Nice Cheap DIY Overflow

i just did this

Hey Birchell, I just made this overflow about 1 month ago and with 1 1/4" PVC it would almost keep up with my 1300gph rated pump. It would take a good 45 mins to raise a half inch of water so the 1 1/4" can probably handle about 800-900gph? The answer for me was to tie two overflows together;D
I also did a rubbermaid sump, got a 50gal at walmart for $4 on clearance. I got a smaller rubbermaid container and put it inside for the fuge, also what I did was attach a small bathroom trashcan to the side using plastic bolts drilled holes in the bottom, put filter media in there and ran my overflow into the trashcan (mechanical filter). Recently (today) I received my corallife super skimmer and now it is sitting in the sump as well;D

Take that for what its worth, I am just a noob

Travis

 

LOL, sweet!! You have whole trashcan system, lol. I made my overflow out of 1", so im hoping to get 500-600gph through it. It is alot easier and cheaper to make than I thought. I will be getting the 38 gallon tub in a few days, and I already have the 10 gallon to put in as a refug. I kinda like your smaller tub inside the big one idea, then I could cut slits in it and flow water slower throught it, and still keep the higher flow in the sump. I have a crapy prizm skimmer in gonna hang in there some how, ill upgrade later. I just found a mag 7 on ebay for 20 bucks, so I mite jump on that. Thanks for the help, and ideas,

Michael

 

I takes longer to understand than it does to build;D t

 

Covey great thread BTW.
I have read the whole thread through and built one for my 20 gal. I am just starting out and am using a Magnum 350 cannister as my return from my sump. I built my DIY overflow out of 3/4 " and it barely but does keep up. My questions are when I get the siphon going it works fine but when I simulate power failure and leave for over 5 min. it will not restart siphon, now anything under 5 min it will start right back. I was wondering if the end in the sump has to be submerged? The only difference to the one you made was the inside U is about 1 inch higher than the outside U . Also I made sure it was sealed and glued. Thanks
Kevin

 

One idea your check valve isn't fully sealed and is slowly leaking air that will break the siphon. That is the best bet some of them are not very air tight.

 

Covey thanks works excellent. Did your idea with the tube and a couple of knots to seal the check valve.
Thanks again for the imput.
k

 

Sump too Small?

This Thread is awesome. Alot of good info...

I am going to build one of these today. I am going to use the 1 1/4. But I had a 10g tank not being used so I have modified that for a sump and my tank is 65g tall.

1st question: Is this sump going to be too small? I designed it to hold around 65% of its total capacity. So that would give me around 3 1/5 gallons for return syphon.

2nd question: Since my sump will sit 3.5 to 4 ft (from pump to top of aquarium) below, would a 500gph pump be enough?

Thanks for all the info...

 

THink this may solve multi-level filtering issues with typical top-skimmer design.

Sorry, can't seem to post pick. It is on my profile...

The crude circles represent inlet holes. The acrylic box is sealed everywhere except the top. Therefore, using the inlet holes, water from multiple levels of aquaria may be drawn in and filtered in the sump... as well as providing some top-skimming.

 

If you need 500gph, you will need a pump rated to produce 500 gph for 3.5 -4ft height. There is usually a grid on the back of the packaging of pond and sump pumps with hieght and rated output. Also remember, if your return output is lower than the height of the aquarium, say 12" down the side, you can reduce your required hieght by almost 12"... this is because the gravity will help pull some if the output is full of water...

For example, My Breckell pump says it outputs ~325 gph for 1ft, 280 for 3ft., etc. I have 30 regular with 10 gal sump, 3ft height, so it is almost perfect.

good luck with the DIY, my return siphon, based on the design posted here, outputs an astonishing 500GPH with 1" PVC to 3/4" black nylon tubing, and looks great!

 

Few Mods

Love this idea, and after 3 hours of reading i think i get it.

I like the large 2-4" overflow outer tube. To make this multi-level intake i was going to drill holes around it at different levels. the tube inside would come up to desired waterline. Kinda like the double walled idea you were talking about.

I also was going to add a ball valve after the T so i can control the flow rate, and shut it off for maintenance.

I have a 20 gal and was going to try and get around 200 - 250gph, will 3/4" tubing work or should i use 1" I was thinking about getting the Mag 350 with about 3.5 ft head.

Jonny
"Don't Let Reality Ruin Your Day"