Will this idea work for a DIY overflow box

[JosephM]

I love my Fiji cube on my current tank but planning on going with a budget frag grow out tank to connect into my current system. I know overflows aren’t that much but hey, save where you can save. So I found these two things on eBay, I’m building my own tank so I’ll have plenty of strong silicone to install the inner part

So I would install this where I want it by silicone in place. Drill a hole and install a 1” bulkhead and attach this display case to it. I’ll reseal all the edges of the box to make sure they can contain water and probably pick up some acrylic to make a top. Drill 2 holes at the bottom, both for 1” bulkheads (one for main and one for emergency). In theory this should work right?

 

[dbowman5]

1. it does not give a thickness on the box walls or bottom,
2.silicone does not seal the best on acrylic
3. are you attaching the display case to your sump or DT or what?
interesting idea, good luck!

 

[CMMorgan]

I'm intrigued but I, too, suspect this will be super thin. Prove us wrong?

 

[N.Sreefer]

Just out of curiosity is that in american dollars? I paid 80 canadian for my overflow so that might end up costing as much as a prefab overflow. Would be cool to be able to say you built it yourself though.

 

[JosephM]

1. it does not give a thickness on the box walls or bottom,
2.silicone does not seal the best on acrylic
3. are you attaching the display case to your sump or DT or what?
interesting idea, good luck!

I’ll be connecting it to the DT, drilling a hole through it to connect to the internal overflow so that I can have a bean animal drainage system. I might just buy my own acrylic and make a box, what size thickness would you think? Like 1/4 or 3/8?

Just out of curiosity is that in american dollars? I paid 80 canadian for my overflow so that might end up costing as much as a prefab overflow. Would be cool to be able to say you built it yourself though.

This is American dollars. The cheapest I could find was $115 for the size overflow box I need and that was on sale. I think I could keep this under $60 with the miscellaneous parts and that’s saving me money for a couple cheap frags or something

 

[dbowman5]

my concern was that if you were attaching the acrylic case to the side of your DT with a bulkhead it would not work because of the weight hanging on the bulkhead would deform the wall and fail.

 

[JosephM]

my concern was that if you were attaching the acrylic case to the side of your DT with a bulkhead it would not work because of the weight hanging on the bulkhead would deform the wall and fail.

What size acrylic do you think I should use to avoid it from deforming?

 

[N.Sreefer]

What size acrylic do you think I should use to avoid it from deforming?

The prefab ones are pretty thin I cant imagine it being thinner than the box on mine.

 

[JosephM]

The prefab ones are pretty thin I cant imagine it being thinner than the box on mine.

That’s what I was thinking. Just looked at fiji cube (what I’m trying to base my build off of) and they use 3/8” so I might just copy them. But at the same time it seems like the stress and worry might not be worth the saved $50-$60

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

I built my overflow out of glass for ~$10. I would do it again before I used acrylic in a glass tank. Even if you have to buy a glass cutting tool and diamond hole saw, it would still be less than $45.

My tank is a 220 gallon with 1.5" plumbing. I would make the overflow plumbing a lot smaller for a frag tank.

 

[N.Sreefer]

I built my overflow out of glass for ~$10. I would do it again before I used acrylic in a glass tank. Even if you have to buy a glass cutting tool and diamond hole saw, it would still be less than $45.

My tank is a 220 gallon with 1.5" plumbing. I would make the overflow plumbing a lot smaller for a frag tank.

Wow that looks slick!

 

[JosephM]

I built my overflow out of glass for ~$10. I would do it again before I used acrylic in a glass tank. Even if you have to buy a glass cutting tool and diamond hole saw, it would still be less than $45.

My tank is a 220 gallon with 1.5" plumbing. I would make the overflow plumbing a lot smaller for a frag tank.

That does look amazing. I see the last picture shows what it looks like on the inside kind of like a waterfall. Can you share some more pics so I can see how you get the water to the outside box. What size glass did you use?

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

That does look amazing. I see the last picture shows what it looks like on the inside kind of like a waterfall. Can you share some more pics so I can see how you get the water to the outside box. What size glass did you use?

Of course.

The first water test.


This videos not great quality. There is no room in the corner to take a good video.


The finished product with acrylic covers.

I went through the effort to build this so the overflow would disappear in the finished product.

 

[JosephM]

Of course.

The first water test.


The finished product with acrylic covers.

I went through the effort to build this so the overflow would disappear in the finished product.

That’s actually amazing. I think I’ll have to do that! What size glass do you think I can get away with?

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

How big is your tank, L x W x H? How much water flow do you want?

 

[JosephM]

How big is your tank, L x W x H? How much water flow do you want?

It’s going to be 30x30x16 and I’m going to use 1/2” glass. Probably going to go with 400-500 gph but I normally just play that number by ear

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

I would use 3/4" abs bulkheads with a bean animal drain. 3/4" bulkheads need a 35mm hole. So I would drill one 35mm hole in the back or side of your frag tank ~ 3" from the top lip of the tank. Then build a glass box about 10" or longer x 2 1/2" tall x 1/2" thick. (My 220 is 3/4" thick with ~2000 GPH flow.) The water will be about 1/4" - 1/2" over the height of the weir, so make it 1"-2" from the top of the tank.

Then for the external portion I would the box about 3"x8"x10" and drill 3 holes in the bottom for a bean animal drain.

Silicone those internal and external boxes to the tank and you're ready for plumbing.

Small tip, if you've never drilled glass before, practice on a scrap piece of glass. Then you can use that piece of glass as a template to keep the hole saw from walking.

My first tries I pushed too hard and chipped the glass.

 

[JosephM]

I would use 3/4" abs bulkheads with a bean animal drain. 3/4" bulkheads need a 35mm hole. So I would drill one 35mm hole in the back or side of your frag tank ~ 3" from the top lip of the tank. Then build a glass box about 10" or longer x 2 1/2" tall x 1/2" thick. (My 220 is 3/4" thick with ~2000 GPH flow.) The water will be about 1/4" - 1/2" over the height of the weir, so make it 1"-2" from the top of the tank.

Then for the external portion I would the box about 3"x8"x10" and drill 3 holes in the bottom for a bean animal drain.

Silicone those internal and external boxes to the tank and you're ready for plumbing.

Small tip, if you've never drilled glass before, practice on a scrap piece of glass. Then you can use that piece of glass as a template to keep the hole saw from walking.

My first tries I pushed too hard and chipped the glass.

Beautiful. Thank you for taking your time to do that for me!

 

[Ratherbeflyen]

You're welcome. Let me know if you have any questions and show us the finished product when you're done.

 

[JosephM]

I might've missed it but is 1/4" glass good or maybe too thick?