thom_smith
Active Member
I have a 220 gallon tank with external coast to coast overflow. The seam on the overflow is deteriorating, leaking and literally about to fall off the back. Fortunately the main tank body is intact. Ordering new tank today or tomorrow and it will take a while to build. I need to make this work for a while so I can avoid purchasing a Craigslist tank of unknown origin likely subject to the same failures. Please help!!
I have lowered my water level and have fashioned two PVC overflows from plans I found here. They work ok but not as well as I need them to to be able to leave the house for any period of time and be confident they will restart after pump stopage/power outage. I can manually start the siphon and get a decent flow. However if I turn off the pumps and let it start on its own then I only get a trickle. I know my basic design and assembly works but need suggestions making it work better and more reliably. Here's what I've got...
Also a video describing the overflow, how I THINK it is supposed to work and what I THINK the problem may be.
The left half of the assembly is in-tank, top center hangs above the eurobrace and left is outside the tank with the braided tubing going to the sump. The crude drilled wier is jusy dry fitted to the rest of the assembly allowing me to adjust position within the tank and spin the bottom elbow to adjust level. The cap on the upper right is removable to allow me to establish the siphon the first time. Everything else is glued. IN THEORY, this should automatically restart the siphon if pump stops and restarts once the water level exceeds the wier. But I just get a trickle on both identically constructed overflows.
I THINK (more like I am guessing) the tee outside the tank which goes to the braided tubing and eventually my sump needs to be lowered to at or near the same level as the opposite tee for the wier. Of course then I would probably also need to extend the right top length to so water doesn't flow through the siphon and stream out the top OUTSIDE the tank. But since what I have is at least working a little bit I don't really want to cut it and make it worse or not work at all. Can somebody please help improve my design/assembly?!?
I have lowered my water level and have fashioned two PVC overflows from plans I found here. They work ok but not as well as I need them to to be able to leave the house for any period of time and be confident they will restart after pump stopage/power outage. I can manually start the siphon and get a decent flow. However if I turn off the pumps and let it start on its own then I only get a trickle. I know my basic design and assembly works but need suggestions making it work better and more reliably. Here's what I've got...
Also a video describing the overflow, how I THINK it is supposed to work and what I THINK the problem may be.
The left half of the assembly is in-tank, top center hangs above the eurobrace and left is outside the tank with the braided tubing going to the sump. The crude drilled wier is jusy dry fitted to the rest of the assembly allowing me to adjust position within the tank and spin the bottom elbow to adjust level. The cap on the upper right is removable to allow me to establish the siphon the first time. Everything else is glued. IN THEORY, this should automatically restart the siphon if pump stops and restarts once the water level exceeds the wier. But I just get a trickle on both identically constructed overflows.
I THINK (more like I am guessing) the tee outside the tank which goes to the braided tubing and eventually my sump needs to be lowered to at or near the same level as the opposite tee for the wier. Of course then I would probably also need to extend the right top length to so water doesn't flow through the siphon and stream out the top OUTSIDE the tank. But since what I have is at least working a little bit I don't really want to cut it and make it worse or not work at all. Can somebody please help improve my design/assembly?!?
