Custom Overflows in Glass Tank

Ok....so here's one of my recent projects., for darkiss.

I've done several of these lately and it seems to be a common request!

For this project, my he wanted to take a used glass tank and make it reef ready. He was pretty flexible with the design and the only true desires were to have a couple 1.5" drains to the sump and a couple loc-line returns through the glass.

We went with a 24" wide internal skimming box...this only sticks out about 2.5" from the back of the tank. Saves precious space in the display and won't cause a shadow on the bottom of the tank. Choosing to run the internal box without teeth gives a couple advantages. One, you can effectively set the minimum water depth regardless of overflow rate. Two, a much more efficient surface skim!

Water passes through the back of the tank and into the external overflow. The external box is sized to allow plenty of room for a couple dursos while small enough to limit the additional weight supported by the glass. I think his plans with the drains were to operate one as the main drain that could be valved to remain full and silent while using the second and a trickle/backup drain.

This should operate near silent when set up and support a wide range of flow rates.

A simple project with great benefits!

Here are some pics:

Finished drilling...I like to put bulkheads in before moving it around. Makes me feel better about the rigidity of the drilled panel

Getting ready for paint on the back:



Finished, custom acrylic boxes and the plumbing needed to assemble:



Assembled:







Thanks for looking!

 

Thanks!