overflow box vs just a hole....advantages?

[latazyo]

I am going to make a 10g into a simple fuge basically for harvesting chaeto only

I am wondering if I should even bother to build an internal overflow or if I should just drill the hole and use that as a drain

it'll be drilled either way

so, my question is

are there any safety or other advantages to actually having the internal overflow box?

 

[trottman]

box is safer, i am on my way out the door as i saw this... i will send you a pm tomarrow explaining more, and my personal story about diy drains

 

[michealprater]

Please post it in the thread. I too have wondered this. I do not understand the point of overflow boxes.

 

[mpcart]

One advantage of overflow boxes is surface skimming.

-Mike

 

[panaboy95]

i had just a hole in my fuge to begin with, until it cloged with cheato and water went on the floor. i was staanding right there so not much mess but could have been a lot worse.

 

[mpcart]

Just noticed you were talking about a fuge and not a main tank. In that case, I have no idea why an internal overflow would be better.

-Mike

 

[latazyo]

thanks for the suggestions guys

it is easy enough to have lowe's cut a piece of glass and silicone it in, so I'll just do that


its ridiculously cheap too, so yeah

 

[trottman]

i had a hole in mine unitl christmass day 2006. when my cucumber climbed up and plugged the hole. i flooded about 10 gallons of water. my tank is located in my bedroom on the second floor right above my parents bed room. they were woken up to dripping water on there bed at about 4:30 in the morning.

if anything, just make a crude box to keep junk out. i dont think that surface skimming really matters if it is just a fuge or sump or whatever. go box just to be safe

 

[latazyo]

yeah, the glass for windows at lowes is ultra cheap and they cut it to size for you

so for less than 10 bucks I can make a box in the tank

 

[ncox38]

if it is glass how are you going to cut the teeth into it to act as a strainer?

 

[latazyo]

gutter guard

 

[StupidsReef]

IM LOM 2 done this for his fuge as well. Using just a hole worked fine for him. Bulk head it and drain it to your main or display. If all your going to have in it is cheato then I fail to see any issue's with it.