Looking for a drain/overflow for my plywood build, roughly 900 gallons. Would prefer something simple and not looking to have an overflow box. Thinking more gravity based. Important to note this will be draining into a fluidized barrel filter and won't be my only filtration. Would it be as simple as screwing some upturned pvc elbows to the bulk heads? Any help would be appreciated.
Overflow Design - plywood
- Thread starter Dovii kid
- Start date
It certainly could be that simple; that's what I have done with numerous builds over the years with excellent success. Others will chime in with suggestions for more complicated designs with assorted oddball names, many of which seem to exist only to reduce the noise of the overflow "slurping" water, and if your tank is in a location where this is important you should check into those ideas.
My overflow-equipped tanks are all in my basement fishroom or workshops, and between the background noise of pumps, fans, etc. I don't notice any irritating noise from the overflows; being deaf as a post probably has something to do with that as well.
I drill the bulkhead hole right at the desired water line, and usually attach a Tee fitting so that the main water intake is from near the bottom of the tank through a vertical pipe attached to the bottom of the Tee. I put a 90 or 45 elbow into the remaining horizontal opening of the Tee, just slip-fit without any glue or threading so that I can adjust its angle such that a small amount of surface skimming takes place to keep the surface clean.
It certainly could be that simple; that's what I have done with numerous builds over the years with excellent success. Others will chime in with suggestions for more complicated designs with assorted oddball names, many of which seem to exist only to reduce the noise of the overflow "slurping" water, and if your tank is in a location where this is important you should check into those ideas.
My overflow-equipped tanks are all in my basement fishroom or workshops, and between the background noise of pumps, fans, etc. I don't notice any irritating noise from the overflows; being deaf as a post probably has something to do with that as well.
I drill the bulkhead hole right at the desired water line, and usually attach a Tee fitting so that the main water intake is from near the bottom of the tank through a vertical pipe attached to the bottom of the Tee. I put a 90 or 45 elbow into the remaining horizontal opening of the Tee, just slip-fit without any glue or threading so that I can adjust its angle such that a small amount of surface skimming takes place to keep the surface clean.
Thanks for the reply. By chance could you get a pic of the design. Think I understand just want to be sure.
Well, that wasn't quite as easy as I'd hoped. i had to move a bunch of plants and wood, mucking up my water a bit...and the pic still doesn't show much.
This is the best view I could get of the internal pipes:
Sorry, it's the best I could do without tearing out a lot more. Here's a shot of a mock-up I put together using spare parts from my bin. The pipe pointing downwards goes as close as you want to the bottom to pick up debris. The elbow on the left is just a slip-fit, allowing it to rotate to control the surface skimming. The right side of the Tee goes to the bulkhead.
Here's a pic of the surface skimmer taking a small percentage of the total overflow from the top:
Finally, here's a shot of outside of the bulkhead, which incorporates a short piece of pipe capped with a threaded union. The other side of the union has two 90degree elbows joined at right angles to one another. This prevents any of the water being released from dribbling back along the pipe and running down the outside of the plastic barrel. Best of all, the union allows the end assembly to be rotated up or down a bit, which makes fine adjustments in the exact water level in the tank itself.
Hard to describe, but hopefully the pics clarify it a bit. I've used this set-up many times over the past few years, always with good success. The blue foam in the last pic is normally covered with a poly pad that is very easy to clean or replace, and doing it often removes a great deal of debris before bacterial action breaks it down. If you are more interested in shiny filters than in the actual fish, this isn't for you. If you like DIY projects that work, it might be just the thing.
This is the best view I could get of the internal pipes:
Sorry, it's the best I could do without tearing out a lot more. Here's a shot of a mock-up I put together using spare parts from my bin. The pipe pointing downwards goes as close as you want to the bottom to pick up debris. The elbow on the left is just a slip-fit, allowing it to rotate to control the surface skimming. The right side of the Tee goes to the bulkhead.
Here's a pic of the surface skimmer taking a small percentage of the total overflow from the top:
Finally, here's a shot of outside of the bulkhead, which incorporates a short piece of pipe capped with a threaded union. The other side of the union has two 90degree elbows joined at right angles to one another. This prevents any of the water being released from dribbling back along the pipe and running down the outside of the plastic barrel. Best of all, the union allows the end assembly to be rotated up or down a bit, which makes fine adjustments in the exact water level in the tank itself.
Hard to describe, but hopefully the pics clarify it a bit. I've used this set-up many times over the past few years, always with good success. The blue foam in the last pic is normally covered with a poly pad that is very easy to clean or replace, and doing it often removes a great deal of debris before bacterial action breaks it down. If you are more interested in shiny filters than in the actual fish, this isn't for you. If you like DIY projects that work, it might be just the thing.
These are my upturned PVC elbow tweaks.
Slots cut and an angle to induce a whirl pool action like a toilet:
The coarse filter material in the center was added to keep fish out but it ended up giving the water a path to follow down the inside of the elbow which GREATLY reduced the noise:
The outside prefilter material gets pulled, rinsed and replaced in about a minute. Makes for very quick maintenance and greatly extends the time between needing to clean the mechanical filters in the sump.
The water jet is just my siphon break for my bottom returns.
Slots cut and an angle to induce a whirl pool action like a toilet:
The coarse filter material in the center was added to keep fish out but it ended up giving the water a path to follow down the inside of the elbow which GREATLY reduced the noise:
The outside prefilter material gets pulled, rinsed and replaced in about a minute. Makes for very quick maintenance and greatly extends the time between needing to clean the mechanical filters in the sump.
The water jet is just my siphon break for my bottom returns.