external overflow now installed

[treesprite]

[zygote2k]

What's that I hear? Oh- it sounds like a dripping noise...

Good luck.

[davelin315]

Is that a 2.5 gallon tank on the back? I'm assuming that you're going to have very little water in the overflow itself, no dursos or anything that would cause this to hold a lot of water. If you do, I'd be very careful of how heavy the overflow gets. Otherwise very curious as to how this works out for you.

[treesprite]

Holy Joe NO! NOT a 2g tank! I used glass from 1 10g tank for the outer box, used trim from a 5g tank for bracing. There is a piece of glass attatched to the INSIDE og the tank AND sealed onto both the inside of the tank AND the edges of the box - it's from the bottom of a 20 g tank (thicker than 20g tank walls)... 10g glass wouldn't do for that piece since it holds back water pressure. The box is actually INSERTED into the opening of the tank so the edges of its side walls are flush with the inside of the back glass of the tank. The BOTTOM of the box is almost 1/2 INSIDE of the tank (creates that glass shelf... didn't do it for the shelf, did it to make the box secure), sealed on inside and outside, the plate on the INSIDE of the tank is also sealed to that bottom glass. I also used a little piece of glass to brace the back of the box to the inside panel. This is not ever going to fall off or leak. I would worry more about the tank leaking.

 

All will be very thoroughly water-tested. Maybe by the time I'm done with that I will have a new tank.

Edited August 19, 2009 by treesprite

[flowerseller]

Nice job Forrest.

Looking forward to updates.

[lanman]

Looks like a mini-calfo overflow.

 

bob

[Origami]

Nice recovery, Forrest. Keep us posted.

[treesprite]

I thought out that overflow VERY well before proceeding with it. I didn't want something that would possibly fall off the tank or split apart, hence the upper and lower trim, the insertion of the box into the opening rather than just attatching the overflow to the tank back, etc.

 

I used silicone to seal between and over the seam between the main glass and the cut off top piece, then coated strips of glass with epoxy to bond the larger glass and teh top piece together both Inside AND outside of the tank over the seam - there's no way it is going to "blow out" from water pressure. My concern is basically all on the seal of the main piece of back glass to the sides and bottom of the tank (rest of the tank was left intact). It actually doesn't look near as bad as I thought it would, but honestly right now I don't care what it looks like as long as it works until I get another tank, so I gobbed on silicone without using masking tape as a guide like I did when I re-sealed a tank before.

 

I'm going to start with only about 6" of water and watch for leaking, if I dont see any I'll add to it, if it doesn't leak I'll add more to it. I'll use RO and that way if all goes well and no leaks, I can just mix salt into it right in the tank. Like I said, it's the seal of the main back glass to the tank that concerns me, not the repair area or the overflow.

 

Something of note:

10g tank glass is easy to drill when flat on a board rather than on a tank. I used the same drill bit that I had already used for 5 holes (one of which caused the crack), no problems.

 

When I went to drill this, I discovered that the reason I couldn't find the circle of glass from the hole that led to the tank cracking, was that it was still insdie of the drill bit lodged tightly at an angle and a struggle to remove... looks like maybe I was holding the drill at too much of an angle, though I think also I had too much speed. HOW can I make it easy to tell whether or not I'm holding the drill straight?

[treesprite]

Here's a pic of the seam repair. There issilicone used in between the edges of the 2 pieces of glass and over the seam, then there is a 4" wide strip of epoxy-coated glass inside of the tank AND ANOTHER 4" strip of epoxy-coated glass on the outside of the glass I sealed around the outer edges of the glass strips with silicone just to keep anything from trying to grow in the edges that I wouldn't be able to scrape out. I've epoxied pieces of glass together before - those tank pieces are essentially all one solid piece now.

[treesprite]

Tank has been filled for a few days with unsalted RO - no leaks. Still have to fill the overflow with water and check that, but I'm positive it will be fine.

 

In the meantime, I changed from a 20 to a 29 for my sump. The plumbing holes on the overflow are too low for me to have the 29 up on the stand I had the sump on - I wanted the tank holes up high like I originally had them so that I could use the taller 29 sump still on the stand. SO the sump and fuge are one in front of the other on the floor except the sump is raised a few inches taller to be able to overflow into the fuge. Hopefully when I move I'll find some way to stash the fuge and sump out of site, but it's not like I have some grand show home here.

[treesprite]

This has worked out very well, much better than just having holes drilled in the glass. I would prefer a tank without a "patch" visible, hoping coraline will grow over and hide it for me.

 

My problem now is that I will not have this cool overflow when I get another tank.

[Jon Lazar]

How high is the water level in the overflow box when the system is running?

 

Also, if you had to do it again you don't need the shelf to extend so far into the tank. So long as part of the shelf sits on the back wall of the tank, where you made your cutout, you get the same amount of support.

[treesprite]

How high is the water level in the overflow box when the system is running?

