Cheap and easy surface skimmer....

[despot101]

While planning to transfer from my 20L to a 10 gallon last week I managed to come up with an overflow design to help eliminate surface scum in the tank, allow for easy placement of a float-switch and to help keep the inside of the tank looking as equipment free as possible.

All I used was half a piece of ABS piping. Cost a whole $4.00.
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h256/despot101/DSC03798w.jpg

I have a AQ70 on the back of the tank for circulation, to hide the heater, and to use as a fuge. it just pulls it's water from inside the overflow. So far it's working great.
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h256/despot101/DSC03808w.jpg

[larryl]

Very nice idea, and cheap to boot - I like it! You'll need an auto-top-off to keep the waterline up at the level of the teeth, (I assume you're planning for that since you mentioned a float switch).


Larry

[despot101]

Yeah that's already in place. :)

[rljlll]

what float swich did you use?

[CoolUsername]

I love it. I might try this or turn it long ways. Kind of like the Calfo style - all across the back near the top I've been thinking of getting brave enough to drill my 20 gallon. I will need an overflow of some type. I even have some 4" abs laying around. Great idea!

[humbugy]

not to be reduntant, thats a really neat idea, migth try it for some freshwater tanks.
what about adding some groves in the middle to get a top and bottom thing going?

[despot101]

I believe the float switch was made by granger.

Thanks for the comments. I am really liking how it's working thus far.

humbugy, I actually had thought about putting extra groves in it, but since the ac70 doesnt have a super high flow rate I worried it wouldn't skim from the surface as much as I wanted.

[Rekonn]

Cheap and easy, nice! Regular silicone is all you need to attach ABS plastic to a glass tank?

[larryl]

What did you use to cut the teeth?


Larry

[despot101]

Rekonn, that's all I used.....seems to be holding thus far.

larryl, I used a dremel tool.

[SMS76]

Can you drill 2 or 3 more holes near the bottom of the PVC so that even if water level drops below teeth, it will still work or do you think that, in general it will take away the teeth surface skimming? Just trying to figure out, what do you think?


Also how deep are the teeth from the top? Are they deeper the better and can handle more water surface drop if you don't have auto topoff?

How does this work or how do you make it work if you don't have auto top off?

[despot101]

I actually have 3 drill into the side. However it was looking like too much extra flow as it really took away from the surface skimming. I went back and plugged 2 of the holes. Working much better now.

[SMS76]

This design might have more potential. If you don't have refugium, do you think it might help to have this type of overflow with slightly bigger PVC if tank allows and have cheto or some other macro in there (i think clump of cheato will float instead of sink but might be wrong)? It might also provide nice refugium with using tanks lighting. Any cons to this? Only problem i think of, is if there is no auto top off, water level can fall and might create some issues but is there a way to avoid this situation? Can teeth be designed much deeper then water level? May be a hole or two near the bottom of the overflow PVC? Need ideas guys...what do you think?

Very cool design of the overflow, Do you think this will only work with the small tanks or good size tank (72G BF) as well?

[SMS76]

Also nice job with applying silicon, did you use any tools? Any tips? How you did it?

[despot101]

You might be able to work something out to use larger ABS, and have a refugium right in the overflow. I'd probably drill a hole mid-way down and put a pump (like a maxi-jet) pumping water out of the overflow. Water would drain down over the sides, past the macro and get pumped out the bottom by the maxi-jet. Make any sense??

I would think this would work on any size tank, pending you can find ABS large enough for your needs.

For the silicon I just applied it by hand.

[Kaos]

Pretty sweet. I may try this when I drill my 20L instead of making a traditional box style overflow.

[Steven0000]

i was working on something like that
i made one of these (on a small scale) for my tank

<img src="http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL617/3951265/8188596/172162593.jpg">

and it worked great
makes a great home for benificial bacteria

[SMS76]

That makes sense. Thanks

[thomAZ]

I did the same thing. I think I used 3" but its only a 10g.
I wish I would of cut my slots about .5" deeper but it lets me know when I need to top off.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/az90cab/IM000132.jpg

[CoolUsername]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7830093#post7830093 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CoolUsername
I love it. I might try this or turn it long ways. Kind of like the Calfo style - all across the back near the top I've been thinking of getting brave enough to drill my 20 gallon. I will need an overflow of some type. I even have some 4" abs laying around. Great idea!

This is kind of like what I was thinking:

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g93/skyedugger/arc_overflow.png

I would cut teeth into the top edge (long straight). I think this is the perfect material for this application. And I guess I have more tools to work with it than the alternatives.

