Hey folks, I am planning out a reef tank. I am working with a 90 gallon curved front all glass tank. It is currently not drilled, but I do intend on drilling it. I am curious in regards to calfo overflows and how one might DIY an external overflow rather then the internal box. I can settle on the internal, but would prefer the seemless look of the external. Any suggestions on where to look would awesome.
calfo overflow
- Thread starter COpathfindin
- Start date
You can drill a hole or holes in the glass with bulkheads and PVC to drain to the outer box or (and I don't suggest doing this) you would need to cut a notch or teeth in the back glass...
http://reefsavvy.com/portfolio/?album=1&gallery=5
^not quite CTC but you get the idea.
There is a really nice internal and a nice custom external on this thread.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/equipment/54089-lets-see-those-coast-coast-calfo-overflows.html
http://reefsavvy.com/portfolio/?album=1&gallery=5
^not quite CTC but you get the idea.
There is a really nice internal and a nice custom external on this thread.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/equipment/54089-lets-see-those-coast-coast-calfo-overflows.html
ok, so I have looking into things, and I have decided that for my desired set-up and the end result I have in mind for this particular tank I am going to go with an internal, it will be the full length of the tank. I am going to be using glass, as I would like to keep this all glass. My question now is will thickness matter? can I use a thinner gauge glass making it less of an eye sore?
I am planning on making this overflow just big enough for the pipe fittings for the bean animal style plumbing I will have. One thing I am still pondering on is the shadow cast by the overflow, any one out there have this style over flow and any words on the shadow? I figure it shouldnt be too bad, especially with high light.
I am planning on making this overflow just big enough for the pipe fittings for the bean animal style plumbing I will have. One thing I am still pondering on is the shadow cast by the overflow, any one out there have this style over flow and any words on the shadow? I figure it shouldnt be too bad, especially with high light.
I too would prefer glass but you may want to see if you can get tinted/smoked glass to hide the drains. I'm sure this will be more expensive but you aren't buying a lot and it would be worth it. You can no doubt go with pretty thin glass (no real pressure on the glass) but I would be cautious about going too thin. You will eventually bump into it with your arm, hand or worse, a piece of live rock. I would go with a safe thickness with rounded, smooth edges. If you go with the tinted glass and paint the back of the tank black, you will limit the eyesore.
Yes you will get some shadowing but the amount will be dictated by the lights you run and how high they are above the tank. T5s should produce the least amount of shadow while point source lights such as halides and LEDS would probably create more of one. Either way the shadow should pretty much get cast on the back glass only (which could be black anyway
).
Yes you will get some shadowing but the amount will be dictated by the lights you run and how high they are above the tank. T5s should produce the least amount of shadow while point source lights such as halides and LEDS would probably create more of one. Either way the shadow should pretty much get cast on the back glass only (which could be black anyway
).I am planning on a DIY light system using halides, t5's, and 4 pin PC actinic. If the shadow is bothersome to me, I can always add some underwater led lights later on. I am going to contact a glass shop this weekend to find out what the charge on a piece of tinted glass. I am going to have the body of the over flow glass with the weir being acrylic. Doing this I am hoping to have removable teeth, while still being nearly all glass. I will epoxy some screws onto the top of the overflow and drill out an oval slot on either side of the weir. This will allow me to easily remove them for cleaning, or adjust them for height fine tuning.
