New idea for an overflow

[OriTeper]

Hi again,

I have a rather weird idea id like to run by you guys.

thinking of whats the best way to do the overflow on the planted discus tank im planning on building, i thought of this:

what if you make on of the side panels of the tank an inch shorter, (that would create a coast-to-coast overflow), and instead of having an overflow box attached, the water would flow onto a 'wall waterfall' into a box of rocks that would be daisy chained to the sump. or could even be part of the sump that extends from under the cabinet.

so the side of the tank would look something like this (minus the frame, lights and spray-bar):


pros and cons i can think of:
+ no need to plumb the overflow (except connecting the lower box with the sump.
+ the box of rocks can double as a mechanical filter and i can build it to be easily removed for cleaning.
+ soothing sound of waterfall (as apposed to the gurgling and slurping of overflows)
+ cool waterfall in the living room
+ releases negative ions to the air (cleans the air)

- faster Co2 loss (which im guessing can be compensated for with higher Co2 injection)
- my cats might want to drink the water, might not be so bad for the cats but im worried about hardness swings when my top-off system replaces what they drink. on the other hand they dont drink that much, maybe 1/4 gallon a day (the tank will be about 175gl) so that might not be a problem
- soothing sound of waterfalls - even when you dont want it...

what do you think?

[OriTeper]

i made a sketch to illustrate how this would look

[phidelt85]

I don't know how well it will work but it looks pretty cool. I'm presuming the "waterfall" wall will extend all the way into the box below it. If not you may get the water running along the bottom of the tank. I would add some teeth along the top of the "overflow" to prevent smaller fish from going over. I have lost BN plecos due to them getting into the overflow prior to me rectifying the problem.

[OriTeper]

I don't know how well it will work but it looks pretty cool. I'm presuming the "waterfall" wall will extend all the way into the box below it. If not you may get the water running along the bottom of the tank.

yes there would be either a glass or stone slate panel running all the way down to the box (i could add two small stripes on the side of the panel to prevent water spilling sideways)

[midazolam]

just another thought.

Make a traditional overflow. Instead of going straight down, run it from the back under the tank in the stand (would need a slight grade to keep gravity working) to a spray bar concealed in the front of the stand and make the entire front of your stand the waterfall. You could hide the spray bar int he bottom lip of the stand. Would hit narrow base of rocks at bottom which could be the front side of your sump. Wouldn't have the water running directly out of the tank, but would still have the water feature. Would probably be easier to do then modifying an entire side of your tank, be a larger feature vs. just one side.

This way you could potentially use a pump in line to modify the sound of the waterfall to your liking by increasing flow rate of the waterfall

[OriTeper]

just another thought.

Make a traditional overflow. Instead of going straight down, run it from the back under the tank in the stand (would need a slight grade to keep gravity working) to a spray bar concealed in the front of the stand and make the entire front of your stand the waterfall. You could hide the spray bar int he bottom lip of the stand. Would hit narrow base of rocks at bottom which could be the front side of your sump. Wouldn't have the water running directly out of the tank, but would still have the water feature. Would probably be easier to do then modifying an entire side of your tank, be a larger feature vs. just one side.

This way you could potentially use a pump in line to modify the sound of the waterfall to your liking by increasing flow rate of the waterfall

so, if i understand right the waterfall will be under the tank and spanning the length of it?
also a cool idea i must admit!
but then im loosing the biggest plus of my original design which is not needing to do any plumbing from the overflow to the sump, while keeping the tank structure strong (by not slotting the back wall) and minimizing the space between the back of tank and the wall behind it.
just need to figure out the best way to handle return water to compliment this design....

[dishpanhands]

looks cool, but I see a greater potential for a flood. Its about the same as a regular sump filter, but in a regular overflow there is less chance the water will get away from you.

[brewmaster15]

Hi,
I think it would look very good..but I would be concerned about heat loss and CO2 loss.. I think it would off gas your CO2 way too fast to easily compensate for.

Good luck!

-al

[OriTeper]

yeah i have been thinking about it a lot and i think ill go for a more traditional overflow after all since this will be quite a big tank i dont want to find out it wont work well when its too late. maybe if it was a smaller tank...

if anyone out there wants to try something like this would be great to see how it turned out....

btw, Al what kind of discus is on your avatar? (red with stress bars) it looks very nice.

[phidelt85]

you can always try it on a smaller tank say a 20 with a 5-10gal sump

[brewmaster15]

btw, Al what kind of discus is on your avatar? (red with stress bars) it looks very nice.

Thanks... Its a wild blue...some call them semi-royal blue...


hth,
al

[tcyiu]

Where I live, the Asian supermarkets and restaurants which serve live seafood do this all the time.

They allow water to cascade fown the front of the tank into the tank below. I think this is cool because it takes care of condensation on the front of the glass for local cold water fish like rockcod.

As far as doing this at home, I would worry about not having complete control over the water: i.e. spray, condensation and the possibility of something falling against the waterfall and re-directing the water to the flow. In my mind, plumbing is about having complete control over the flow of water outside the tank.

Cool idea - for me, I would not do it with a large tank.

Tim

[salth20]

Kind of been done at PetsMart in the plant tank. Acrylic lips direct the flow out slightly to the next tank below it. I wouldn't think it would be hard to direct the flow over your waterfall at all. A cool idea! My LFS has a frag tank about 6"deep. The water return from the sump is in the middle of the tank. The whole 48"x48"x6" tank is setting in a 49X49X6.5 acrylic "shell", just a 1/2 inch off the bottom of the shell. The water flows transparently over all 4 sides of the tank, into the space between tank and shell, and back to the sump. Looks crazy, very quiet, and has no ripple shadows over the frags.

[DiscusOnly]

I always love the zero edge aquarium.

http://www.zeroedgeaquarium.com/75ZRCT.htm

I thought about getting one until I saw how far and high discus can jump.

[C_of_Discus]

I would make the waterfall enclosed. so clear acrylic rectangle but in the same configuration as a regular over flow. Make if like an inch thick to concentrate the water flow and have the last 6 inches open if you like the sound of falling water.