[despot101]

CoolUsername, yeah I think that would work great. And like you said the ABS is much easier to work with than black acrylic. (And cheaper).

[CoolUsername]

Cheaper and easier. That will always get my attention.

[amazonlover]

thats an alsome disign im using it for my 5.5 (but what size piping you recomend?? thanks

[despot101]

I would adjust the pipe size based on your needs. Are you going to want to place a float switch inside?

I just cut out some half circles of paper in different sizes and played around until I found an approximate size that i felt would work.

[rljlll]

can you try to find a pic or link to where you got the float swich please

[SMS76]

What did you use to cut the pipe in half? I am guessing it has to be accurate.
Also what ABS means?

[despot101]

I got the float switch from a Grainger branch location.
http://www.grainger.com

And to cut the ABS I just used a handsaw. It wasn't perfectly straight, but the silicon helped make up for that.
ABS stands for Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene. You can get it at Menards, Lowes, HomeDepot.

[rljlll]

there are so many which did you pick

[despot101]

Honestly I cannot even remember. I've been using it for 3 years.

[rljlll]

oh ok i have heard that the black pipe releases toxins but the white and the grey electrical is ok though any thoughts

[despot101]

There was a thread here on RC I read where basically for every person that said it was toxic, there was another person who had used ABS for years without problems.

[bklynmet]

Great idea. I've been wanting to setup at 5-10g nano for the office - I can now put my skilter overflow to use instead of collecting dust.

[larryl]

I think that quarter-circle would work great for a coast-to-coast style overflow. You really don't need to cut any teeth in it - all that does is decrease the available length for skimming by about half. With a smooth rim, it will skim the entire length, and the thickness of the surface layer that gets skimmed will be only half as thick (for the same amount of flow).


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7837380#post7837380 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CoolUsername
This is kind of like what I was thinking:

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g93/skyedugger/arc_overflow.png

I would cut teeth into the top edge (long straight). I think this is the perfect material for this application. And I guess I have more tools to work with it than the alternatives.

[CoolUsername]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7846496#post7846496 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by despot101
There was a thread here on RC I read where basically for every person that said it was toxic, there was another person who had used ABS for years without problems.

I'm one of those that is usually pretty cautionary. I've read the posts and don't worry about ABS. I have used ABS for various things. Mainly because it is black. Second it is cheap. Third it is less dense than water (It floats) PVC is more dense than water (sinks) Sometimes that is useful.

Most of the claims supporting the myth (no one has verified this to my knowledge) is that ABS is not NSF certified. NSF stands for National Sanitation Foundation. That scares people for some reason.

On the surface it would seem that picking only NSF certified materials would be an easy rule to follow to remain safe. The problem is if you did that you wouldn't be able to have silicone seals, o-rings, sand, rock, electrical cords, ceramic impeller shafts, biowheels, filter socks, or egg crate in the tank/sump. Since none of the materials going into these are certified and most could never be certified.

NSF wants to make sure that the materials used are food safe. That means among other things, that the material cannot harbor bacteria. Is anyone in the reef hobby worried about keeping bacteria off of and out of materials in the tank? On the contrary, we design the system so it can and will harbor bacteria. The NSF certification is has a different set of goals.

Anyways I'm rambling, but I haven't worried about it.

[despot101]

The abs I used has NSF printed right on it. :)

[CoolUsername]

What was the ABS you used? The ABS that most people use is drainpipe from HD. This won't have an NSF label on it.

[despot101]

I just picked it up at a small hardware store.

[latazyo]

nice work brandon, you're always leading the way in innovation

[despot101]

doing my best man.

[SMS76]

How is your overflow design working out?

[Cuervo]

Great idea!

I'd like to add one to my 46 Bowfront, but I'd hate to tear the whole thing down just for that. Any ideas on a way to attach it with the tank still full of water?

Will silicone cure under water?

I wonder if just piling a bunch of rock against it would be good enough, it doesn't have to be absolutely watertight for it to still work well does it?

[despot101]

So far it's working great. No surface scum and the top-off works perfectly. I'll definately be using this design in any future tanks I setup.

Cuervo, I don't think the silicone would cure wet, and I can't really say for sure on the seal. I think between the rocks and the pressure of the water it would pretty much stay in place.

[Cuervo]

Something you said earlier inspired me...

you said "one type of PVC floats"

I started thinking.. the overflow doesn't really have to be attacked to the tank at all.

