Overflow Box Question

[AFxPolo]

If I want to make a corner box in my glass tank to hide my HOB filter parts with black acrylic what do you suggest using to bond acrylic to glass? Black aquarium safe silicone or????? Also what is the best way to do this? I'm assuming I dont want an overflow (teeth just notched at top) since I want the inside of the box to be filled with same level of water correct? So would I need to put more holes in the box down lower?

[Techknowledgy]

I made one out of plastic boxes I got at the container store. They work great in my 30 gallon frag tank. It is a HOB. Cheap and easy to build.

[AFxPolo]

Roland you didnt answer ONE of my questions haha. What can I used to bond and how do you suggest I do it?

I made one out of plastic boxes I got at the container store. They work great in my 30 gallon frag tank. It is a HOB. Cheap and easy to build.

[LarryM]

use sillycone for adhesive. I would recommend the notches as that allows it to skim the surface of the water...

[iVgOnMaD]

A straight edge more effective at surface skimming than teeth but allows small fish to go down into the box easier since there is no barrier

[AFxPolo]

will the water level in the box be lower than the tank or same level?

[iVgOnMaD]

you could make it lower by sealing the box but you will have to top off sooner since the overflow box has a much smaller area than the whole tank and you water level will change within the overflow only.

[iVgOnMaD]

If you want to have the box and the tank to be at the same level you could drill a small hole in the bottom of the tower (~1/4"). if the level drops too low for you make the hole a little bigger.

HTH

ps. in thi stype of setup the water level will change throughout the whole tank with evaporation so you will most likely need to use the teeth on the overflow to allow some fluctuation of the water level. With the straight edge if evap. drops the level below the overflow the little intake at the bottom of the tower will still allow water in not allowing the box to do any surface skimming.

HTH

[Techknowledgy]

Aquarium grade silicone wil work, will be messy and is not the best solution. Sorry I didn't mean to dodge the question. - A HOB overflow box does ALL of the same things, without being a permanent fixture. Surface skimming is what it is all about. Mine cost me about $20.00 to build. Made siphons out of bending PVC. Just an alternative solution.

[ajn81]

Just a suggestion if using silicon. If you tack down the pieces of acrylic with a little bit of super glue first to hold it in place, it will be much easier and most likely much cleaner.

[AFxPolo]

excuse my not understanding but what is a straight edge in relation to this conversation? How does it look? If I drill a hole at the bottom of the box to allow water to flow through and keep levels inside/outside box at same levels it shouldn't drop below teeth if I keep up on my top off correct? My whole purpose of the box is just to hide the HOB filter parts from showing in the main tank, not to use as an overflow to sump (if that makes sense)

If you want to have the box and the tank to be at the same level you could drill a small hole in the bottom of the tower (~1/4"). if the level drops too low for you make the hole a little bigger.

HTH

ps. in thi stype of setup the water level will change throughout the whole tank with evaporation so you will most likely need to use the teeth on the overflow to allow some fluctuation of the water level. With the straight edge if evap. drops the level below the overflow the little intake at the bottom of the tower will still allow water in not allowing the box to do any surface skimming.

HTH

[Techknowledgy]

So how do you hide the box?

[AFxPolo]

no no the box is to hide the filter parts (aqua clear HOB filter & bak pak skimmer and pump) so there is no ugly filter attachments visible.

[iVgOnMaD]

excuse my not understanding but what is a straight edge in relation to this conversation? How does it look? If I drill a hole at the bottom of the box to allow water to flow through and keep levels inside/outside box at same levels it shouldn't drop below teeth if I keep up on my top off correct? My whole purpose of the box is just to hide the HOB filter parts from showing in the main tank, not to use as an overflow to sump (if that makes sense)

A straight edge overflow is pretty much that, it has no teeth on the overflow.

It depends on how strong your filter is and how much can get back in through the hole at the bottom, if you make a small hole you could get a significant drop in water level in the box since more water will be sucked out by the filter than can get back in through the hole. This would be ideal if you wanted to protect your filters/heaters from running dry from evaporation in case you forgot to top off or something.

[mazilla]

look at the link in my siganature, i made my own.