Thoughts and recommendations on overflow box

[Emac909]

I’m in the works of doing an upgrade from my 150g to a 187g. Unfortunately the stand on my 150 is made of particleboard and master flex tube split about a month back. I tried everything I could to dry the wood before damage occurred, fans, blowers, space heater… but unfortunately the stand is deteriorating and the tank is slightly sagging on one side now

I was just going to have a steal stand made for the 150 but than a really good deal came along on a Lee-Mar 187g 60”X30”X24”t.

So the tank currently has a built in overflow box. But I’m intrigued of the idea of an external overflow. I’ve seen another tank where the guy cut out the original overflow and covered the bottom holes with glass. Then drilled the back panel and installed a ghost overflow. It looked super clean.

I’m interested in hearing if any people have done this and what your experience is/was.

 

[badewilly]

Don’t do it. LoL

 

[Smite]

If you do it don’t center the overflow box. Put it to one side for maintenance. My 180g was center and had a leaky gasket. That was a nightmare to access.
My tank being built is internal so I don’t have to deal with that again on a large tank.

 

[Leandre]

i did that with my first tank. was a 220g peninsula, but was old and dirty, i ripped out the over box and used 1/2" glass over the holes and drilled my own holes on the back of the tank. built an external overflow box and ordered a 45" piece of acrylic with teeth cut out and silicone it to glass and then to the tank

my silicone skill suck so i used extra, didn't look that good but its in the back so you cant see it. i recently tore that tank down because it had a leak from one of the bulkheads from the overflow box and there was no way to reach it without emptying it. my problem was i didn't secure the pipe + gate valve properly to the stand, it was almost free standing. so when i moved the gate valve it moved the whole pipe and made the bulkhead nudge.

i used 2" pipe with mine and that was a mistake as i never had it fully opened 1.5" would of been better in terms of cost and weight.

i personally wouldn't have a problem doing this again and would love to try again and fix some of the issues from the first try. it was more the lack of knowledge then the execution.

 

[Emac909]

i did that with my first tank. was a 220g peninsula, but was old and dirty, i ripped out the over box and used 1/2" glass over the holes and drilled my own holes on the back of the tank. built an external overflow box and ordered a 45" piece of acrylic with teeth cut out and silicone it to glass and then to the tank

my silicone skill suck so i used extra, didn't look that good but its in the back so you cant see it. i recently tore that tank down because it had a leak from one of the bulkheads from the overflow box and there was no way to reach it without emptying it. my problem was i didn't secure the pipe + gate valve properly to the stand, it was almost free standing. so when i moved the gate valve it moved the whole pipe and made the bulkhead nudge.

i used 2" pipe with mine and that was a mistake as i never had it fully opened 1.5" would of been better in terms of cost and weight.

i personally wouldn't have a problem doing this again and would love to try again and fix some of the issues from the first try. it was more the lack of knowledge then the execution.

Thanks for the info. Yea that the biggest complaint I hear about external overflows is when there located in the middle of the back that people get leaks and then can’t fix the leak. So I’m in the process of rebuilding a lee-mar 187g.
Here’s the thread

eMac’s attempt @ tank rebuild
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/to...-rebuild.105605/&share_type=t&link_source=app

My plan is to place the external on the left side of the tank so if I need to maintenance it I’ll be able to reach the plumbing. Also I here a big complaint is the hard plumbing will cause the bulkheads to loosen from the vibration when the water flows down the pipe. So I plan to use a 1’ piece of flex pvc the bulkheads and hard plumbing.