Why an overflow?

[Anonymous]

Both what you and sfsu drew are Hartford loops. They have been around a long time and are frequently used for this exact purpose (maintain water levels). The velocity at the the intake is going to suck though (hahah, you can all groan now).

 

[Anonymous]

Couple of things, I don't understand why it wouldn't suck from the bottom, if there are no slots in the top, the only way for water to enter is from the bottom, Right?

And if you keep the size of the actual part that allows water in and up small enough that it is only just a little bigger than that of your suction on your pump, why then you should have plenty of "suction"

And I am going to build one, it won't quite look like that because I am going to incorportate a couple of other things in it, plus I have my drain on the side of the tank and I would want this thing in the back.

Should be fun huh?

 

[Anonymous]

The problem is that detritus will still settle all over the bottom unless you have flow directed at it. The suction might be enough to grab particles a few inches away from the slots but that's it. You'll still need to direct flow from pumps to stir up the bottom. If you're doing that, there's no reason a standard overflow wouldn't work just as well.

 

[Anonymous]

The problem is that detritus will still settle all over the bottom unless you have flow directed at it. The suction might be enough to grab particles a few inches away from the slots but that's it. You'll still need to direct flow from pumps to stir up the bottom. If you're doing that, there's no reason a standard overflow wouldn't work just as well.

Ahhh, and there is the misconception I think.

If we are talking about keeping a Bare Bottomed tank bottom clean, then anything that falls on it smaller than a rock we would want to end up in the sump wouldn't we?

Well, no matter how hard you stir the bucket, the crap will settle towards the bottom, even while you are stirring away gaily!

So, its an idea, and it might in fact work. Add to it the fact that it will be in the back of the tank where everything seems to end up anyway, and I just think it might work.

Course I am just a knucklehead...

 

[Anonymous]

Ok Knuck, you make the prototype, if it works I'll be the front man and say how well this system works for me, you'll make millions, cut me 5% and all will be good

 

[Anonymous]

deal

 

[Anonymous]

The problem is that detritus will still settle all over the bottom unless you have flow directed at it. The suction might be enough to grab particles a few inches away from the slots but that's it. You'll still need to direct flow from pumps to stir up the bottom. If you're doing that, there's no reason a standard overflow wouldn't work just as well.

Ahhh, and there is the misconception I think.

If we are talking about keeping a Bare Bottomed tank bottom clean, then anything that falls on it smaller than a rock we would want to end up in the sump wouldn't we?

Well, no matter how hard you stir the bucket, the crap will settle towards the bottom, even while you are stirring away gaily!

So, its an idea, and it might in fact work. Add to it the fact that it will be in the back of the tank where everything seems to end up anyway, and I just think it might work.

Course I am just a knucklehead...

Huh? My overflow sock picks up tons of detritus...and there's none on the bottom of my tank.

I'm sure it will work, it just seems like a lot of effort and space taken up without much real gain. Also, you will still have issues with the surface film on your tank. I also would worry about how you plan on cleaning off algae on the teeth or strainer on the grating; presumably it will be covered by live rock and hard to access.

 

[Anonymous]

Welp, It begins today!

I am going to be cutting out the acrylic pieces I designed using my Cadstd program and bending a couple of them. This will be the first thing I have ever made out of acrylic. If I do a good job at it and it comes out exactly the way I want it to I am going to be making a dust collector for my wood lathe later

There is only one thing that worries me, and that is how fast the tank will drain down this thing. I am kind of worried that just the water pressure from the tank being filled up a half inch over the inside partition won't be enough to keep the small area where the actual drain is full of water....

Well, there is only one way to find out huh?

I am going to try and get a pic of my design to post right now....

 

[Anonymous]

Man that is a real pain to get a cad file to a jpg. None of the free proggies I found would actually make anything that you could see. So I printed it and scanned it.


Here it is, the area to the far right of each piece is actually going to be a sort of manifold for the return of my continuous loop so you can ignore that as being part of a standard "knuckleflow"


The idea goes something like this...


Look at the second piece, that is a picture of the front. See the three slots in the bottom of it? That is the only place for water to enter into the whole thing. That water must then go up, you can see this in the third picture where the actual dividers are pictured. When the water level rises to the top of that divider on the left of the slots it will then fall over towards the left and go through the hole pictured on the first piece.

That's not very clear is it?

Back to the drawing board...

 

[Anonymous]

This should make it all perfectly clear.....

couple days and we should be able to see how it works. I am going to try to figure some way of testing it in a bucket if possible.....

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, the red area is the area for the return of my continuous loop, just ignore that and the dotted line at the top is the water level of the tank when running.


Anyone see any problems???

 

[tobnpr]

The (2) overflows built into my new 125 are double-walled; the inside wall is solid up to the waterline, the outer "shell" is is slotted at the bottom, center, and top to pull evenly from the water column. These upper slots could be blocked off if desired to pull only from the bottom of the tank, but I am not convinced that would be beneficial...

 

[SnowManSnow]

oddly enough I was thinking of this same concept this weekend. I thought of it in a LITTLE different way though. I was thinking of using an egcrate bottom for a BB tank, but sit the crate on somthing to suspend it a little above the tank bottom. You would then construct your underflow so that it syphoned from UNDER the crate, and under the reef setup.

I know it's a crazy idea, but I thought that it was funny I was thinking of the same thing this weekend.

B.

 

[Anonymous]

Okay, working with Black acrylic is a royal PIA

1. You can't hardly see the corners because its so freakin black
2. Same as 1.
3. I didn't know you have to wait like a half hour for each joint before you can move it, man that really extends the build time....


It might just be done next week

And I may just get mad and toss the whole thing in the trash...

 

[Anonymous]

The design SFSU posted looks a whole lot less complicated and seems to me that it would work better as well with no detritus buildup at the intake.

 

[Anonymous]

The design SFSU posted looks a whole lot less complicated and seems to me that it would work better as well with no detritus buildup at the intake.

I think if I ever go Bare bottomed I will redo this knuckleflow, but I have a ton of sand in there, I have to have it offset so I can reach the drain (I don't want the overflow over on the side) and I want to be able to cut the slots deeper later.

I have all the divider pieces put together, tomorrow I am going to put the front and back on and attach a plumbing part.

Should be in the tank by Saturday...

 

[Anonymous]

The design SFSU posted looks a whole lot less complicated and seems to me that it would work better as well with no detritus buildup at the intake.

I think if I ever go Bare bottomed I will redo this knuckleflow, but I have a ton of sand in there, I have to have it offset so I can reach the drain (I don't want the overflow over on the side) and I want to be able to cut the slots deeper later.

I have all the divider pieces put together, tomorrow I am going to put the front and back on and attach a plumbing part.

Should be in the tank by Saturday...

 

[Anonymous]

Picture please.

Thanks you very much.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

DP Wednesday...

























That DP would stand for Double Post you perv's...

 

[Anonymous]

Picture please.

Thanks you very much.

Louey

I will snap one tomorrow, I haven't taken any yet.