Cutting teeth on the Overflow?

[huskysglare1]

Do we need teeth on our overflow? if you have a strainer on your bulkheads, do you still need to have teeth on the overflow? How do you cut the overflow teeth?

[atwinparadox2]

It depends on what kind of overflow you have, teeth generally control the water level in the tank. the lower the teeth, the lower the water...people have cut teeth with table saws, jig saws, routers, hand saws, probably knives somewhere down the line... I have a HOB overflow on my cube, and it does not have teeth on it. it works fine. Hope this helps.

[mg426]

I used a milling machine to cut my teeth.

[29reef]

Why do you want to cut the teeth off your overflow? It prevents most snails and fish from ending up in your overflow. They also act as a shelf for the lid of the overflow to keep light from getting in and growing algea. Strainers on bulkheads are a bad idea unless you want to clean them every month or so. It could lead to a clog and a mess. It sounds luke your setting yourself up for a lot of extra work.

[jb61264]

If you decide you want to do the teeth...here is a writeup on how someone does it:

http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/teeth.html

[EMV7904]

If I'm reading this right, you're talking about cutting the teeth to your overflow boxes?

I have a few pics of what someone once did, I saved the picture and have NO idea where I got it from so I can't give appropriate credit.

http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab103/EMV7904/megaflow1.jpg

http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab103/EMV7904/megaflow2.jpg

[VacavilleFC3S]

i really wouldn't advise it, as stated above it controls flow.

[EMV7904]

Obviously you could overflow your overflows, as each will only drain about 650gph (so I've read) but you can control that with a nice external pump.