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small surface skimmer box?


fuzzman24

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i would like to make a small surface skimmer box to use with my refuge. i am thinking of using a rio 600 but maybe a rio 200 but anyways does anyone have any ideas on a nice box to just use or do i have to just make one. i guess has anyone found little acrlyic boxes that work good for this with a little dremel work.

 

Jeff

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wetworx101

you know those brochure and pamphlet holders that are used at retailers to dispense info??? Grab one, saw it in half, just above the front dip, and then use the needlepoint screen found at an arts&crafts store to line it.

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wetworx101

^^^the one above is an 11" wide one for holding magazine size, the one below is much smaller. nothing to do but cut the top off and drill the back for a bulkhead if desired.

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  • 4 weeks later...

you can get a small clear hang on holding tank at pet supplies plus, then just cut some grooves in the front of it, that is what i was thinking of doing for mine

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  • 2 weeks later...

No, the boxes are usually only 1.5" front to back...I havent seen a powerhead that would fit in it, but maybe those aquaglobes would work. Instead of in, I tend to drill the back of the boxes anyways to mount them onto the bulkheads I drill into the aquariums....one could just drill a hole on the side or back of the box and attach the powerhead to that...

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I didnt think it was needed, but since nobody has thought of it before, here it is: The DIY slim overflow.

 

First, I use a brochure holder that retailers use to hold info. I try to find one that only has holes in the bottom, if any. Sometimes I luck out and find a holder that has no holes in it, but usually, there are at least a couple small holes in the bottom. I'll cover this later, but for now...

 

I use a tablesaw to cut the box in half, as otherwise it would be 12" tall and with a huge open area running down the front (where you grab the papers). I cut the box horizontally just above the bottom of this open area, so that there is a small dip in the front of the overflow where the water will actually overflow.

 

It leaves the boxes looking like the ones shown above.

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Here are the bottoms of two I have worked with, but not used yet. The holes in the bottom need to be plugged. I did luck out on the wide one: no holes, but otherwise I must use WELDON 16 to fill in the holes. The unit with the small holes (shown below) can be plugged with just a dab of WELDON 16 in each hole...but the one with the larger holes will require a piece of plexi to be cut to fit the bottom and WELDONed in to the bottom.

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Next I cut a hole into the back of the box with a hole saw. I happen to drill many tanks, and have diamond bits I use, but a carbide bit would work also, as it is just plastic. For this box I used a 1-1/4" bit.

 

I also have to cut a PVC fitting. It is a 1" MPT to slip fitting (shown in upper right). I cut the female slip fitting off to look like the other piece near it. It ends up like a flange. Ill cover more on this later.

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Then I place a washer over the PVC fitting and insert it into the box, and out the back of the box throught the hole. This is why one needs to cut the fitting, or else it will never fit in the box to go out the back. the flat piece on the fitting will press up on the washer, pressing up on the box around the hole...sealing the box to the fitting (shown).

 

For washers, I just try to find something that works. As it turns out, the plastic fittings used in undersink plumbing made out of PVC (1-14" size) fit perfect. The other two sizes shown below also work.

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This has been all done assuming that it will be attached to a bulkhead...i.e. drilling the tank. The fitting just screws into the female threading of a 1" bulkhead. This picture below shows the finished product (minus tank and mesh for better viewing).

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I did cut away the front and sides a little more on this one (above) to accomidate more flow. One just like it went on my cousin's tank, a 10 gallon I have posted in the member gallery. He wanted to remove the large box+sump he had in there with an overflow. The new tank is done (drilled and fitted) and been given away already, with an additional 1/2" bulkhead installed in the other side of the back wall for the return line. I should be over there soon because I am maintaining his nano while he is away on vacation next week...so I will take pics and post the finished product. He also bought one of those 20" 96watt aqualights everyone has been talking about, and I havent seen it yet so it should be cool.

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Nice work. My overflow is similar but

its at least 3x as 'deep' to allow a sort

of modified durso to keep it silent.

 

How are you plumbing it to keep it

quiet/no gurgle?

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I havent had a problem yet...but if did I would just weld a piece of plexi horizontally over the intake of the pipe inside the box to prevent air intake.

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Can someone explain what the positioning of the box should be in relation to the waterline, to be most effective?

How far under water should the cut out be?

 

Siskiou

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It depends a little on the flow rate going through the overflow, as more flow will cause more 'back-pressure' in the overflow box and it may rise a little... But, in general, you want to position an overflow box so that the overflow part, or the lowest edge of the overflow box where water would spill over into, would be just below the intended water level. Now, as I said before, running an overflow with 100gph going through it might only yield an eigth of an inch above the intended level, but on say the box I made above, when it gets 300gph running through it it tends to rise 1/2" in the tank. Any Questions?

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Originally posted by wetworx101

It depends a little on the flow rate going through the overflow, as more flow will cause more 'back-pressure' in the overflow box and it may rise a little...  But, in general, you want to position an overflow box so that the overflow part, or the lowest edge of the overflow box where water would spill over into, would be just below the intended water level.  Now, as I said before, running an overflow with 100gph going through it might only yield an eigth of an inch above the intended level, but on say the box I made above, when it gets 300gph running through it it tends to rise 1/2" in the tank.  Any Questions?

 

Thanks for the explanation!

 

I seem to have trouble getting my box lined up just right (It's a 4X4X4" box in a 20H, with a rio400 inside the skimmer box, connected to the fuge).

 

The box either gets pumped dry within a short time, or it's too far below the surface and doesn't really skim.

 

Do I need a bigger skimmer box?

 

Siskiou

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If you have a shallow box it can be very tricky to adjust the flow through it in just the manner you talk about. This is a different application of an overflow (not really an overflow as much as a surface skimmer for a pump), and I would go as big as possible, perhaps the whole height of the tank since evaporation will cause the level in this skimmer to vary, and not so with a true overflow (I take it that the overflow has a pump because the skimmer is actualy having it's water pumped to a water level higher than that of the main tank and that there is no lower water level than that of inside the skimmer box?) Remember, when evaporation happens, it will affect the level of the lowest water level in any setup...so if you have a half gallon of evap a day and a small overflow box that pumps up to t fuge of something, it will be running dry by the end of the day...since the overflow box in a pump-up system becomes the sump in a water flow kinda way.

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Originally posted by wetworx101

(I take it that the overflow has a pump because the skimmer is actualy having it's water pumped to a water level higher than that of the main tank and that there is no lower water level than that of inside the skimmer box?)

 

Yes, exactly!

 

 

Remember, when evaporation happens, it will affect the level of the lowest water level in any setup...so if you have a half gallon of evap a day and a small overflow box that pumps up to t fuge of something, it will be running dry by the end of the day...since the overflow box in a pump-up system becomes the sump in a water flow kinda way.

 

This is what worries me!

I guess I should work on a drip-type top-off, before I set up the surface skimmer, so the waterlevel never gets too low.

 

Or is there a better way to deal with surface scum in a system like mine?

 

Thanks for answering all my rookie questions!

 

Siskiou

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I'm glad youre following what I am writing (Im not sure I follow it myself sometimes!!). Yes, there is a way to deal with it, by making a bigger overflow box, or by adding an autotopoff that runs inside the box as you mentioned. A better way to deal with it besides a surface skimmer? No, not really. That is why you dont see to many tanks without a surface skimmer, and when they do they have a sump as well.

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