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- May 5, 2020
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Been planning a new setup for a while and haven't gotten very far because of the overflow box.
I want to have the external overflow box with two drains (herbie) but I don't think I have many options.
Where I live, they don't sell pre-made external overflow boxes. I could buy them (the likes of Esshopp or Modular Marine) from Amazon (or ebay) and have them shipped here but the pvc fitting standards here are different from the US which means I have to use US standard pvc pipe and joints etc. I did find a couple of places that sell US sized pvc plumbing gear here but they were very expensive. (Plus, the duty tax for importing them will further drive up the cost).
So I was thinking about what my options could be...
1. DIY out of acrylic:
My concern would be getting the watertight seal when joining the bulkhead to the external acrylic box. I would assume it will have 2 gaskets, one inside the tank, another between the outer side of the glass and the acrylic box, with the bulkhead nut inside the acrylic box. I'm just not sure how well it will seal this way.
2. DIY out of glass:
Drill the side of the tank, get some glass panels and silcone them directly to the outer side of glass. My concern for this is if the silicone to the glass would hold the weight of not just the water but also the plumbing gear connected to it. I guess I could try to reinforce it a little.
3. Import pre-made overflow boxes from the US and spend big $$$ to buy the US sized plumbing gear to go with them.
4. Give up on the external overflow box, DIY the tall glass internal overflow corner box:
Drill two holes on the bottom of the tank, silcone two long sheets of glass in the corner of the tank. Relatively simple but they do take up quite a bit of space inside the tank.
5. Any other bright ideas????
Which option do you think would be the best? Any feedbacks are welcome.
Thanks in advance.
A little more info about the tank I have in mind as reference:
The plan is to have two display tanks both connected to a single sump. Each display tank will hold a little less than 120 liters (about 31.7 gallons) of water. The sump water volume hasn't been worked out but the size of the sump will be the same as the display tank so I would assume it would be around 76 liters (about 20 gallons). So the total water volume would be around 316 liters (83.5 gallons).
I want to have the external overflow box with two drains (herbie) but I don't think I have many options.
Where I live, they don't sell pre-made external overflow boxes. I could buy them (the likes of Esshopp or Modular Marine) from Amazon (or ebay) and have them shipped here but the pvc fitting standards here are different from the US which means I have to use US standard pvc pipe and joints etc. I did find a couple of places that sell US sized pvc plumbing gear here but they were very expensive. (Plus, the duty tax for importing them will further drive up the cost).
So I was thinking about what my options could be...
1. DIY out of acrylic:
My concern would be getting the watertight seal when joining the bulkhead to the external acrylic box. I would assume it will have 2 gaskets, one inside the tank, another between the outer side of the glass and the acrylic box, with the bulkhead nut inside the acrylic box. I'm just not sure how well it will seal this way.
2. DIY out of glass:
Drill the side of the tank, get some glass panels and silcone them directly to the outer side of glass. My concern for this is if the silicone to the glass would hold the weight of not just the water but also the plumbing gear connected to it. I guess I could try to reinforce it a little.
3. Import pre-made overflow boxes from the US and spend big $$$ to buy the US sized plumbing gear to go with them.
4. Give up on the external overflow box, DIY the tall glass internal overflow corner box:
Drill two holes on the bottom of the tank, silcone two long sheets of glass in the corner of the tank. Relatively simple but they do take up quite a bit of space inside the tank.
5. Any other bright ideas????
Which option do you think would be the best? Any feedbacks are welcome.
Thanks in advance.
A little more info about the tank I have in mind as reference:
The plan is to have two display tanks both connected to a single sump. Each display tank will hold a little less than 120 liters (about 31.7 gallons) of water. The sump water volume hasn't been worked out but the size of the sump will be the same as the display tank so I would assume it would be around 76 liters (about 20 gallons). So the total water volume would be around 316 liters (83.5 gallons).