whats wrong with this overflow idea

vdhillon · 07-19-2005, 11:51 AM

Hi,
i'm thinking of trying to make my own overflow for a sump. I was looking at some of the post and possibilities of how to go about making my own.
Well i came up with an idea, but i'm not sure if it would work and i'll like to know if anyone sees any holes in it before i try.
I have a penguin hang on filter that i don't need. Whats to say if i drilled a hole in the bottom of the filter and attached the sump to that. Then i remove the impeller so that there is no obstruction, and cut the inlet pipe short. So that it basically is about an inch or so below the water surface. i'll place some form of a filter to the inlet so nothing gets sucked it, but would that work?
it has the basic same design so that water is sucked in though the U tube into what was the filter box and down into the sump tube?

well let me know what anyone think and if i'm way off with it or if you have any questions.

skennelly · 07-19-2005, 12:26 PM

Yes it would work, but you would get very slow flow being that a penguin inlet pipe is only about 1/2 or 5/8 inch wide. What size tank is this for? It might be fine for a nano operation, but anything bigger than a 5 or 10 gallon tank it isn't going to work. Most overflows handle 500+ gph. No way your penguin could manage that with the inlet tube alone sticking in the water.

Covey · 07-19-2005, 01:58 PM

If I am understanding right I also don't think it would restart after a power outage.
BUT
If you left the impeller in and drilled your bulk head hole high enough to keep water in the filter in the event of a power outage. You would have a powered overflow that ran how ever fast the filter ran.

skennelly · 07-20-2005, 08:59 AM

I think he was going to use the stock inlet tube for the penguin as a C tube and in theory it should retain a syphon during a power outage just like any other C tube style overflow would. However as I stated the penguin tube is too small and the flow through it would be very very slow. It might work in a nano operation, but anything larger and you would require an overflow that can handle at least 500+ gph.

Birdlady · 07-20-2005, 09:07 AM

I don't see how it could retain the siphon....with standard U tube overflows, both ends are baffled so that both ends remain submerged. However, yours would, in theory, pull water untill there is a break on the siphon inside the tank. Once there is air in there, it will not restart on its own.

Additionally,you won't be skimming the surface of the water, where a majority of proteins gather...less productive filtration,

skennelly · 07-20-2005, 12:21 PM

Yes, you are correct BL

. I totally forgot about the baffle in the overflow box, without that there is no possible way it could keep a syphon

vdhillon · 07-26-2005, 08:53 AM

what is a baffle in an overflow box.
Yeah i pretty much knew that the idea was too good to be true.

Birdlady · 07-26-2005, 09:05 AM

A baffle is basically a plastic wall. In an overflow box, you have the section inside the aquarium, that is a box with teeth around the top, the tube stays fully under water at all time on this side because the teeth are set higher than the bottom of the siphon tube.

On the back half, however, it is a much taller box, and the U-tube does not go all the way to the bottom, so a section is created with baffles that holds the end of the U-tube under water in the event of a power failure. Water remains in the entire U-tube, even tho there is no flow through it.

When power starts up again, water flows back over the teeth and forces the flow to start again.