Cali Kid Corals

Overflow build for a non-drilled tank

A friend of mine bought a DIY sump kit off Amazon and then tried to make a DIY overflow out of PVC pipe. To say the least, it was a serious headache of constant fine tuning to keep it running. So one week I decided to make him a hang-on the back overflow.

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Very nice, how do you cut the acrylic? Laser cutter?

Thanks!
Initial pieces are sized on a 10" tablesaw using a 60 - 80 tooth triple-chip carbide blade. All edges to glued are trimmed with a fence and router. After gluing, the remaining saw cut edges are trimmed with a flush trim router bit (router bit with bearing on top). I chose not to flame polish, because it actually stresses the acrylic and can ultimately lead to crazing (stress cracks).
 
Initial pieces are sized on a 10" tablesaw using a 60 - 80 tooth triple-chip carbide blade. All edges to glued are trimmed with a fence and router. After gluing, the remaining saw cut edges are trimmed with a flush trim router bit (router bit with bearing on top). I chose not to flame polish, because it actually stresses the acrylic and can ultimately lead to crazing (stress cracks).

I could use a friend that can work acrylic. :p

Man I need to carve out some space to set up routing table. I've been trying to trim route stuff by hand and it never turn out well lol.
 
The connector at the top.
I'm assuming you have to have an external pump to keep it primed?

You can just connect a piece of new airline tubing and a small valve to the top overflow connector and suck out the air when it accumulates over time. Ideally you should connect an aqua-lifter input to the top connection of the overflow and direct the aqua-lifter output to the sump. Then have your tank controller or timer run the aqua-lifter for a minute once a day. The overflow is designed to NOT lose prime in the event of a power outage.
 
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