Pvc overflow ?

R

Randy

I recently saw a pvc overflow system on an aquarium and I thought it was interesting. It consisted of only pvc pipe and fittings. Does anyone know how this is done?
 
With a 1" durso you could do about 600 gph.


All you need is a length of 1" pvc, a 1" coupler, a 1" Tee and a cap, and a 1" street ell.


If it's drilled on the back, near the top, install the bulkhead, install a short piece of 1" pvc, with a coupler, and the street ell pointing down toward the sand (this will create an overflow when the tank rises above the elbow.

On the outside, install the Tee, with a short section of pvc pointing up to the ceiling, with a cap on it, with a small 1/8" hole drilled in the cap. (the cap needs to be 4-5" above water level.

Then, just plumb the lower port of the Tee off down into your sump.




Make sure you put a strainer, or some other form of cover on the street ell on the inside to keep crabs, snails, fish etc, from getting sucked into the overflow.
 
I run two 1" pvc overflows in my 75g with a mag9 return. They work great but I do have one knock on them. IMO... Because they take water from below the surface, the top surface is not adequately skimmed. The water will may develop a film on the surface. I usually aim one of my returns to break up the surface. There is always a little skimmate on the surface. Even when all parameters are perfect. True overflows remove the surface skimmate immediately.

I'm upgrading tanks now and my new tank will have overflows for that reason only.

-Steve
 
They can be made to skim off the top as well.
This is just one way to do it. Google PVC Overflows
there are a lot of examples


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