large tank - no internal overflows - possible?

[hoooop54]

I have a wall that I would love to put a large tank against. Ideally, it would be an 96x27x30. I would like to run the plumbing in the wall down to the basement where I would then create a fish room. Ideally, I would like no internal overflow boxes, to keep the inside as clean looking as possible. How would I do that? Build external overflows in the wall (there is a closet behind the area that I could use, though I would need to probably buy the wife something nice to take it over).

[acabgd]

Durso standpipe would be one solution. A friend of mine has a 150g custom rimless with such piping, works great, no overflow.


Some info also here around the 3:20 mark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAhycbnL1Mk

[tkeracer619]

Be careful with the closet. Keep it a closet or it may reduce the value of your home if you move.

You can easily do an external overflow and put it through the wall.

[hoooop54]

It's a odd closet. It has a weird shape, so I could steal enough space without ruining the closet. I think I could get an external overflow box in there, keep the space separated from the functional parts of the closet.

[RocketEngineer]

Originally Posted by acabgd

Durso standpipe would be one solution. A friend of mine has a 150g custom rimless with such piping, works great, no overflow.

Some info also here around the 3:20 mark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAhycbnL1Mk

Two points against this:

1) That isn't a Durso. A Durso has air in the line to prevent the formation of a siphon. If you put a valve on the drain as mentioned in the video you linked, you need to have a DRY emergency drain or you risk flooding out the system when a snail crawls across the drain pipe.

2) Without an overflow box, you run the risk of a leaking bulkhead draining your tank. Given how often I bump my pipes when I move my skimmer around, I would never want that kind of risk on any system I owned.

OP: While I understand your desire to not have an overflow in the tank itself, there are a couple solutions. One solution is to have the back glass of the tank be slightly lower than the sides and have an external box mounted across the back of the tank. You would need a custom tank builder to get this to work properly as the glass would have to be sized for that long a span with now supports.

Personally, I would repeat what I have on my 125g and go with an internal/external setup. On my 125g tank I have a very narrow internal overflow box. This collects the water from the display and passes it through a pair of holes in the back of the tank to the external box. The external box houses the stand pipes for my BeanAnimal drain setup. If you don't wish to see the plumbing, the internal box could be black acrylic and the external box have a black acrylic insert to keep it hidden. Make sure this panel has plenty of room to expand your it can cause issues.

HTH,

[hoooop54]

Originally Posted by RocketEngineer

Two points against this:

1) That isn't a Durso. A Durso has air in the line to prevent the formation of a siphon. If you put a valve on the drain as mentioned in the video you linked, you need to have a DRY emergency drain or you risk flooding out the system when a snail crawls across the drain pipe.

2) Without an overflow box, you run the risk of a leaking bulkhead draining your tank. Given how often I bump my pipes when I move my skimmer around, I would never want that kind of risk on any system I owned.

OP: While I understand your desire to not have an overflow in the tank itself, there are a couple solutions. One solution is to have the back glass of the tank be slightly lower than the sides and have an external box mounted across the back of the tank. You would need a custom tank builder to get this to work properly as the glass would have to be sized for that long a span with now supports.

Personally, I would repeat what I have on my 125g and go with an internal/external setup. On my 125g tank I have a very narrow internal overflow box. This collects the water from the display and passes it through a pair of holes in the back of the tank to the external box. The external box houses the stand pipes for my BeanAnimal drain setup. If you don't wish to see the plumbing, the internal box could be black acrylic and the external box have a black acrylic insert to keep it hidden. Make sure this panel has plenty of room to expand your it can cause issues.

HTH,

Makes sense. I guess I could get the internal box in glass so you could scrape it and keep it clean. What I really want is a background that doesn't have plastic covered in coraline.

thanks