How to make an overflow that looks good.

[Jayden K]

I want to make a 5 ft tall plastic corner overflow, does anyone know how, or at least a smaller one?

 

[VintageReefer]

I want to make a 5 ft tall plastic corner overflow, does anyone know how, or at least a smaller one?

Are you opposed to drilling glass? A external ghost overflow is small and visually unobtrusive

Is your tank 5 foot tall?

 

[Jayden K]

Are you opposed to drilling glass? A external ghost overflow is small and visually unobtrusive

Is your tank 5 foot tall?

A ghost overflow looks good, although I would need about 8 of them to do the job. The tank is going to be 5 ft tall. Im ok with drilling glass, although each piece of 2k so I want to do it right. I'll look into ghost overflows. Thanks

 

[VintageReefer]

A ghost overflow looks good, although I would need about 8 of them to do the job. The tank is going to be 5 ft tall. Im ok with drilling glass, although each piece of 2k so I want to do it right. I'll look into ghost overflows. Thanks

If your back glass is black and you get black overflow it’s nearly invisible

 

[Jayden K]

If your back glass is black and you get black overflow it’s nearly invisible

Great, I'll paint the back black, but how do I do that? I'm assuming the outside side of the glass so there's no chemicals leaking.

 

[VintageReefer]

Here you can barely see the outline of it and this photo was with flash on

Farther back

Rear view - can be plumbed for herbie or bean animal setups.

 

[VintageReefer]

Great, I'll paint the back black, but how do I do that? I'm assuming the outside side of the glass so there's no chemicals leaking.

I use black krylon on the outside rear panel and it’s held up 10+ years n my main reef

For this new build - I don’t know what was used, it was made/built this way.

Maybe you could order black glass for that rear panel? Or a dark smoke color tint

 

[Jayden K]

Why not just black paint for glass? It's a 7ft by 5ft so 35sqr ft glass piece, that's like 8 dollars worth of paint.

 

[Jamie814]

Is this the same 7'x6'x5' tank you were talking about building in your other thread? Did you find someone to build a glass tank of this size? The panels would have to be over 1" thick for a tank of that size. That's some serious weight!

 

[Jayden K]

Is this the same 7'x6'x5' tank you were talking about building in your other thread? Did you find someone to build a glass tank of this size? The panels would have to be over 1" thick for a tank of that size. That's some serious weight!

Im building it. With help of 2 construction workers. @glasscages is supplying glass.

 

[VintageReefer]

Why not just black paint for glass? It's a 7ft by 5ft so 35sqr ft glass piece, that's like 8 dollars worth of paint.

You absolutely could. I used black krylon spray paint. It said it works on glass. It was easy to do

 

[Jayden K]

Is this the same 7'x6'x5' tank you were talking about building in your other thread? Did you find someone to build a glass tank of this size? The panels would have to be over 1" thick for a tank of that size. That's some serious weight!

It's on the basement. I talked to my dad, he said the Fondation is right underneath the floor. He told me it would be best if I just put plywood and some mat to distribute the weight rather than a stand.

 

[Jayden K]

You absolutely could. I used black krylon spray paint. It said it works on glass. It was easy to do

Thanks for the help, never would have thought of those types of overflows.

 

[Jamie814]

put plywood and some mat to distribute the weight rather than a stand.

Interesting, so the tank is going to sit directly on the floor? Is @Joe Glass Cages
supplying you the silicon and guiding you on how to bond the panels? There is going to be some serious pressure on the joints.

 

[KrisReef]

I just had an expensive meal. I am glad that I won’t have to eat here anymore. I really hope that this tank works out. The op is braver than I am!
Much braver to take on this kind of construction!

 

[1guydude]

Eh. Internal overflow for the win sry. My pinion. I'm currently going from a reef synergy to a custom internal overflow box so the plumbing can hook up directly to the display and not the little box. Why it's better or why I prefer it idk. I've also had a wier. Both glass on the display and acrylic box style with no teeth.
D

 

[Jamie814]

The op is braver than I am!

We will NEED to see a build thread of the process!

 

[Jayden K]

We will NEED to see a build thread of the process!

Got it.

 

[Jayden K]

I think for this sized tank you need to go diy, i called several companies and they qouted me 70-100k. Filtration,pumps,lights, glass and sand is going to cost 25k, significantly less.

 

[Jamie814]

I think for this sized tank you need to go diy

Have you researched the complexity of properly bonding glass panels of this size and weight? It's not really a DIY kind of project. One mistake could cause catastrophic failure and cause 10's of thousands in damage to your parents' house or worse a fire.

I'm not trying to talk you out of doing it, I'm just saying there's a reason your quotes are so high.