H20 Overflow keeps plugging up

travis32 · 05/13/2019, 11:27 AM

Hello, my 350 gallon display is from customaquariums.com with their H20 Overflow design. I love the design, looks sleek, fully adjustable and works great. However.....

The teeth on the overflows keep plugging up. This forces the water level in my display to rise (around 1/2 to 1 inch). Which causes my top off to run, which then, causes my salinity to decrease. Why do they keep plugging up?

Well, my tank is 6 months old and going through a lot of algae phases. A ton of algae is finally starting to die off the rocks and releasing into the water column. It gets skimmed into the teeth of the overflow where it stays, then more catches on the previous stuff and the opening between teeth closes. I've come home to water flowing over the top of the overflow screens (which is fine) but that means the water level rose an inch or more.

When I clean the teeth off, the water level drops in the display, the sump level rises. The amount of top off water dumped in has been between 5 and 10 gallons. An increase of almost 3 % in additional freshwater dilution.

My fittings are 1.5" on the overflow strainers. I was wondering is there a custom strainer I could buy or somehow make that would use a 1.5" slip connection and strain and maintain water levels regardless of algae building up in the teeth?

I was thinking a similar shaped overflow strainer that is 2 feet long instead of 8"long. This way the teeth would still plug up, but it'd take a lot longer to plug up all the teeth. Or just keep cleaning them twice a day and in another 6 months it'll finally be clean enough to not have to do it everyday??

Vinny Kreyling · 05/13/2019, 11:32 AM

Can you temporarily make a tube with a slot about 1/8" or larger for drainage so it would pull any algae right in?

mcgyvr · 05/13/2019, 12:09 PM

Maintain it more often by increasing your cleaning frequency.. or create a "mesh" area further away from the overflow to block algae before it gets trapped where it causes a problem..

travis32 · 05/14/2019, 11:02 AM

May have to simply break a few teeth off. I've got spare overflow strainers. So, could just have one set I guess with a few broken teeth and another set in tact for when the ugly phase is done. Hopefully in the next 2-3 months.

05/13/2019, 11:27 AM	#1
travis32 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: West Fargo, ND Posts: 2,161	H20 Overflow keeps plugging up Hello, my 350 gallon display is from customaquariums.com with their H20 Overflow design. I love the design, looks sleek, fully adjustable and works great. However..... The teeth on the overflows keep plugging up. This forces the water level in my display to rise (around 1/2 to 1 inch). Which causes my top off to run, which then, causes my salinity to decrease. Why do they keep plugging up? Well, my tank is 6 months old and going through a lot of algae phases. A ton of algae is finally starting to die off the rocks and releasing into the water column. It gets skimmed into the teeth of the overflow where it stays, then more catches on the previous stuff and the opening between teeth closes. I've come home to water flowing over the top of the overflow screens (which is fine) but that means the water level rose an inch or more. When I clean the teeth off, the water level drops in the display, the sump level rises. The amount of top off water dumped in has been between 5 and 10 gallons. An increase of almost 3 % in additional freshwater dilution. My fittings are 1.5" on the overflow strainers. I was wondering is there a custom strainer I could buy or somehow make that would use a 1.5" slip connection and strain and maintain water levels regardless of algae building up in the teeth? I was thinking a similar shaped overflow strainer that is 2 feet long instead of 8"long. This way the teeth would still plug up, but it'd take a lot longer to plug up all the teeth. Or just keep cleaning them twice a day and in another 6 months it'll finally be clean enough to not have to do it everyday??

05/13/2019, 11:32 AM	#2
Vinny Kreyling Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Miller Place, NY Posts: 7,206	Can you temporarily make a tube with a slot about 1/8" or larger for drainage so it would pull any algae right in? __________________ 250 gallon mixed reef, 2 Reefbreeder's Photon V 2, Deepwater BLDC 12, DAS EX-3 Skimmer, MTC mini cal, 2-3/4" Sea Swirls, Aquacontroller & 6 Tunze pumps.

05/13/2019, 12:09 PM	#3
mcgyvr Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 20,050	Maintain it more often by increasing your cleaning frequency.. or create a "mesh" area further away from the overflow to block algae before it gets trapped where it causes a problem.. __________________ Who me?

05/14/2019, 11:02 AM	#4
travis32 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: West Fargo, ND Posts: 2,161	May have to simply break a few teeth off. I've got spare overflow strainers. So, could just have one set I guess with a few broken teeth and another set in tact for when the ugly phase is done. Hopefully in the next 2-3 months.