i am currently setting up a 75gal tank thats not drilled or anything. i have an eshopps overflow box on my 55 and while it does a good job, i would like to get rid of the box. i really want to be able to have the tank closer to the wall instead of 6 inches out and i'm not real fond of seeing the box inside the tank either. i was thinking about drilling the back wall and just going with an elbow coming off the bulkhead with a strainer but worry about noise. my plan was to have a drain on both ends of the tank with the return in the middle of the tank. i have been trying to find builds or videos with any this simple design but can't seem to find anything as most ppl have an overflow box. any opinions on this? ideas of how to make it work or examples?
boxless overflow?
- Thread starter horrifier
- Start date
I could be wrong, but if you're tank is tempered glass, I don't believe it can be drilled... I could swear I remember reading that in another thread.
I have a tank drilled in the back, the 2 overflows are 1". It works well,
it is my outside tank during the summer, when set up, water is sent from the pond to the tank, and overflows back again.
it is my outside tank during the summer, when set up, water is sent from the pond to the tank, and overflows back again.
I n summer when it's set up, it has elbows. At the moment it's where I over winter pond plants, and its only partially full.
My old 270 was plumbed with just a bulkhead overflow on the back of the tank (no boxes). Instead of a 90 on the overflow, consider using a T fitting. I think it will eliminate the issues you get with full siphons (noise and flushing). I just put a microfiber cloth on the top of the T fitting to silence it and it worked like a charm...the system was dead silent. The only issue with this type of overflow is that you have to make sure your sump is large enough to handle all the backsiphon when the pumps are turned off. I only had a 35G sump and the backsiphon would fill it dangerously close to the rim since the water level in the display tank would have to fall about 3 inches before it drained below the bulkhead.
Here's a pic:
Microfiber cloth to silence the overflow...worked really well.
Here's a pic:
Microfiber cloth to silence the overflow...worked really well.
when i was saying elbow i was talkin about inside the tank, and the strainer off the elbow. that way it was up a little higher and the water level wouldn't drain as much into the sump. and on the back of the tank i was going to do a tee with a bit of standpipe on top with a cap with a hole in it. thats my thinkin to help with noise anyway. its the same concept i see with ppl that put a overflow box on the inside of the tank when its drilled on the back wall, i just want to do without the box thats all
oh, gotcha. That makes sense. Yeah, I personally like this setup better than a huge overflow box that takes up tons of space within the tank. In my opinion, the downside is that the tank can't sit quite as flush against the wall with the external "off the back" overflow.