Anyone wants to educate me about overflow box? Dumb question awaits you inside.

[KrisReef]

@gabrieltackitt

Please tell me this is a HIMYM reference.

I would absolutely vote for drilling! I did my own 40 breeder with an Eshopps Eclipse, comes with a bit and template so it’s super easy!

HIMYM? I suppose it might be from that show? I never watched it but the phrase came from someplace into popular use.

That aside, the idea I was trying to promote is removing siphon tubes from the overflow set up. They are a source of potential failure in the flow circuit of any aquarium and they come with a high flooding failure rate. Flow-through pipes are not fail-safe either, but I believe they are much more reliable than a siphon system over time.

I have never drilled a glass tank. I worked in a glass factory and have cut and drilled and swiped and polished a bit more glass than people who have not worked in a glass tempering factory. Lots of hobby folk have drilled tanks and had great success. I would rather purchase a drilled glass tank but know that it can be done. I have drilled and cut and bonded a lot of acrylic tanks. It is much easier to work with for the standard hobbyist, imo, but glass v. acrylic is another thread that would require a lot more bourbon than I have on hand, atm.

My original comment was intended to find a solution that would provide a higher expectation of friendly celebratory adult beverage consumption rather than pre-clean-up recovery frustration bracing following a siphon system catastrophic failure flooding incident. One day at a time for the rest of us.

 

[jd371]

I have HOB overflow's for my main 75g and 20g that's in my workshop. The 75g has been in operation for 5 years now without any issues at all or flooding, the 20g has only been running for a year now but the same. No chance of flooding if the siphon breaks because there's not enough water in the return to flood the tank. Siphon starts right up again if the power goes out. I have eshopps on both tanks and prefer this type over the ones that require a pump for the siphon.
Main problem with these flooding was most likely bubbles collecting in the U-tube over time causing the siphon to break eventually. You have to make sure that the flow through the U-tube is fast enough so this doesn't happen. In the 5 years the main tank has been running I've never experienced bubbles in the U-tube. Another thing is these are very noisy out of the box and require a diy Stockman Standpipe to quiet them down, I have my main tank right next to where I watch TV and you wouldn't know it's there. With all that being said if you can or are willing to drill... do so, a drilled tank is aesthetically more pleasing than having all this hardware hanging off the back.

 

[Crustaceon]

Both have their risks. Either you drill a tank and run the risk of breaking it, or you run a siphon overflow and run the risk of losing the siphon and overflowing. You mitigate the risk of breaking a glass tank by making sure the panel isn’t tempered, investing in a good diamond bit and practicing on another pane of glass until you’re certain you won’t mess your tank up. You mitigate the risk of tank leaks using a siphon overflow by ensuring there cannot be enough water in the return pump section to allow a display overflow if the siphon is lost. This is a general water and sump level calibration. You can also size your return pump and theoretically the u-tube to prevent bubbles from building up in the tube and breaking the siphon. When I ran a siphon overflow, I intentionally blew bubbles through air line into the u-tube to try to make it fail. My pump return flow was always great enough to push any amount of bubbles out of the tube.

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

Where did you get the plastic and is it loose or installed somehow?

I had to special order it from Lowe’s and then used a heat gun to shape it... and then I used contact cement to permanently Attach it.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

I tried something a little different on my 200 gallon... sorry, I don’t really know what phase of build out you are in... based on this question, I am assuming early.

My cabinet is plastic lined... a heavy gauge plastic in the full bottom 8” (the doors on my cabinet hide the height a lil. I tried to build in a modicum of safety for potentional overflows. It won’t save me from a tank rupture, but I am hoping the additional 50ish gallons it will trap Offer a bit of insurance. “Everything you see that’s white“

I looked at your build thread but couldn't get a good idea of how you did the extra plastic. Can you point me to exactly what it is at Lowes? Did you make the entire cabinet yourself?

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

I looked at your build thread but couldn't get a good idea of how you did the extra plastic. Can you point me to exactly what it is at Lowes? Did you make the entire cabinet yourself?

I did build the stand. I didn’t think about taking pics while I was building it. I dropped a link below on the plastic I used.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/48-in-x-8-ft-Smooth-White-Wall-Panel/3446544

 

[Sebastiancrab]

I did build the stand. I didn’t think about taking pics while I was building it. I dropped a link below on the plastic I used.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/48-in-x-8-ft-Smooth-White-Wall-Panel/3446544

I learn something new every day on this! I am redoing my laundry room and they are using it as an example. Will have to check it out. So, did you use a table saw to cut it? You mentioned a heat gun so was that to make it turn corners?

 

[Shawn_epicurious]

I learn something new every day on this! I am redoing my laundry room and they are using it as an example. Will have to check it out. So, did you use a table saw to cut it? You mentioned a heat gun so was that to make it turn corners?

I did use my table saw for quite a few of the cuts. The heat gun was for molding the corners and wrap-around stuff. It was kinna fun making it.