Cheap, easy, sexy, and effective DIY overflow!

[Joe Lydon]

Most (if not all) regular spray paint is 100% fine to use in an aquarium once fully cured..


As to the overflow.. Its "ok" but it has issues..
Clearly its not very quiet (look at all the bubbles coming out in the sump)..
There is no emergency pipe of any kind so a clog (instant or slowly over time) can/will cause a flood if your return pump area is not sized properly..
It will need more routine cleaning as algae,etc.. can/will grow inside it being that the slits are up facing light..
And a few others.. and some of that can be addressed/fixed..

Does it work.. SURE does..
Is it a cheap way to get a c2c overflow... SURE is..
Are there better/more reliable ways.. Absolutely..

The bubbles have calmed wayyyy down. I routed a recirculating pipe off of the return, that dumps water back into the skimmer chamber. I was getting massive bubbles, from too much flow. Now, that it's toned down, and much flow is redistributed to the skimmer chamber, it's next to silent, and bubbleless.

The emergency pipe, is directly in the center. It's wide open, and sits below the top of the tank, should the slits clog. The stock drain, only had a single pipe. So, it's as relatively safe, as the stock apparatus.

Pertaining to cleaning, I keep my tank surfaces, and equipment, almost sterile. I hate coraline build up on glass. I hate algae. I hate powerheads having stuff on them. I regularly clean everything, to keep it looking pristine.

 

[treesprite]

Anyone have new feedback on this idea, or variations? I got a new 75 and am trying to decide what to do for the overflow.

Has anyone used something like this for higher flow, like 1800?
Has anyone used it with an external box?
Can anyone give comparions/description of using different size pipes (the slotted intakes) and different positions of them(straight across back, extending into tank, angled, etc)?

 

[laverda]

Why would you want 1800 GPH in a 75 gallon tank. Most sumps designed for a tank that size can not handle anywhere near that much flow. There is not benefit to having much more than 350 gallons per hour flow through your sump. It just costs more pumping all that water and produces more heat as well.

 

[treesprite]

Why would you want 1800 GPH in a 75 gallon tank. Most sumps designed for a tank that size can not handle anywhere near that much flow. There is not benefit to having much more than 350 gallons per hour flow through your sump. It just costs more pumping all that water and produces more heat as well.

Not every system is the same. My last 2 x75g tanks had high flow from main sumps and no powerheads, with DIY glass C2C overflows. Never had a heat problem. I usually use two sumps, the main is higher flow while the second is lower flow (my 50 has a high flow sump and a low flow sump where the skimmer is, for about 24g extra system volume and 10g worth of back siphon space). I would do a CL and do lower flow through the sump, but there were a lot of CL naysayers regarding the used 120 I got that was already drilled for a CL (for other reasons I ended up not finishing that tank, so it is just empty stashed in junk room). I did consider doing a micro CL on this 75, but I just got the thing, don't even know what I'm doing for the overflow yet. I already have pumps and equipment, the only thing going in the system new is overflow and plumbing.

 

[laverda]

Yes your correct every tank is different as are we hobbiests. I have tried to not have power heads in my tanks in the past and just rely on a large 3000 GPH return pump for flow. However even with using a 4 way Oceans Motions the flow was just to limiting for me.

 

[treesprite]

Yes your correct every tank is different as are we hobbiests. I have tried to not have power heads in my tanks in the past and just rely on a large 3000 GPH return pump for flow. However even with using a 4 way Oceans Motions the flow was just to limiting for me.

It tends to create a lot of surface flow, not enough lower down. I had some sorta weird return setup on my last 75, which worked for the flow getting where it needed to go, but it was ugly and required a lot of extra back siphon space in a sump, which is why I'm toying with the idea of a mini CL with just two 3/4 returns half way down. That tank had a glass C2C, end to end of the tank (lately I see people saying C2C for overflows that are not full length... not sure what that is about).

The 50g I'm running, which is 30"x18", has a pump rated 1400, head loss probably puts it at about 1200, and the return is a Sea Swirl, not the weird returns, so there is all surface flows which causes me to use a powerhead halfway down the tank.

If the stupid tiny OF box in the 50 wasn't bulkhead-mounted, I'd pull it out and put something like this thread's DIY OF in it to test it out! (Got the tank used and just using it the way it came, which sucks).

 

[laverda]

If the stupid tiny OF box in the 50 wasn't bulkhead-mounted, I'd pull it out and put something like this thread's DIY OF in it to test it out! (Got the tank used and just using it the way it came, which sucks).

If the overflow is bulkhead mounted, why not just remove it and mount the C2C to the same bulkheads? You may need to get a bit creative with PVC, but it should be easy to do. I modify PVC fittings all the time for custom installations.
I always thought one of the advantages of a C2C was to not have teeth at all but one long continues thin sheet of water flowing into it. I removed the teeth on my conventional overflow

 

[treesprite]

If the overflow is bulkhead mounted, why not just remove it and mount the C2C to the same bulkheads? You may need to get a bit creative with PVC, but it should be easy to do. I modify PVC fittings all the time for custom installations.
I always thought one of the advantages of a C2C was to not have teeth at all but one long continues thin sheet of water flowing into it. I removed the teeth on my conventional overflow

Being bulkhead mounted means I can't take off the box without taking off the bulkhead, and taking off the bulkhead means detaching the plumbing (unfortunately, when I got the tank from my friend, he made me promise not to drill more holes into it, so I used it the way I got it).

The C2C in my old 75 (left behind when I moved), had no teeth initially, but fish kept ending up going over it , so I drained a few inches of water then used a dremmel to grind some teeth into the glass.

I'm wondering, if I do the DIY PVC OF, would it make it better or worse to make the pipe more oval (could use a heat gun to soften the PVC).

 

[laverda]

What’s the big deal about detaching the plumbing? Even if you have to cut it, just allow enough room for a double sided slip connector or a union might be better. A horizontal narrow slit would keep fish out.