ok u see that picture up top u see where they drilled the hole and put a piece of air hose well what u need to do is just add a check valve so that it doesnt back siphon when ur water level goes to low. with the check valve in place your siphon will always restart. trust me the check valve is probably the most important thing that everyone misses.
? about the diy overflow
- Thread starter eh1421
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Ok so i gave up on that idea because it won't work.
I made a regular overflow with 3/4" pipe, about 10" on both sides and the tee is kinda high up. It does flow fast enough for a my ehiem 1250 rated at 317gph max. If i lower the Tee will it flow faster? Or do i need to just switch to 1" pipe so i can turn up my pump all the way?
I made a regular overflow with 3/4" pipe, about 10" on both sides and the tee is kinda high up. It does flow fast enough for a my ehiem 1250 rated at 317gph max. If i lower the Tee will it flow faster? Or do i need to just switch to 1" pipe so i can turn up my pump all the way?
1. How far should the inlet inside the aquarium be under the desired water level?
It should be very close to the desired water level, how close depends upon your return flow. If the return flow is high in relation to the overflows capacity, the water level may rise as much as 1/8" or so above the overflow, in lower return flow situations it may be much less.
2. Can the return tubing be standard 16/22mm if using 1 1/4" pipe on inlet?
Your return plumbing can be any size you wish... As long as the volume of water returned doesn't exceed the capacity of your overflow you will be fine.
3. Does this have good surface skimming abilities?
It's no coast to coast, but it is pulling from the surface so it will skim. You could increase the size of the inlet, or even remove the overflow pipe completely and replace it with an overflow box to ensure that your pulling a thinner layer of water to improve skimming potential.
Think of the overflow pipe as an optional component, it's job is simply to stop the water from getting to the siphon if the level drops below the desired point... Without it the water would flow until it reached the level of the outlet pipe. A box overflow, can serve the same purpose. You could even throw an elbow on top and run a piece of pipe with a slot in it to do a sort of psudo coast to coast overflow if you want better skimming.
It should be very close to the desired water level, how close depends upon your return flow. If the return flow is high in relation to the overflows capacity, the water level may rise as much as 1/8" or so above the overflow, in lower return flow situations it may be much less.
2. Can the return tubing be standard 16/22mm if using 1 1/4" pipe on inlet?
Your return plumbing can be any size you wish... As long as the volume of water returned doesn't exceed the capacity of your overflow you will be fine.
3. Does this have good surface skimming abilities?
It's no coast to coast, but it is pulling from the surface so it will skim. You could increase the size of the inlet, or even remove the overflow pipe completely and replace it with an overflow box to ensure that your pulling a thinner layer of water to improve skimming potential.
Think of the overflow pipe as an optional component, it's job is simply to stop the water from getting to the siphon if the level drops below the desired point... Without it the water would flow until it reached the level of the outlet pipe. A box overflow, can serve the same purpose. You could even throw an elbow on top and run a piece of pipe with a slot in it to do a sort of psudo coast to coast overflow if you want better skimming.
You shouldn't have to mount it to the tank, it just hangs on the back/side. If you want to mount it than you would have to get creative, I haven't seen any methods worth mentioning.
Heater suction cups or if those don't fit your piping diameter, you can find some way of mounting a zip-tie to heater suction cups or use a water proof epoxy to mount the suction cups to the plastic plumbing...
Or simply let the piping sit on the tank leaning it towards a corner or something...I have also used a small piece of foam under the pipe to make it sit flat across the tanks frame-just something to balance it all on the tank.
I recently found the plans for a functional freshwater protein skimmer / bio filter, the freshwater fractionator, over at Kiophen, and I am wanting to build one leading to a traditional sump with the DIY overflow acting as a surface skimmer. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work, but am I missing something that would cause it not to work?
Thanks all!
Thanks all!
Not sure about freshwater skimmers but as long as it doesn't limit water flowing to the sump you should be fine.
Side note: from what I know freshwater skimmers for ponds remove big stud like free floating algea, I don't think they produce a thick enough foam to pull small stuff out like in saltwater.
Side note: from what I know freshwater skimmers for ponds remove big stud like free floating algea, I don't think they produce a thick enough foam to pull small stuff out like in saltwater.