Sealing overflow holes

[TwoHedWlf]

And they are inside the overflow towers exactly like you said. Would the hose barn plugs be more durable than bulkhead plugs?

I'd connect the bulkheads to your FX6, waste of perfectly good overflows and bulkheads otherwise. Gives you a way to keep your gear out of the tank, tidy everything up, easier priming if needed(Not really an issue with the FX6, but with other cannsters it can be.)

 

[Ariel_Saxon]

I'd connect the bulkheads to your FX6, waste of perfectly good overflows and bulkheads otherwise. Gives you a way to keep your gear out of the tank, tidy everything up, easier priming if needed(Not really an issue with the FX6, but with other cannsters it can be.)

If I connect it straight to it will I need to alter anything in my overflow towers

 

[TwoHedWlf]

And they are inside the overflow towers exactly like you said. Would the hose barn plugs be more durable than bulkhead plugs?

I'd connect the bulkheads to your FX6, waste of perfectly good overflows and bulkheads otherwise. Gives you a way to keep your gear out of the tank, tidy everything up, easier priming if needed(Not really an issue with the FX6, but with other cannsters it can be.)

If I connect it straight to it will I need to alter anything in my overflow towers

Depends without seeing your actual setup. Post some pics of them?

I'm guessing you have something like a standpipe on the inlet, you can remove that, or shorten it. Ideally for feeding a cannister if it's in an overflow chamber you'd have just a strainer at the bottom, that way you could stuff it full of media, heaters, etc and the water will flow through the whole chamber over them.

 

[knobhill]

I too would recommend using those lines to run a canister filter. If you are dead set on just plugging them, then just drain the tank to a level when water no longer enters the overflow. Then siphon or drain the overflow so it is empty. You have a couple of options.

1. Install a ball valve to the existing bulkheads. You will need to buy the appropriate plumbing parts (mpt hose barbs, teflon tape, vinyl tubing, hose clamps, and fpt ball valves) This way, you can always add the sump back in OR a canister in the future.

2. Swap out the current bulkheads for bulkheads that are threaded and replace them and add a threaded plug. The pros of this are that you can always reuse the bulkheads, and there won't be any "dead water" sitting in the tubes described in option 1.

Best of luck with the project!

 

[j-lor]

Horrible idea, nothing beats a sump. Its like a canister filter on steroids. Also I wouldn't recommend sealing the holes permanently. Drilled tanks hold more value.

 

[Ariel_Saxon]

So I cut the tubing to the bottom where they connect and sealed with some things from home depot and surprisingly it worked. I didn't have to remove any fish to do it which was a major concern. It seems to be doing great so far except the algae I currently experienced but I believe I need a better uv light. I appreciate all the advice and at least now I don't have to worry if I go out of state for any of my sons medical issues. We did one time and got so caught up with what was going on that the due date of our power bill was forgotten and came back to a flood but luckily it didn't drop to the point of killing any fish although the floor probably took some damage and I'm sure the fish were quite stressed. I did use the overflow towers to hide the canister tubing and heater. At least this way I can switch back if I ever wanted to