DIY hang on overflow box...

HulaDad

New member
I had a few various plumbing supplies laying around and figured I would try to replicate an overflow box. So I gathered my bulkhead, nylon bolt and wing nut, piece of acrylic and got myself two of those nifty little containers that they use at the lfs to put your fish in before it goes into a bag... I took a drill bit and drilled holes all the way around the container that goes inside the tank instead of making notched weirs.... Put it to the water test and it works great...
So, tell my what you thing of my $20 overflow box....


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I'll second that!... you'll maybe also want to put a baffle in the drain side to maintain a constant water level (and the siphon) around the tube output.
 
It should, but it's going into the back of a cube tank with the wall in it, and the water level there is substantially lower than in the display part...
 
I'll second that!... you'll maybe also want to put a baffle in the drain side to maintain a constant water level (and the siphon) around the tube output.

Not sure what you mean by baffle on the drain side? Sounds interesting though...
 
huladad, I was trying to build an overflow as well, after reading lots of threads and advice from the guys I now have a custom one built with the cpr design (no tube)
here are a couple of things you need to change
the part that goes into your aquarium (the prefilter box), you either need to have teeth cut into it so that it can get the top layer of water + it avoids fish n critters getting ito the box, OR you can just cover the top with gutter guard or such
other than that your prefilter box is fine.

the outter box (drain) is another story. The bottom part of this box NEEDS to be below the bottom of the prefilter box for the siphon to work correctly (don't ask me why, but its simply the laws of gravity). If you look at the FIrST pic that you posted, one box is lower than the other. you've got it done the opposite way, so if you can just switch the boxes ur fine.
The second is u need a baffle or a divider in the drain box. it works like this.
The divider will be half the height of the box. One half will be drilled with the hole for the bulkhead the other hald will be sealed.
The part that is sealed will recieve the water from the tube, when it reaches the height of the baffle, it will overflow into the other half (the one wiht the drain).
if for whatever reason the siphon stops, it will automatically restart (most of the time) because of this divider.

Other than that you are set.

oh yeah one last thing, it looks like your U tube is 1 inch, and your drain is 1 inch as well.
Drain should be bigger than U tube, to prevent overflowing due to blocked drain or such.

Hope that helped ya.
 
If I extended the drain tube up higher would that keep a constant siphon?

I made a few of these years ago with the eact same parts. All you need to do is glue a small section of PVC into the drain of the outer box. There has to be some diference in height between the top of the drain and the bottom of the Utube or the best you'll have is a lot of sloshing around as the water immediately heads south. It will also make it MUCH easier to start and maintain a siphon. Make sure you glue the extension in. It has to be a watertight seal.
 
This is EXACTLY what I'm trying to build for my 28 gallon Nano cube!
I managed to get it working (sort of) but am wondering if I have my design all wrong.
What I ended up doing was taking a specimen container and attaching it to the back where the internal overflow box is located. I cant seem to find any u tubes any where so, I made my own using 2x 90 degree elbows. I wanna try and maximize the water circulation though the overflow box.
 
This is EXACTLY what I'm trying to build for my 28 gallon Nano cube!
I managed to get it working (sort of) but am wondering if I have my design all wrong.
What I ended up doing was taking a specimen container and attaching it to the back where the internal overflow box is located. I cant seem to find any u tubes any where so, I made my own using 2x 90 degree elbows. I wanna try and maximize the water circulation though the overflow box.

The catalog sites like Petsolutions, DFS, etc. sell Utubes. Be careful though since yours may bit a bit small, and stock U-tubes may not fit. If you go to a good size LFS and ask I'm sure they would have them as well, just more expensive. As a last resort you can also use a short length of clear vynil hose. The curl in that stuff makes it close to a Utube. You can buy black vynil hose at HD so it doesn't get clogged w/film algae.
 
I got my U tube at my LFS.... Here's a pic of my overflow box in action, I'm probably going to take it offline and do some of y'all's suggestions... I put it on a 34g Solana...

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So far my evaporation is only taking place in the sump... I have the water levels marked in the DT the back portion of the DT (overflow) and the sump.. Sump's the only one dropping... It's actually working better than I imagined....
 
That's because your OFB dictates the DT water level and that will always be the same unless the sump gets too low and the pump runs dry. Any loss via evap only ever be seen in the sump - its essentially one body of water now.

Nice job though ... +1 on the baffle or stand pipe -- a must really otherwise in a power outage your OFB will simply drain as it empties the water. With a baffle or stand pipe the end at the drain side remains submerged so it holds its syphon.
 
Thanks Andrea, I have turned off the return pump a few times since it has been installed and haven't lost siphon yet, but I might extend the stand pipe to to be sure....
 
here are some pictures of my makeshift overflow box.
I cant seem to get the water to flow correctly with out the aid of a power head.
:S
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