Hey guys Joey here again
Today I'm going to be talk to you about the PVC overflow
As you can see from one of my previous videos
Of the PVC overflow the pieces and parts how to put it together out of it how it functions how to get it working?
That's what this video is going to be about also
But this video is I was actually going to concentrate on why it works how much it costs what?
Gallons per hour should you expect to receive?
given a certain diameter of PVC as
Well as why would you use a PVC overflow?
So let's start with why you would use one the main reasons is because of cost it's very cheap to use and do
It's also very easy to make
second reason is
because
Well again the cost
Instead of purchasing a hang on the back overflow, which is generally a hundred dollars or more
the PVC
overflow only costs a small fraction of that
Another important and major reason is because you do not have to drill your tank or make any permanent changes to your tank like that
Some people don't want to make any permanent changes while others cannot do not and cannot have a trilled tank
They simply don't know how or don't have the means to get it done, so
this is a great alternative if you'd like to have a sump, but just simply don't have the
The the tools to to plumb your tank
Okay
now
we're going to talk about gallons per hour and
Diameter size and price at the end of the video, but right now. We're going to talk about why this works
now as you can tell in the
pictures here
Let's imagine that the PVC overflow is actually hanging on the side of an aquarium
The white pipe is obviously the PVC
And the yellow the yellow line is
the rim of the aquarium
Now this is actually the shape of the PVC overflow
It's just expanded and laid out so you can see it better now
What happens when you start pumping water and do aquarium and filling your aquarium is?
The PVC pipe does it have note has no water in it until you actually prime it
But initially starting this up
But this is what's going to happen your your tanks going to start to fill with water as
Soon as the water level gets to the top of the PVC inlet pipe
That's on the inside of your tank water starts to flow down it
Doesn't take long to fill that pipe up, but as soon as it fills up the inside loop
That's as far as it goes
You could pump as much water as you want into the tank and nothing's going to happen other than flooding your tank
Once you
install your your check valve which is actually used to prime the
overflow you are able to
Prime the overflow and get it functioning
Now the purpose of the check valve is
Pretty pretty straightforward a check valve itself. It's a one-way check valve that allows you to suck air out of the
PVC but no air can flow back in in this case you can suck out air or water, it doesn't matter
so to prime the overflow you simply suck on the
On the story of the check valve and
That sucks the air out of the overflow and allows water to be sucked into the overflow filling it
Once water starts flowing in water will try to fill the entire PVC pipe until it reaches the top rim
I'm sorry the top loop of the overflow at that point
It can't flow up any higher
because the
Overflow that Stan pipe is actually taller than the rest of it
Gravity is going to kick in before it either gets to the top loop
But generally it will sometimes get to the top loop once gravity kicks in
water is going to be sucked back down and
Water will flow out and it will flow out in a continuous motion
Now if you didn't have this this PVC overflow design like this for example if you did not have that
Tall stand pipe you'd be creating a suction
basically a suction pipe view it wouldn't be a overflow overflow means waters overflowing out of the
Aquarium imagine filling up a bathtub until it overflows with water
now suction would mean you pull the plug on the
Bathtub and water simply sucks out until it's gone
That's what that would be a similar difference now. This is the overflow
What happens when your water level actually drops or say that power goes out is?
water immediately stops flowing
out of the overflow
Now the inside of the aquarium is where the water level is going to be as you can see it at the top loop
Is the set water level?
Once power shuts off obviously water's going to drop slightly below that inner loop and
Water will stop flowing out of the overflow
now the inside
Tube does drain of water, but only to the bottom of it like you see here. It's only the inside loop
Is filled with water to start your overflow back up again. You simply fill your tank back up
Which it should already be but
Once your power comes back on or you plug your pump back in
The overflows are already primed and full of water, so it's going to start itself back up, and you don't have to prime it again
Ok so that's basically how it functions, and why it functions
So let's go ahead and take a look at the gallons per hour and cost
Okay, so here, we have the the estimated gallons per hour that each
Diameter PVC
Should be able to handle
for example a
3/4 inch PVC
Overflow should be able to do around 220 gallons an hour
give or take
So
As you can see if you go up to as high as a one inch overflow you're gonna get
375 gallons an hour
Now to match your gallons per hour to your pump. I suggest doubling your needed
overflow as opposed to the gallons per hour so if you have a
Pump that's able to pump 500 gallons an hour. You should probably have an overflow
That could pump
500 gallons per hour each, so you'll need two
overflows to one and a quarter inch overflows to
Handle a 500 gallon an hour pump the reason being is because if one overflow clogs
Or gets plugged or something like that a fish does get sucked into it something like that
you can simply have the rest of the flow go to the
alternate
overflow without
Causing your tank to flood
Now on to price price is a bit touchy reason being is because it's highly variable depending on your area
I'm in Eastern Canada so prices for things just tend to be crazy
Compared to what I hear other people paying for things
but here's an estimation of the
different measurements
So if you're going to be making for example a half inch
Overflow you can expect to pay five dollars per six inches of tank heights
You'll need
So a 12 inch tank would cost you around
Ten bucks if you want to do a half inch overflow, which is exactly what it cost me
This is only a rough estimate. You might pay more, but you're probably gonna pay less from what I'm hearing
PVC is a lot cheaper in the states for example in some areas
Now how much PVC will you need you'll need approximately 2 feet of PVC?
Plus all the required connections
Per six inches of tank Heights so for example if you have a two foot tall tank
You'll need 8 feet of PVC
Approximately to complete your do-it-yourself overflow
Now 6 feet of PVC I'm sorry 8 feet of PVC
Plus the cost of that say for example if you're doing a 1-inch overflow
Should cost you around
Around 30 bucks to do a 1-inch overflow for a 24 inch tall tank
So again these are just guidelines, but the gallons per hour
And how much of PVC you'll need for six inches of tank lights are pretty accurate the prices again
There are just a very rough estimate of what you might need or what we might pay
Anyways, that's the PVC overflow. I think I've explained it as much as I could
If you have any more comments or questions just comment below or feel free to inbox me
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Anyways, thanks for watching