overflow in operation

[justDIY]

here's a few shots of my overflow in the tank, as well as the sump.

I'm going to grab some little screw-in hooks to organize the wires a bit - looks darn nasty right now.

the sump is also a fuge for some fast growing anacharis, to help keep processing the water on a reverse lighting schedule from the main tank.

pictures here:

 

[Guest]

Cool

 

[fishfreek]

WHOO. Looks like its working wonderfully. How many GPH do you have flowing thru it?

The smaller pvc with the hole in the middle. Whats that? Is that a breather tube or something?

IMO I like clear U tubes simply so I can see if there is an airpocket building up at the bend and to verify quicly that its still got a syphon.

 

[justDIY]

its running at about 250 gph right now (just a 30 gallon fw tank)

the pvc with the hole is a "durso standpipe", just very short compared to what you'd see in a in-tank overflow - here is a better picture of the durso, before I enlarged the hole



I hear ya on the clear u-tube ... but the cost breakdown
clear U Tube 1.5" - Approx $20 with shipping
white U Tube 1.5" - Approx $3 locally

I ran a similar white U tube for over 6 months with no air-pocket problems, so it's something I trust enough to not worry about.

 

[BillyZ]

very nice work on bending the acrylic. any pointers for someone trying to do the same thing?

 

[justDIY]

I used a paint stripper gun, a vise and a piece of 1x4 board for the 'template'

I clamped the acrylic in the vice (with a rag to prevent scratches), and then used some little clamps to hold the board to the acrylic where I wanted the bend to start, and then back and forth across that imaginary 'line' with the paint stripper gun, until the acrylic started to bend

then you just help it along, bending completely over 180 degrees... I had to use a piece of cardboard to flush out the board, as 1/4" acrylic has a natural bend radius of 1 1/8th inches apparently

so after it's bent the way I want it, a very damp cold towel is placed over the bend to set it and the piece is left to cool