Acrylic tank with removable overflow. Is it possible?

[sandswhitson]

I am looking at getting an acrylic tank made and had an interesting idea. We want a tank that is 84"'long and would be set up in our current house with that length against a wall. The problem is, in the future we hope to have a house with a penninsula style tank so if we have the tank built with an overflow on the 84" side then we can't use this tank as a penninsula in the future. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on a removable overflow system with an acrylic tank? If we drilled the holes in the bottom of the tank they could be plugged later and the overflow moved to one of the ends making it a peninsula. Does silicone bond to acrylic?? If it does I think I could have an overflow made and just silicone it in like glass tanks. Anyone see any issues wih this?

 

[Peppie]

I dont see why you dont just drill the holes for the return/overflow at the end of the tank for the peninsula style you are going for in the future.
All you need to do is direct water from a removable coast to coast weir to the return/overflow section on the one end of the tank.

Then you only have to drill once, and no holes to plug. The coast to coast weir can just clip on to the top back of the tank.

 

[sandswhitson]

I don't want to have a coast to coast on the tank because it will be viewed from three sides and I want to leave the ends full width. I was thinking I could have overflows made that had four sides with just the top and bottom open and then I would just have to seal the bottom to the tank.

 

[Chichas01]

I have an idea if I understand your question correctly. Most OFB's are 3 sides glued to the tank right? So get one made that has four sides and sits in the tank. It would be secured by the bulkheads through the bottom of the tank. Have your holes drilled for either config ahead of time and install your bulkheads and cap them. Seems like that should work.

 

[akunochi]

Only problem with that is the water slipping under the box constantly filling it. So yyou would never break siphon.

 

[returnofsid]

You could build an overflow system that's not attached to any walls of the tank. There are tanks that have central overflows. The overflow box would be 4 sided, with "teeth" on all 4 sides. It could sit anywhere you wanted it to, depending on where holes were drilled, in the bottom of the tank. When you decide to go peninsula style, if new holes are needed, in the bottom of the tank, just plug the old holes, by capping them off.

No, silicon will not bond to acrylic. However, Weldon will.

 

[Chichas01]

Only problem with that is the water slipping under the box constantly filling it. So yyou would never break siphon.

Not if the box is a 'box';bottom and 4 sides. The bulkheads would hold it in place by clamping the bottom of the box to the bottom of the tank:smile:

 

[DonW]

I have an idea if I understand your question correctly. Most OFB's are 3 sides glued to the tank right? So get one made that has four sides and sits in the tank. It would be secured by the bulkheads through the bottom of the tank. Have your holes drilled for either config ahead of time and install your bulkheads and cap them. Seems like that should work.

That would work just fine. You just need a washer in the box and one under it.

Don

 

[Chichas01]

You could build an overflow system that's not attached to any walls of the tank. There are tanks that have central overflows. The overflow box would be 4 sided, with "teeth" on all 4 sides. It could sit anywhere you wanted it to, depending on where holes were drilled, in the bottom of the tank. When you decide to go peninsula style, if new holes are needed, in the bottom of the tank, just plug the old holes, by capping them off.

No, silicon will not bond to acrylic. However, Weldon will.

That's a good idea too! You could hide a center mounted OFB with rock all the way around it. Only downside would be if the tank is against a wall it might look a bit awkward but otherwise you could have 4 sided viewing.

 

[Sasquatch]

arn't most overflow held on with sillicon? it has no great bonding ability but it will hold non structural things

 

[returnofsid]

arn't most overflow held on with sillicon? it has no great bonding ability but it will hold non structural things

With glass tanks, yes. Acrylic tanks usually use Weldon, to bond the overflow to the tank.

 

[Burke]

Just like a glass-holes overflow, but through the bottom and not the side. That would totally work.

 

[sandswhitson]

I like Chicas idea with the bulkheads that sounds like it would work great. Only question is how long are the threaded portion of the bulkheads? I am not sure what thickness the bottom of the tank will be. I don't know if a bulkhead would be long enough to go through the tank bottom plus an overflow box plus two seals. If I remember correctly they are pretty long. I am in Alaska right now and can't check mine on my tank. Overflow holes would probably be 1 1/2 or 2".