Exploring new tank beginnings...

[DN328]

I had to notch the trim for my drains, if I had used 1.5” pvc I probably would not have needed to do this. The reason I wish I had gone with a toothless weir is it seems like they are easier to make silent, I was still able to make it silent but have to keep the overflow pretty full to do so which will make a beananimal setup pretty difficult.

Thanks for the explanation. The thing I realized with BA, at least what I have seen/read is that the ghost/external overflow doesn't need to be too deep for the primary drain to create a siphon. I think this us do to the shape of the "dorso"? For the Herbie, I know I had to have a least 6 inches above for it not to suck air.

Are you saying that the teethe created a splash if the water level was not high enough? If so, I also experienced that in my previous tank (internal overflow).

 

[DN328]

I did the same thing. I started with 2 inch siphons but ended up with 1.5 inch. DN328 chris jokingly said we are all the same (mfkers) he felt i would never go near maximizing 2 inch drains and he was right.

Id probably do 1.5 again because it works, but part of me feels like 1 inch would have been better. Not sure if this makes sense but my gate is hardly opened i doubt i could get my pinky through the opening. Say something makes it past the strainer and makes its way to the gate i wonder if it would easily clog where with 1 inch plumbing id imagine the gate would be opened a bit more and not clog. This never happened just something that been in the back of my mind for future set ups.


Btw i really like the black acrylic wraps they do i regret not going that route... my wife still mentions it lol.

If you remember I had 1" pipe for my Herbie. Well, I had a hybrid, since it was Herbie, but I had a trickle and a dry drain. Anyway, I had always wonder if having a bigger pipe made a difference IF the gate ended up being closed a lot more than if it was in a 1". If the pipe size wasn't the bottleneck then the weir teeth may become the bottleneck when the pump turned up. I'm going with 1.5" as I think that's a good compromise. Well, there's also 1.25"...

The cover that you mentioned is what I was thinking when you suggested. I wonder why Chris didn't think it would look good? I'm still not sure how it would attach to the tank without looking tacky, but I'm sure Chris could think of something, and I'll think through as well. The pipes will still be exposed going into the stand even with the cover.. It wouldn't be the end of world, seeing the plumbing IF I can do a clean job.

I've thought about going internal overflow, losing the six inches and calling it a day. But there's definitely benefits for the external. Don't want to overthink this either.

 

[DN328]

I was thinking chris could do something like this in black acrylic

The new tank will be similar to the old one ? Plumbing on the one side panel right ?

Yes, it's essentially like the old one, just the overflow is the primary difference (shown in my sketch above). Well there's other differences being it's acrylic the lids will now be able to sit flush, and all the little details.

 

[DN328]

New 225 wide

Picked up my new 72x30x25 225 wide last and installed the background last weekend. Ran the beananimal style overflows, filled the tank and tested for leaks this weekend. Everything checks out and plan to tear down my 125 and move in the new tank next weekend. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

Here is a build thread I did, communication is not my strong point but it has a few pictures.

bbortko Some floor changes before moving forward with tank so researching overflow in the meantime. Do you have any pictures of your weir inside your tank for the external overflow? From the pictures it looks like you have water level 2" from the top? I'd like to maintain this level even with around 2100GPH so wondering if I need to compensate the teethe sizing or height of the weir itself. Any reference you can provide would be appreciated.

 

[bbortko]

bbortko Some floor changes before moving forward with tank so researching overflow in the meantime. Do you have any pictures of your weir inside your tank for the external overflow? From the pictures it looks like you have water level 2" from the top? I'd like to maintain this level even with around 2100GPH so wondering if I need to compensate the teethe sizing or height of the weir itself. Any reference you can provide would be appreciated.

Pics weren’t worth sharing so I took some measurements. Water level is 5/8” below the lid, lid is 1/2” so it gives the illusion that roughly a inch of air space above the water. The teeth are 1” tall and start roughly 1/4” below the lid, slots look like they’re 3/16 wide. I couldn’t find my fishtank stick rule so the nonwater level measurements are estimates since I measure stuff from on my jeeps with my tape measure and it can have any number of fluids on it but I measure stuff all day everyday so they should be pretty close.

 

[DN328]

Pics weren’t worth sharing so I took some measurements. Water level is 5/8” below the lid, lid is 1/2” so it gives the illusion that roughly a inch of air space above the water. The teeth are 1” tall and start roughly 1/4” below the lid, slots look like they’re 3/16 wide. I couldn’t find my fishtank stick rule so the nonwater level measurements are estimates since I measure stuff from on my jeeps with my tape measure and it can have any number of fluids on it but I measure stuff all day everyday so they should be pretty close.

That really made my head hurt ; -) So from top of tank to the bottom of the teethe is 1 1/4". Your water level is 5/8", which means the water is roughly flowing under 3/4" of your teethe. What I realize is that no two tanks are the same and there's a lot of variables that I need to consider if I want that steady 2".