flow from the mag9 and there would be head loss, so i figured high at 750gph

Using the following input parameters
Gallons per Hour = 750

Drain and Overflow sizes are calculated as
Recommended minimum drain pipe diameter = 1.13 inches
Recommended minimum linear overflow size = 11 inches

11 inches I think the coast to coast overflows are sweet. Not sure what it would do the integrity of the back wall though. I wonder if it would crack eventually.

Impur, I have been thinking of doing this to the tank in my room, does the overflow run very quiet?

thanks

Using dursos i cannot hear the water traveling from the overflow box to my sump. The water traveling over the baffles in my sump however is not very quiet. I just have too much flow thru that small sump to keep it silent. Its not bad though, the tank is in my dinning room and I can't hear the water from my living room about 10 feet away.

 

[doody]

I'm needing to know if the height of an external overflow box matters?

 

[cmondo]

Very nice thread...I didn't read all of it but at one point you had a pic up of a monti that you weren't sure about. I think it is a superman monti, they have some at fragglereef.com if you want to check it out. nice job with the tank by the way.

 

[impur]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6348167#post6348167 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by doody
I'm needing to know if the height of an external overflow box matters?

I don't think it does matter. But you at least need some space for some sort of silencer on the bulkhead i would imagine.

 

[impur]

Well took some more pics this weekend. I hooked up my AC Jr. to utilize the temp controller. Wow, what a difference. I'm seeing better PE and better coloration in just a few weeks. That all came about early one morning when i was woke up by my neighbors beginning their party at 3am. I checked the tank after banging on the wall and noticed the temp at 70!! Out came the 250w ebo jager, put in a via aqua titanium hooked up to the controller and temp has not swung more than .6 degrees since.

On to the pics