Cheap and easy surface skimmer....

CoolUsername, yeah I think that would work great. And like you said the ABS is much easier to work with than black acrylic. (And cheaper).
 
I would adjust the pipe size based on your needs. Are you going to want to place a float switch inside?

I just cut out some half circles of paper in different sizes and played around until I found an approximate size that i felt would work.
 
I got the float switch from a Grainger branch location.
http://www.grainger.com

And to cut the ABS I just used a handsaw. It wasn't perfectly straight, but the silicon helped make up for that.
ABS stands for Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene. You can get it at Menards, Lowes, HomeDepot.
 
oh ok i have heard that the black pipe releases toxins but the white and the grey electrical is ok though any thoughts
 
There was a thread here on RC I read where basically for every person that said it was toxic, there was another person who had used ABS for years without problems.
 
Great idea. I've been wanting to setup at 5-10g nano for the office - I can now put my skilter overflow to use instead of collecting dust.
 
I think that quarter-circle would work great for a coast-to-coast style overflow. You really don't need to cut any teeth in it - all that does is decrease the available length for skimming by about half. With a smooth rim, it will skim the entire length, and the thickness of the surface layer that gets skimmed will be only half as thick (for the same amount of flow).


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7837380#post7837380 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CoolUsername
This is kind of like what I was thinking:

arc_overflow.png


I would cut teeth into the top edge (long straight). I think this is the perfect material for this application. And I guess I have more tools to work with it than the alternatives.
Click to expand...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7846496#post7846496 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by despot101
There was a thread here on RC I read where basically for every person that said it was toxic, there was another person who had used ABS for years without problems.
Click to expand...

I'm one of those that is usually pretty cautionary. I've read the posts and don't worry about ABS. I have used ABS for various things. Mainly because it is black. Second it is cheap. Third it is less dense than water (It floats) PVC is more dense than water (sinks) Sometimes that is useful.

Most of the claims supporting the myth (no one has verified this to my knowledge) is that ABS is not NSF certified. NSF stands for National Sanitation Foundation. That scares people for some reason.

On the surface it would seem that picking only NSF certified materials would be an easy rule to follow to remain safe. The problem is if you did that you wouldn't be able to have silicone seals, o-rings, sand, rock, electrical cords, ceramic impeller shafts, biowheels, filter socks, or egg crate in the tank/sump. Since none of the materials going into these are certified and most could never be certified.

NSF wants to make sure that the materials used are food safe. That means among other things, that the material cannot harbor bacteria. Is anyone in the reef hobby worried about keeping bacteria off of and out of materials in the tank? On the contrary, we design the system so it can and will harbor bacteria. The NSF certification is has a different set of goals.

Anyways I'm rambling, but I haven't worried about it.
 
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