Diy overflow box

[Jake_the_reefer]

Alright people. Tell me how viable this is.

2.5g aquarium. Remove the rim top and bottom. Drill a hole into it and into my 50g tank. And silicone the small tank to the big tank connecting then with a bulkhead. Then use the 2.5g aquarium as an overflow box.

I would also drill the bottom of the 2.5g tank to allow me to add 2 more bulkheads for my actual plumbing down to the sump.

If weight would be a concern I can 3d print some sort of mounting bracket that would take some of the weight off of the tanks


Another Idea I tossed around was to remove one panel of the 2.5g tank rather than drill a hole through it and glue the remaining panels (3 sides and bottom) directly to the tank.

 

[cdemoss01]

Good luck!

 

[Red_Beard]

100% feasible. I would only worry about the thickness of those cheep 2.5 tanks glass. I did essentially the same, but built mine out of 1/4" glass. If you do it that way, you can use the tank for one of the walls and only need the other 3 and a bottom. You also can be a little less precise with where you drill the tank wall, since you don't have to make sure they line up.

You can also get the size you want full DIY too.

 

[UncommonSense]

Yeah… the glass is too thin…

I don’t use anything under 3/16” for glass sump baffles even; I research desired thicknesses first, and found tons of forum posts of people saying their 1/8” glass inevitably broke on them over time…

What I would recommend is getting a cheap/free used 20g, or 40g breeder, and taking it apart for it’s thicker glass to make your own overflow box!