DIY overflow

[danielcassar]

hi everyone, i have a 50 gallon aquarium which im going to set for marine fish..now i need to do a sytsem like an overflow...but i dont want to make a hole in the aqurium glass...i saw this system on youtube..YouTube - DIY Overflow

can someone tell me if its good and safe in case of power cut off to have running this system..and if someone tell me step by step how this is made you are more than welcome to tell me. if you have another advice please tell me.

thanks
daniel

[CharlotteSteve]

Dangerous. I had one and woke up every morning sweating. It worked, but I didn't trust it. Maybe if you refine the physics you'll be comfortable but I always worried about a air bubble forming in the siphon portion. I never got mine to restart after a power outage either, maybe the heigth of the discharge "t". Oh yeah and I think the pipe size is limited to 1", which is still very hard to get a siphon going.

[danielcassar]

so what do u have instead of this overflow?!

[CharlotteSteve]

Ended up biting the bullet and getting my tank drilled. Really those are the only two option unless you go with a closed loop filter system.

[danielcassar]

its too risky by drilling my aqurium glass. did u tried to do it differently this overflow system?? cause on that video response they are saying that it worked perfectly...im confused.

[sur4die]

I would recommend using something you could see the siphon through like clear PVC.

the physics of the setup are the same that make store bought overflow boxes work. there isn't much to it, just need to get your inner U, outer U, and exit/vent T in the correct relative orientation.

that video also shows the intake wide open. that's a terrible idea. you need to have some kind of snail/critter guard. egg crate works well.

i use plain PVC pipe for siphons in my sump setup (2 - 10G tanks). i have glass baffles that behave as an overflow box and siphon hold box. I ended up implementing 2 siphons in separated compartments for redundancy. if one fails the other kicks in. just have to check the primary periodically. it only lost siphon once in the 9 months i have had the setup.

[danielcassar]

ic...can u have some pictures of your system please.. thanks very much
my email is cassar.daniel@gmail.com

thanks
daniel

[sur4die]

i tried to attach this pic to the original post, but it is on another forum and you have to be logged into the other forum to see it...

if i find the time i'll take some better pics tonight.