Project External Glass Overflow

[Tunjee]

Went to work with a dremel and ground out some teeth on a 20gal high.

 

[Tunjee]

Then I ground em out even more so I can get more flow.

 

[Tunjee]

A 10" wide, 6" high 4" deep glass box (well almost a box, it's missing two walls) with a 1" hole drilled in the bottom will be attatched to the back of the tank with silicone. The glass is cut and ready to be picked up localy. It is 3/16" glass, same as the tank.

 

[Tunjee]

nt

 

[H20ENG]

nice! How many days?

 

[steve68]

yeah cool what are u going to have in the tank

 

[shaw]

what kind of dremel apparatus did you use to do that. i just wanted to know about cracks and all that scary stuff
thanks

 

[Tunjee]

nice! How many days?

I started at 9pm and ended at 3am. The next day I redid them larger cuz they werent low enough and I needed more flow rate so add another 3 hours on that.

 

[Tunjee]

yeah cool what are u going to have in the tank

I"m planning on high flow and lotsa light, clams and sps some softies, few clowns clowing around

what kind of dremel apparatus did you use to do that. i just wanted to know about cracks and all that scary stuff

Diamond coated. Worked like a champ and still sharp after all that grinding. dremel bit #7103 and #7134, use the ball point to start the hole and the tapered bit to rout it out. I got the idea from a thread where someone drilled his tank while the fish were still in it .

 

[Tunjee]

Just figured out how to host some pics, heres a slew of photos!

Just figured out how to host some pics, heres a slew of photos!

Start with cutting a section of plastic away, I used a dremel cut off disk.

Measure, mark and cut.

Gotta keep it wet.

Be sure to have TWO dremels, you dont want to change bits between cuts ya know. Ok ok I got lucky and my bro let me borrow his dremel too.

MAS AGUA!!

Perty aint it!

The next day I cut the teeth out even more, see the difference? It's a quarter inch deeper tooth.

Up close and gnarly

Oh my whats that in the center of the pic? It took 6 to complete this job

 

[imsqueak]

Now you've gone and done it! this leads to external boxes, etc. What did you do for your plumbing after this? How many bits did you go thru? That's a real triumph in glass cutting. Sweet job.

 

[Tunjee]

Now you've gone and done it! this leads to external boxes, etc. What did you do for your plumbing after this? How many bits did you go thru? That's a real triumph in glass cutting. Sweet job.

Thanks for the compliment! The plumbing will be two one inch male adapters or one 1" male adapter I've not decided yet. I used one bit and it shows absolutely no signs of dullness, diamond coated bits must be hard to dull I guess.

 

[dsb1829]

Problem with those etching bits is that they leave a little trail on the glass surface when they get away from you

I like the idea. I am following along to see the outcome. Back when I was doing bigger tanks I had IA quote me a tank with external boxes on it so the only thing that would be seen are the overflow teeth from the viewing side. I first saw this done in Sanjay Josi's 180g tank. I think he had a company that does tombstones do the cutout in the tank.

 

[Hef]

Nice Job, I had never heard of this until a couple of days ago, when I talked to the guy at Inter-American, Mitch I think. He's the guy that makes the Starphire tanks from Canada. He was trying to describe this, how the only thing you see is the cutouts. He said soon it will be the only way to go with overflows.
Now that I've seen this, I would have to agree.
I dont understand your comment about the plumbing. What is the male adapter for. I'm assuming you are putting a box behind the cutouts. What size pump will you use to bring the water back up? I guess you just need to make sure you can get more water out of the tank than the pump can bring back...Right? I would think going with (One) 1 1/2" might be better. One inch can only carry about 600 GPH I think. You probably already know more than I do anyway, so I'll stop talking.
I'm looking for a good deal on a 120 gallon tank. It Will have an external overflow like this.
Keep posting the pics.

Hef.

 

[steve68]

i wouln't paint but that brings up a good point ....

 

[Tunjee]

What is the male adapter for.
Hef.

It's the bulkhead. I"ll have a pic of it soon. Two 1" holes will be drilled because 2 is better than 1. If one drain fails the other will take over.

 

[Tunjee]

very nice wish i had a way to start over. i dont think i'm going to tear it all apart. if everything goes really well i'm hoping to get a 75 gal in a year then i think this is the way to go. do you have a pic of everything assembled? god i love that idea. do you paint the back of it when your done?

Thanks for the compliment. Sorry no pic yet, i'll get one posted as soon as it's complete. I plan on painting the back black after the assembly/testing is complete.

 

[sharkdude]

What is your prefered dremel tool operating lubricating liquid in the green bottle? ;-)

nice job. curious to see final and filled operation.

 

[Tunjee]

Here is my progress report. Drain holes drilled, glass box mockup complete and bulkhead fittings fitted.

Glass must be held down tightly for dremeling.

One hole done.

It fits, I knew it would .

1"male adapter to 1 1/4" female pipe, rubber washer, rubber washer and 1" female threaded to1" female pipe.

Next step is the silicone.

 

[Hef]

GREAT JOB! Good point about having the two drainholes. Make sure you post some pics when you do the silicone job. Most of us have never done that, but I cant imagine it would be too hard.
Do you plan to have a Durso Mod in the box?
Do you have return holes drilled also?

Thanks
Hef.