OK, I'm going to drill my acrylic tank. Want to get some surface skimming too. What have you done/seen in a DIY?
I was thinking 5/32 holes, in a 1 inch PVC (drilled on the top and slightly down the sides. From my calculation, About 40 holes would equal 1 inch diameter. So I was going to drill about 60+ holes for fun.
Attach the PVC (Capped on one end) to the bulkhead. This should do two things. 1) Surface skim 2) Keep the water level higher than a 1 inch bulkhead with a screen.
Second Thought going through my head. To ensure a tank with the greatest fill, should I drill through the bottom or top, or doesn't it matter?
in the old days, we used to but a big fitting like a 3" reducing bushing at the type of the pipe. we drilled the fitting instead of the pipe. another way is to use a strainer with the end cutted off. i would get an overflow box made, nowadays.
Well, I've never worked with Acrylic. What would be the advantage of the overflow box? How difficult would it be to make? Where do I get the acrylic? How do I glue it to the acrylic aquarium? Is it permenant? And, final question...(yeah, right) The aquarium is a funny shaped hex. I think it would be more of a savings of space if I use the lenght of pipe.
Here's my thought anyway. Drill the tank near the top back. Had a guy at VIPets (Grand Rapids, MI) mention drilling the bottom of the tank. I think drilling the side will be the easier route. I still need room on the back of this tank for the return bulkhead and one maxijet 1200. Going straight out with the "surface skimmer" seems the most efficient use of space.
I highly recommend the overflow box. its alot easier than drilling holes and all that other fun.(which i like the fun stuff ) you can buy the boxes at marine depot. here is the link to the overflows. click here
also one of the advantages of having a overflow box is its not perminent. if you dont like where it is or how it works you can change it..
if the return is planned right you will have enuff room for the overflow pump and return..
is that above picture a picture of the top of your tank? and does the plexiglass top come off? or is it sealed? im not to familiar with those types of tanks.
I'm shying away from the overflows. I don't want to be away durring a power outage and have the fear of a flood. With a bulkhead, it can't loose siphon.
Oh, and the tank looks mucky, as I was playing with a scratch kit today. Filled it with hose water to see what it would look like with water.
yes thats one downfall to overflow boxes. if everything comes back ok then you are good to go. but if the lift pump doesnt come back with the rest then you might have a problem. what we did was took a float and stuck it into the sump that will cut the return pump off if the water level in the display gets higher than the inlet on the overflow. all the testing shows failsafe..
well actually, a power outage wouldn't cause a flood. the only thing that would cause a flood in a normal case is that if for some reason the siphon was broke while the return pump was still running.. unless of course your sump cant handle the drain back, which incase you have more to worry about than overflow vs bulkhead..
that said, Dave as great DIY overflow info.. i asked him to jump in and share. i know its posted in here somewhere, i just haven't been able to find it
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well the cpr that i am refering to needs a pump to complete the syphon, what i was talking about is if the power came back on and that pump stalled then you would have problems.. if there is a way to run that without the pump i would really like to know
You can run the CPR with the air line from a power head instead of a lift pump. That makes it a little more fool proof. I do not want to get an overflow box, as I want to be as sure as I can that I don't dump more water on the floor. A 1" hole in the wall of an aquarium has a tough time loosing siphon.
You can run the CPR with the air line from a power head instead of a lift pump. That makes it a little more fool proof. I do not want to get an overflow box, as I want to be as sure as I can that I don't dump more water on the floor. A 1" hole in the wall of an aquarium has a tough time loosing siphon.
yes, especially since there is no siphon to worry about...
all in all, having it drilled is the best route to go.
i do wish i could offer more experience with the custom surface skimmer..
the design looks sound, and is similar to one i did, but mine was to feed a my return pump, not to drain to a sump. so the holes and pressures are a bit different
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