Water level too high

[IJC]

I'm looking for a way to lower the water line in my tank without taking everything out. The water is very close to the bottom of the trim (on the inside rim) and I'd like it to be about 2 cms lower.

The only way I've thought might work is using a cutting disc on a grinder. I'd syphon out some water, and maybe use a cardboard box with a hole in the bottom (the size of the overflow box) to catch the cuttings. I think the potential mess is the biggest problem, as well as being able to do a half decent job in a half-full aquarium that's only 18" wide.

The other thing I thought might work is some sort of hot knife. We use these on the fishboats for cutting ropes. I'm not sure how well they would cut 3/8" acrylic however, and it might be a pretty messy job too (would almost definately set my fire alarm off).

If anyone has done anything like this, or has any insights please let me know.

Ian

[LostMind]

I would go with your first idea. Let the water level drain down some, then use a dremel or so to make the notches in your overflow box deeper by a centimeter or two.

Put some plastic wrap on top of the water below the overflow box and I bet it will catch all the cuttings that come off...

[StirCrazy]

do you have teeth on your overflow and how tall are they?

Steve

[IJC]

I do have teeth, and they're probably about an inch and a half deep. The top of the box (top of the teeth) is flush with the top of the tank's trim. I can see that the teeth have already been lengthened a bit and they are not all the exact same length - meaning that the difference between my "while running" tank level and my "power off" tank level is bigger than it need be. Obviously, the water level drops to the height of the lowest tooth. So I want to be carefull not to increase the amount of water that could end up in my sump, or maybe even decrease it. (I'm all about the peace of mind)
I was considering cutting the teeth right off, and just puting an inch or two of egg crate (or something fence-like) around the top.
Thanks for the help guys.

[martym]

Reduce the return flow amount.

[StirCrazy]

if you want you could break off a few teeth to allow more flow at a lower level. just don;t do them all in a row :mrgreen:

Steve

[monza]

Could you drill holes any easier in the acrylic then cutting and breaking?

Dave

[StirCrazy]

Could you drill holes any easier in the acrylic then cutting and breaking?

Dave

not realy, you can grab a tooth with plyers and snap it in a sec.. drilling requires you to lower the water so you don't break your drill.

Steve

[ldzielak]

Why do you want to drop the water level, I hate seeing water line below the trim. The easy way would be to reduce the return from from your sump.

Lee

[Son Of Skyline]

I had the same problem when I first got my tank. The overflow that I paid to have made was not even close to being able to handle my Mag12 return (looked like it was designed for a Maxijet1200 return pump or something!).

The only way I could get the water level below the center brace was to cut off ALL the teeth, then grind another 1cm right off :mad: I still have traces of black acrylic shavings in my tank. I'm now using a toothless overflow with an eggcrate screen. It works well enough.

[IJC]

Idzeilak - to answer your question, I wanted to lower the water level because water was getting between the trim and the glass and ocasionaly dripping downt the front. I didn't want to drop the level below the trim - I don't know if all tanks are like mine, but the trim extends further down on the outside than the inside, so I could drop the water level and still have it above the trim on the outside..... Making any sense here?

I didn't want to slow the water flow down, as it's not really that fast in the first place.

Anyways, I got my hands on a dremel frome my Uncle, and got the job done. I made the grooves a little deeper and wider as well, and the level is down by about 1 cm - perfect. The "while running" and power-off water levels are not as far apart now either, which makes me a feel a little better as well.

Like I was planning, I used a box with the corner cut out to catch the cuttings , and used paper towel to plug up all the seams. Of course, some of the cuttings managed to get away from me, but they were very light shavings and floated quite agreeably on the water's surface. It was actually much less messy than I had expected.

So, it was a definate success, and I'm glad I tried it. Thanks to everyone for the advice (to tell the truth, I didnt even know what a dremel was so that was an especially usefull tip)