29g BC HQI w/ sump [Re Made Overflow and Plumbing]

These are not my pictures and are taken from another forum but they are pretty much the same style I used. The 2 all white ones are almost identical to my overflow. Although I have a cap with a I believe 1/4" hole drilled in it on the breather upright tube. And I ran water into the sump from the outlet hole using vinyl tubing, I believe 1 1/4". If you need exact dimensions on the tubing and what not I can get the tape measure out.

 

Thank you for posting that, I'm assuming in pic1 you would just keep running more PVC down to drain into the sump? Seems like a very easy system. Would detritus build up in the 90º elbow joints?

I guess my last question would be how do you know when you've reached maximum water level for the sump? Fill it up with the pump off? guess I will just have to build this to see!

Thanks Mobilized! +1 for your awesome DIY nano overflow build!

 

Detritus build up is probably going to vary depending on flow, but I have never had any issues and its been running for 6-8 months. If your skimming the surface everything is going to be fairly small and light therefor minimal flow would be needed to keep everything clear in the pipes. Yes you want to fill empty. But you can fill the sump quite full here is very little that will flow down after shut down depending on the height that your inlet pipe sits.

 

Do you find yourself doing more top offs with the extra water? Guess I'm still confused how you would know when to top off and how not to flood your sump. Going to Lowes and the pet shop, pick up a 20g and some PVC and get this build underway. Looks very easy to build just not to understand how it works lol.

 

I am not sure about the top off question because pretty much the whole time ive had the BC its had a sump. Also there isnt any surface disruption in the sump so there isnt as much evap there as there could be. Plus in regards to top offs, it has a DIY gravity fed float valve auto top off in the sump which I added a few months ago. As for flooding it would be very hard to do. Just dont add water with the system running. Return pump off, the biocube is only going to hold as much water as it can before the water starts flowing through the PVC to the sump, and the sump is going to hold water until you over fill it, if you dont overfill the sump with the return pump off it cant flood.

 

Make sure to test fit all your parts first before you cement them together. Also check your flow using buckets and stuff before your cement them. If you dont place your tubing correctly you will not be able to get enough flow out of this style overflow.

 

Will I be able to tweek this once its in to make sure that I do get enough flow? Seems pretty simple to put together, throw a filter sock on the bottom and viola!

 

the height of the two 180 degree bends relation to each other matters, as does the outlet right after the second 180. If they are not the correct height in relation to each other (they should be quite level) then you will not get adequate flow. I used 1 inch PVC.

 

How does your Yellow Clown goby do? I was looking into adding one of these into my biocube

So far only fish are a occy clown and a hi-fin red banded goby w a red banded pistol shrimp

Think the two gobies would get a long since one is a borrower and the other is a LPS percher? Also wondering how the occy clown would do, hope he wouldnt be a jerk to the little guy.

PS- Going to petco soon to get a 20g and to lowes to make the overflow. Just not sure how to make minor pipe length adjustments without buying multiple lengths of PVC or having to keep using a pipe cutter to adjust the length. Still - very great DIY overflow for nano's

 

I don't THINK you would have a problem with the gobies and I love my clown goby to death. Hey defends his own at feeding time against my gramma. You justhave to find food he can fit in his mouth.