 

Also, if you had to do it again you don't need the shelf to extend so far into the tank. So long as part of the shelf sits on the back wall of the tank, where you made your cutout, you get the same amount of support.

Well, there are 3x 1" bulkheads in the bottom of the box, I have one of them plugged and standpipes in the others, which makes the box almost full, but if I either take out the standpipes and/or unplug the 3rd hole, the water is only a couple inches deep but very noisy (a standpipe won't fit for center hole because there is a glass brace above the hole connecting the back of the box to the glass plate on the inside of the tank.... I imagine I could cut down PVC piece to make them shorter, but whatever, just as well to plug it).

 

I kind of didn't want to have to cut another piece of glass because I broke so many pieces, so I just left it big like that. I have been putting things on the shelf, though the current there is really strong and knocked some sps frags down that ended up getting burried under sand in the back of the tank (they were just pieces that broke off, nothing special fortunately).

[BliffBlam]

This has worked out very well, much better than just having holes drilled in the glass. I would prefer a tank without a "patch" visible, hoping coraline will grow over and hide it for me.

 

My problem now is that I will not have this cool overflow when I get another tank.

 

Not trying to be rude or insulting but am I missing something here? When you say it worked out better than just having holes drilled. In what way?

 

Imo, it seems like it was alot of work and probably not cheap either and its kind of an eyesore and sloppy and now you have a big box on the back so you cant even push it against the wall. Why go through all that when you said yourself your not even going to keep it?

 

Was it just the syphon factor? you could have just drilled the tank got a overflow box from glassholes and done.

 

Is it serving another purpose other than an overflow?

 

Like I said I'm not trying to insult you, just trying to understand.

[treesprite]

Not trying to be rude or insulting but am I missing something here? When you say it worked out better than just having holes drilled. In what way?

 

Imo, it seems like it was alot of work and probably not cheap either and its kind of an eyesore and sloppy and now you have a big box on the back so you cant even push it against the wall. Why go through all that when you said yourself your not even going to keep it?

 

Was it just the syphon factor? you could have just drilled the tank got a overflow box from glassholes and done.

 

Is it serving another purpose other than an overflow?

 

Like I said I'm not trying to insult you, just trying to understand.

You must not be familiar with the saga. My tank cracked when I was drilling holes in it - I couldn't just run out and get another tank, so I had to get creative to make the tank useable. Prior to drilling & cracking the tank, I built a nice 20Lx10H glass internal overflow box that ultimately was rendered useless.

 

I doubt that very many people put their tanks right up against a wall, and doing it makes things difficult. My tank has always been 10" away from the wall. I, like many people, have plumbing behind my tank, and I used to have hang-on stuff back there, and there has to be space for maintanence or to get back there in emergencies. Saltwater can damage walls so there needs to be space to limit exposure. If a fish ever carpet surfs I can look behind my tank for it easily. I can easily take apart my back plumbing to clean any build-up out of the pipes. If there's a flood I can get behind the tank to clean up the water (happend last week from a snail going in a pipe). If I had a house my tank would be an in-wall.

[BliffBlam]

ahh, I see

 

You gotta love this hobby. It would probably be cheaper and easier to take up heroin instead.

 

Yeah, I guess my tanks a little different i dont have anything on the back 2 bulk heads 2 hoses easily accessed from the top. Its only a 35 hex. and some breeders. everything else is in the sump. My 110 that i am worikng on is gonna be a little different though.

 

My light went out today in my tank, and I was about to have to get real creative. Then decided to use some money for my 110 setup to buy a new one (That sucked) But the light that broke was garbage anyway.

 

Well hope it works out for you, we do what we got to do. Goodluck!

[treesprite]

ahh, I see

 

You gotta love this hobby. It would probably be cheaper and easier to take up heroin instead.

 

Yeah, I guess my tanks a little different i dont have anything on the back 2 bulk heads 2 hoses easily accessed from the top. Its only a 35 hex. and some breeders. everything else is in the sump. My 110 that i am worikng on is gonna be a little different though.

 

My light went out today in my tank, and I was about to have to get real creative. Then decided to use some money for my 110 setup to buy a new one (That sucked) But the light that broke was garbage anyway.

 

Well hope it works out for you, we do what we got to do. Goodluck!

Lots of troubleshooting to do in this hobby for sure, and we have to learn to be "Jacks of all trades". It's very demanding in every way imaginable, testing our skills, creativity, patience, knowledge, and about 50 other things.

 

I don't think it's as expensive as a heroin habit once all the equipment is obtained.... at least not if you belong to a club where you can get your corals cheap! The problem is, people in this hobby are almost never satisfied with what they have for a very long period of time, and all that upgrading is expensive. I'm just grateful that I discovered WAMAS to make my overall hobby expenses considerably lower (free & cheap corals, low cost equipment, raffle wins, trades, learning skills & how to DIY stuff.... you know).

 

After I move I have to start working on getting another tank. This one is probably too big for a sump in an apartment so I will probably get rid of it, but I think having that overflow box back there and the shelf inside would create some interesting sump options for someone.