I'm going to try this tomorrow:

Take the piece of ABS, and stick an edcap on it, cut it to the length of my intake on my HOB skimmer. Cut the teeth for the overflow on the other end. I think a couple of short pieces of 1/2 in PVC with end caps glued on and stuck to the top should be able to keep the thing from sinking.(mini-pontoons) Then just let it float in place with the skimmer intake inside it.

If it works, I don't even have to worry about the water level dropping a little.

I'll put it together tomorrow and see what happens. I guess my biggest question is how I'll get the balance between the skimmer cavitating and the thing overflowing totally. Won't know until I try.

Thanks again for the great idea!!

[amiricle]

hey, this looks great. Sorry if this is a dumb question but how exactly does this reduce skum? i always see teeth cut out but i never knew there purpose. Does the skum get stuck behind the teeth?

[MJAnderson]

The teeth are just so a fish or snail doesn't end up in your overflow, potentially blocking the drain or kiling the animal. Some people use a solid top and use 1" of gutter guard or similiar.

[amiricle]

so how does this reduce skum?

[CoolUsername]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8015785#post8015785 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by amiricle
so how does this reduce skum?

Scum floats. When it floats it accumulates in a thin layer on surface of the water. Surface skimming is designed to pull this thin layer off the top of the aquarium display tank so that the scum can be filtered in the protein skimmer.

The use of teeth technically reduces the surface skimming a little. Some people don't use teeth at all as a previous poster stated. The point here is that without the teeth a thinner layer is transferred into the overflow box, thus more scum. People who don't use teeth use other creative means to keep critters out of the overflow box.

[amiricle]

thank you for the info

[Gordonious]

I've seen sooooo many designs and have not come across this one until tonight. I like it. Worth looking into.

Cuervo definitely let us know how that goes.


Jon

[FallenElement]

I know this is a dumb question but i cant find it anywhere. How do you mod an AC to be a ref and filter? what exactly needs to be done to it?

[despot101]

Just do a search for AC refugium or something like that and you should find quite a few threads on how to set it up.

BTW, so far the overflow is working great.....

[SMS76]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8122337#post8122337 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FallenElement
I know this is a dumb question but i cant find it anywhere. How do you mod an AC to be a ref and filter? what exactly needs to be done to it?

This is the link to the thread for AC refugium mod :)

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=726185

[erics3000]

Your tank looks great. Great ideas. When I move my tanks around I am going to drill my 75 and might do the pvc trick for and inside overflow. What exactly do you guys use to glue pvc to glass and how long does it take to cure?

[Keelay]

I would use Silicone. It adheres to PVC about as well as it does to acrylic. 48 hours is the cure time.

There may be other adhesives that would work well too however.

[twelvejewelz]

can you give me a link to the lighting your using please

[scrombussquared]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7846271#post7846271 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rljlll
oh ok i have heard that the black pipe releases toxins but the white and the grey electrical is ok though any thoughts

ABS is inert, like pvc, while in normal use. ABS is more toxic WHEN IT'S BURNED than pvc, but I wouldn't want to breathe the smoke from either material.

[luv951]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7837380#post7837380 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CoolUsername
This is kind of like what I was thinking:

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g93/skyedugger/arc_overflow.png

I would cut teeth into the top edge (long straight). I think this is the perfect material for this application. And I guess I have more tools to work with it than the alternatives.

Do they make any larger than 4' diameter? If you use 4' dia. PVC like your illustration above, the radius is cut down to 2', so the pipe would only come out from the tank wall 2' and the overflow chamber would only be 2' deep. I guess it would still work, but I can't imagine that you could use even a 1 inch dia. pipe for your T fitting inside the overflow and have it fit.

[luv951]

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog_name=USPlastic&category_name=13669&product_id=16587

They have PVC Pipe in diameters up to 24 inch. Gets pretty spendy though

[GIJOE007]

Do they make any larger than 4' diameter? If you use 4' dia. PVC like your illustration above, the radius is cut down to 2', so the pipe would only come out from the tank wall 2' and the overflow chamber would only be 2' deep. I guess it would still work, but I can't imagine that you could use even a 1 inch dia. pipe for your T fitting inside the overflow and have it fit.

to eliminate that issue, put the tee on th outside of the tank, not in the overflow area. then cut part of 90 elbow off to shorten it and use that on the inside of the tank in the overflow.

I like this idea very much. I have been contomplaiting changing my overflow box to a coast to coast style for better and more efficient skim. I may just use this method and do it once I have a few other things out of the way.