it happened.

[peregrinus]

well it finally happened. a snail got into my u tube when i was at bowling. 15 gals on the floor and for got to get salt water or salt at the pet store today. :( guess i'll be making a trip to the LFS early to get some salt. :cry:

[Grandmaster_Toad]

AGGHHHHH......
Doesnt that just figure,......now every time your away your gonna have that image in the back of your brain. You know the one, of 20gal of salt water eating the top coat of poly off of your floor..... or the feeling your heart gets when you realize the tank is growling and the dark spot on the carpet isnt a shadow.

Thats a bummer though...an overflow has happened to all of us at one time or another.....

GT

[peregrinus]

yeah its a risk we take.

[Reptoreef]

:-? Which tank???

[davejnz]

yeah,I've had that happened,I made this so it wont happen again.Just some eggcrate that you can use plastic zip-ties to hold in place

[Reptoreef]

Dave, Is that sponge over the overflow box for noise reduction???

[davejnz]

yeah,and to keep salt spray inside,There is alot of flow going thru there,.thats why i had to use 2 U-tubes.That pic is old though,I ended up losing the sponge and tried to use a rag and well ,you know how that ended up.

[Reptoreef]

Try a piece of flat rigid platic(plexi if possible) set it over the top and outline an outer and inner dimension then cut two piece(outer size and inner size)and adhere to onanother with the insert/smaller piece centered in the middle of the larger piece...this should assure that you'll have an exact snug fit with a bit of an insert to keep the lid from sliding off... if you chose to use this overflow again or maybe set up a seperate quarentine or grow out system.

[dakar]

Dave, can a post a more detailed pic of your overflow? I've got to build one for my 180, only a very large one, (I was too checken to drill on it, and no glass shop would garuntee their work drilling it for me, couldn't risk my baby). Looking to either make another wier box like the two I have on the 55, or maybe another design, and need some idea's.

[jerryc]

To bad man i hate it wine something like that happens. DAR i say it so for i have
only had it happen one time and i was standing next to the tank lost less thin
1/2 Gal hose came of skimmer. But it was from me messing with it.

[davejnz]

repto,thats a good idea.Dakar,I could post a closeup but its not that much diiferent than a typical HOT overflow.The internal box is large(9"x3").It has a divider that splits it into 2 chambers in the part that is out of the tank.Here's a link to the best DIY overflow/weir
i have seen.
http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/overflow.html

[peregrinus]

great ideas it was the expirment tank. got every thing back to norm now.

[davejnz]

looks like we both had some overflows this week Peregrinus :razz:
http://www.captivereefing.com/viewtopic.php?t=176

[dakar]

Got it now.... Thanks, I followed the same principle, except I used the extra U shaped acrylic for the overflow part, I have trust issues with the U tubes. Going to do the same only mongo size it so I can get 2 1" bulkheads in the bottom.

[davejnz]

those weirs are awsome,they have such a small footprint in the tank.If your gonna be doing one for your large tank,perhaps you might find the time to build one for me($ of course).PM me if interested

[dakar]

They're easy as pie to make, only took me the better part of a 4x8 sheet of 1/8" acrylic before I got it down. Got two of them running in the 55 (the 2nd is mostly as a backup if the primary fails, catches fire or something). So far they've worked out very well, only 5.5" wide, but amazing how much water can flow through them.

For the 180 I'm shooting for ~ 10" wide, with 3/4" U chamber (whatever you want to call it). I figure it should be able to flow close to 2K gals/hr if I'd ever lost my mind and wanted to pay the 'lectric bill to run Mag24 :lol: