Overflow Box question

[errattiq]

Hey everyone, I recently made my own overflow box which bascially utilizes a U-tube placed into a shot glass in the box portion to retain te siphon in case of a power outtage. Its the setup I've seen most of them come with. Now I have a rather large bubble that has formed at the top of the U-tube. It hasn't restricted flow to the overflow box but I wanted to know if the bubble does get large enough to take up the whole top portion of the U-tube, will I lose my siphon??
thanks!
-Josh

 

[oceana]

Originally Posted by errattiq
http:///forum/post/2752052
Hey everyone, I recently made my own overflow box which bascially utilizes a U-tube placed into a shot glass in the box portion to retain te siphon in case of a power outtage. Its the setup I've seen most of them come with. Now I have a rather large bubble that has formed at the top of the U-tube. It hasn't restricted flow to the overflow box but I wanted to know if the bubble does get large enough to take up the whole top portion of the U-tube, will I lose my siphon??
thanks!
-Josh

yes you will lose it.
drill a tiny hole in the top of the you tube and insert a air valve in the hole and seal it up. then when needed you can open the valve and let that bubble out from time to time to ensure safe operation.
BTW having that shot glass could be slowing down the flow enough that it is not carrying those tiny bubbles all the way through causing them to collect in the U tube.

 

[michael1972]

.I wouldn’t drill a hole in to the u tube.
I would increases the flow that goes threw the u tube that will bring the air out of it with the increase flow.
Or get a wider cup and not a shot cup "not taller but wider and how close is the end of the u tube to the box and glass if it is 2 close it will slow the flow.
imo that is what i would do.

 

[oceana]

Originally Posted by MICHAEL1972
http:///forum/post/2752068
.I wouldn’t drill a hole in to the u tube.
increasing the flow is the solution like i said at the end but the hole is also a good safty feature. many many store bought over flows have this bleeding valve

 

[michael1972]

Originally Posted by oceana
http:///forum/post/2752073
increasing the flow is the solution like i said at the end but the hole is also a good safty feature. many many store bought over flows have this bleeding valve
OOOo i was not down grading you in any way.
but i think there is more of a chance of failure if that messes up or cracks the u tube or the valve opens do to vibrations or a snail or some other junk gets hung up on the little piece of valve that is sticking threw the u tube. or the glue starts to separate do to the heat of his lights on and off every day.
Like i said IMO
But if you couldn’t increase your flow then yes that is a good option.
or you can run the tubing from the in of the u tube and run it up to the top and put the valve at the end of it then you wouldn’t have to mod your u tube that way you can suck out the air or inject H2O to push the air out of the tube.

 

[nancysalt]

I have had a U tube in my one tank for two years and any bubble that comes in, goes right back out. I would not feel safe with an air bubble in the Utube. Not sure if its the flow or not, but I have 15X water flow in that tank. Good Luck

 

[dennis210]

From the side of the u-tube behind the aquarium, place in a short piece of air line tubing, leaving one end up in the center of u-tube and the other end long enough to suck on and then place in overflow box. You can then "suck out the airbubble and let the siphoning water just flow into the overflow box. If you get another bubble you can repeat. And increasing flow down to the sump will alleviate the bubble problem (usually and IMO)
Dennis

 

[yummysalt]

I notice I have a large air space stuck in the middle of my U-tube when I first got my overflow months ago. Increasing the flow from your return pump like most guys said on here takes care of that problem.
Overflow works great, but if I do get the chance to restart my tank, I'm definitely going to drill my tank.

 

[nancysalt]

I have thought about drilled tanks but IMO they look to be harder to fix if you have a leak, but they sure do look nice