Glass-Holes Overflow - Ten Years Later

[redfishbluefish]

I have a 1500 gph Glass-Holes overflow on a 90 gallon DT and love it......installed in 2007.

In comparison to the typical corner overflow with a durso, the Glass-Holes is considerably smaller and easily disappears within the tank. Up until now, the only issue I've had is the breather tube getting clogged with what I believe is some precipitate....possibly salt or carbonate. I've solved this problem with running a metal ramrod down the tube every six months or so. It's actually is a vinyl coated metal rod sold as a garden support.

This week my DC Waveline return pump stopped working.....noticed at about 10:30 at night. Not wanting to dink around with the pump this late to see if I could get it running.....and having a back-up ready to flip out the old and put in the new within a minute or two, I put in the replacement MAG 9.5. Before going to the adjustable Waveline, I ran a MAG 9.5 for many years, and that's why I had this as a backup.

So I put in the MAG 9.5 and thought I'd at least remove the old pump to look at it tommorrow. I turned on the MAG and immediately noticed that the water level in the DT was above the sawteeth on the overflow. So the first thing I did was to clean the sawteeth, thinking they were crudded up with something, restricting the flow. Well that did nothing. So I then pulled off the internal cover inside the overflow, and again, no change. Reaching my hand down into the overflow (with the canopy I can't look down into the overflow), I felt a hard mass covering the two 1 1/2" pipes leaving the overflow. It's pretty small in this overflow, so I got a butter knife and dislodged as much of this as I could....seeing the stuff coming into the sump below....it appeared to be vermitid snails!!!! This greatly helped, but still had high water. So I got some rigid wire and did my best of getting into the opening of the bulkheads within the overflow to clean out these sessile snails. It's now back to running smoothly, but I want to come up with a better tool to easily clean the bulkheads in the overflow....need to play with ideas.

 

[mcarroll]

How about a piece of copper pipe just smaller than the ID of your drain. It may work as a (gentle) ramrod, but if needed you can easlier sharpen the edge (I'd hone the inside-only for this app) or even cut some teeth into it since copper is pretty soft.

 

[legionofdoon]

Isn't copper a bad idea for reef tanks?

 

[legionofdoon]

They have flexible cleaning rods for firearms that have interchangeable tips, I know brass (which is what most bore brushes are made of) contains copper but they also make rigid nylon jags as well.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Thanks @mcarroll and @legionofdoon for the suggestions.

First off, a copper tool that only spends a short period of time within your tank will not put anywhere near the level of copper to be an issue...... I'd actually say undetectable!

Now I had no problem clearing out the vermetids in the rectangular portion of the overflow....the butter knife did a nice job. The issue is getting into the opening of the 1 1/2 pipes/bulkheads exiting the overflow. Here is a crude drawing of a 1500 gph Glass-Holes overflow.

I'd guess that I only have about 5/8" to get a tool into that opening.....between the opening of the bulkhead and the outer wall. I originally used a piece or Romex wire with a 90 degree bend to get into the opening. What I'm going to try next is to use sheet metal....whatever I can find in the basement.....copper, aluminum, steel, etc....about 3/8 wide with the last inch bent at a 90 degrees. I think I'll be able to get this little tool into the hole to at least clear out the first inch or so into the bulkhead.

I'm not familiar with gun cleaning brushes, but I'll check those out too.

Again, thanks for the responses.

 

[legionofdoon]

I think a shotgun jag would probably work but you will have to move it around since I believe 12 gauge is .5 inch.