Habitat - Indoor :: Anyone made an overflow with just PVC pipe?

[psumichael]

Hi all,

New poster here. Trying to give a 20 year old slider a better setup. It was in a 10 gallon aquarium with no heater for 20 years in a basement. Just moved it into a 75 gallon aquarium with a heater.

Been looking around online at filter ideas and overflow setups. I think I'll build my own wet/dry filter and overflow setup. Found this plan online to build a compact overflow setup using only PVC pipe: http://www.aquariumlife.net/projects/di ... ow/120.asp

Has anyone here built this type of overflow?

[joshfish]

i have not built one but it looks interesting. on the 125 i just set up i bought a diamond hloe saw and drilled the tank.

[VeipaCray]

You probably don't want an overflow with a turtle. While some of the oils from foods will float on the top of the water column and would be removed efficiently with an overflow, turtle waste does not float. The majority of the food pieces, turtle waste, plant debris... etc that you will need to remove needs to be filtered from the bottom of the tank. For that very reason I did not get a reef ready tank with an overflow for my turtle.

I've built many overflows / drilled setups over the years. The problem with the overflow you are looking at is water levels. In case of a power outage and your return pump is out... water will continue to siphon until there is an air gap between the top of the water in the tank and the opening to the overflow pipe in the tank. If you make the overflow intake pipe long enough to reach down where the turtle waste is, you'd need a sump almost the same size as your main tank to catch all the water in a power outage / siphoning event. If you raise the pipe too high, you'll not suck in the turtle waste and potentially have stop / start issues getting the siphon going again. I assume you'd use some kind of air pump like an aqualifter on the top of the overflow bend to restart the siphon.

Honestly the best thing you can do for a turtle is a giant canister filter.

[joshfish]

i ran an overflow and wet dry filter on mine because i had the stuff already so it way way less money than buying an fx5. plus i wanted to eliminate stuff in the tank. my turtles constantly kicked the hoses for my fluval around so i was always have to fix them. plus with a six foot long tank the waste at the opposite end of the filter never gets pulled out so i have to siphon the substrate anyways.

[VeipaCray]

Makes sense.. post some pics of your build. I really wanted an overflow for my tank as well, curious how it works out for you.

[Linus]

http://www.youtube.com/user/BauriBob#p/u/47/YlluUNlKHNI

[psumichael]

You probably don't want an overflow with a turtle. While some of the oils from foods will float on the top of the water column and would be removed efficiently with an overflow, turtle waste does not float. The majority of the food pieces, turtle waste, plant debris... etc that you will need to remove needs to be filtered from the bottom of the tank. For that very reason I did not get a reef ready tank with an overflow for my turtle.

I've built many overflows / drilled setups over the years. The problem with the overflow you are looking at is water levels. In case of a power outage and your return pump is out... water will continue to siphon until there is an air gap between the top of the water in the tank and the opening to the overflow pipe in the tank. If you make the overflow intake pipe long enough to reach down where the turtle waste is, you'd need a sump almost the same size as your main tank to catch all the water in a power outage / siphoning event. If you raise the pipe too high, you'll not suck in the turtle waste and potentially have stop / start issues getting the siphon going again. I assume you'd use some kind of air pump like an aqualifter on the top of the overflow bend to restart the siphon.

Honestly the best thing you can do for a turtle is a giant canister filter.

Thanks for the response, VeipaCray. Besides that video from BauriBob I've also stumbled onto a video from a YouTube user "grifloki" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaG79rBE ... re=related. Looks like the water quality for those guys is great even with an overflow setup.

Since I made the OP I found a forum thread elsewhere that has great discussions on a slightly different design: http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/show ... p?t=367635 I think I might give this a try.

[papoopeepoo]

I have. Here's a link to mine:

viewtopic.php?t=22117

[joshfish]

if you get an all glass brand tank that has the megaflow overflow the overflows pull water from the bottom middle and top of tank.

[VeipaCray]

My reef tank is an all-glass now Aqueon tank with the megaflow. The water between the inner and outer layers of the overflow doesn't really move much. There's nothing to really draw the water up between the inner and outer over flow walls. Yes there's water between them via the little slits in the outer overflow wall, but that water is fairly stagnant.

[DrexelTanker0712]

I do not have an overflow for my turtle tank, and i'm new to turtles, but i have built cuztom overflow siphons for my previous aquariums, and there is one design that works better than the other, send me a message and i'll give you a link to my youtube videos where i have both overflow siphons working.

[VeipaCray]

acrylic overflow box, drilled tank, and a durso standpipe get my vote.

[joshfish]

my tank is drilled and has a modified style of durso. i may add an overflow box later.

[DrexelTanker0712]

the acrylic overflow is a good option as well, just make sure it can siphon out the volume of water (or more) that you are pumping back in, the overflow boxes have a self check system