Silent Overflows!
Well I spent some of the evening re-doing the stand to the correct size. That is done now and i'm ready for the tank. I'm hoping that i'll get people coordinated for a move as soon as tomorrow evening and have the tank on the stand at that time.
The rest of the evening I worked on the silent overflow, and it is silent! SUCCESS.
First, the parts list
4" to 2" reducer
2" to 1.5" reducer
1.5" PCV pipe - 3-4 inches
3" PVC cap
Tools
Dremel tool /w sander
Drill
Saw
Now keep in mind this is NOT the final version. The final version will be sexy and look pretty.. this was a proof of concept version, a hack-job, to ensure that it would work in principal before I started to make it pretty.
Here are the PVC parts
The first job is to sand out the 2" to 1.5" reducer so that the 1.5" tube can fit in either end of it.
Once that is complete, attach the 1.5" length of pipe to the reducer. As shown, you'll need some holes or cuts in this pipe. The depth of these cuts cannot be bigger than the depth of the 3" end-cap. Be wary of what can get into the holes, and what can clog the holes. IMO more is better as you'll control volume with the return pump and close one of the two drain lines with a ball-valve later so more holes will give you extra flow
when a snail gets into this system.
Insert the 2" to 1.5" reducer into the 4" to 2" reducer. Of course, if you can find a 4" to 1.5" directly then adapt (and PM me with where you got it). It should look as follows.
Drill a small hole in the top center of the 3" cap. I started with 1/16 inch and will go up from there as I adjust. the 1/16th worked, but wasn't letting enough air in. Place (and in the end product glue) the 3" cap over the cut 1.5" pipe. This forms a durso overflow but does it in a circular pattern.
The height of the internal 1.5" pipe was cut so that the 3" cap was about 1/8 inch below the overflow line. I did this for astetics, and btw, I do not want to glue the 1.5" pipe into the bottom of the overflow... i want to be able to take it out, throw it in the dishwasher, and put in a second one... this makes mainteance on these a frig'n joke... cost of building a second internal overflow is about $4.50... so I will have a third one built so each month I can change out one for a clean one, throw one into the dishwasher and do nothing with the other one. (sorry this is on its side)
Thanks to everyone who's tagging along and reading. It's a real pleasure knowing you have an audience.
BTW this design is NOT mine, not at all. I've no idea who first did this so I'm not able to give credit, sorry and thank you to the unknown designer.
