.OptimusPrime.

You could always go to the store and bend the conduit with the conduit bender right in the aisle and put it back on the shelf.. *I may or may not have done this when I went to buy my conduit.

Thanks John! Patio looks great! I seem to have run into another issue - finding hanging kits for the tek elites seem almost no existent.

John you're a genius. What length of a bolt did you end up going with for 1/2"? Was there any sagging on the bar? Can you link the exact one you used? How far did you end up bending your pipe over the tank? How high off the water did they hang? Just to make sure I understand, you put the bolt through both the crossbar and 90 and then nut the end causing the expansion into the 90?

I have a 48" Tek light and a 36" long tank 40 Breeder. I'd prefer to not spend money on a new fixture when this one works perfectly fine. I wanted to use conduit and attach it to the back of my stand but the hanging points are too far apart for a straight 90 bend on the conduit. I can hang them from the unfinished ceiling by placing 2x4 perpendicular inside the joist and hanging it that way. Is there a cheaper alternative to the Giesemann wall brackets? Are there any other hanging options? Thanks in advance

no, the water level in the outer box is lower than the tank water level

Ok so the good news is the ball valve seems to be doing the trick. I turned down the flow and am able to get the full siphon with barely a trickle down the open channel. It's dead silent and all you hear is the hum of the return pump. Also, dialing down the return allowed the level of the DT to be where I want it. The issue I see now is right in front of the overflow box there is debris on the surface and it doesn't seem to be skimming down. The two sides where the returns discharge are fine. Can I assume this to be normal and will disappear once I add my powerheads that will push the water accordingly? or is there something I'm missing?

hmmm... guess I'll be doing that. I know stores usually have them in stock.

Nobody seems to have a threaded 3/4" gate valve in stock so might have to wait a few days before trying the reduced flow. Grainger seems to be the cheapest and soonest to have it without charging a shipping fee.

What determines the water level in the DT? Right now the stand pipe heights are as follows: full siphon - lowest possible in box. the elbow is almost touching the bottom of the box open channel - 3" from the bottom of the box with elbow emergency - 5" from bottom of the box. no elbow. The picture I linked is what drain lines looked like originally when they were first plumbed. They have since been shortened to about maybe 3/4" or less inside the water for both the full siphon and open channel. Should I use a gate or ball valve on the return? Whats the best way add it in? Can I just split the vinyl tubing in half and use pvc cement?

tank is in martinsburg but I appreciate the offer to help. I'm going to try dial down the pump some and see what happens.

Do/Did you have water running into your open channel? Do you have the elbows on or just straight pipe? If you have elbows did you drill the little air hole in the open channel? I've noticed the height thing in the DT as well. It's a little higher than I would like it to be. Can you explain the second part of your comment where you take out the siphon line? I'm not following lol

I know I have. I don't recall what the specific outcome was but I'm pretty sure it wasn't good. I've tried everything I can think of minus the valve for the pump. I'll retry the straight pipe again and report back when i get the chance. The pipe height for the full siphon and open drains don't matter right? I have pipe sticking out of the bulkhead in the full siphon at 1", open channel 3" and the emergency at like 4.75". the box is only 5" high.

yup. I have two elbows on both the full siphon and open channel. you know to get that upside down U shape and the water height in the overflow box is almost to the brim of the emergency overflow with the full siphon channel completely open. I can. I figured I would ask to see if I was doing something wrong outside of the pump itself. yep. full siphon is open completely. Its pretty much straight down into the sump. I have it to probably 3/4" or less below the water level. It was originally 1"+ as you can see in the link below: http://imgur.com/a/WNUC5 Full siphon -> emergency -> open channel - no pipe on the emergency cause I want to hear it lol

So over the new year weekend, I drilled and plumbed a 40B with an external overflow that I've been sitting on. 3x3/4" drains(open channel, emergency, full siphon w/gate valve) with an unrestricted eheim 1262 with two 3/4" over the top returns. I can't seem to get overflow to be quiet and not constantly be sucking air from one of the drains. Depending on what I've changed I can't even begin to close the full siphon valve because the water level in side the overflow is already too high so that the open and emergency channels handle all the water. I've tried everything from adjusting the pipe heights in the box and at the sump discharge to switching the drains in different positions. I even went as far as to try and cap one drain and run it as a herbie style still and the water in the outer-box started to flow out. The only thing I can think of is the return pump is too strong for the overflow and needs to be dialed back in order for the overflow to play nice. Is this the case? I'm open to any other ideas/suggestions

I picked up a 40B from the dollar/gal sale that I want to turn into an AIO. I want the overflow to be on the side wall instead of on the back. Here is the layout (crude ms paint) that I have for the false wall and compartments. I want the wall to be about 6" away from the glass to give me ample room to get in there if need be and doesn't take away took much real estate. Both the skimmer and media will sit in the overflow compartments on either side. Any thoughts or ideas on how to improve this?