HOW TO keep small fish out of overflow

[Chicken_Eye]

On another thread several people had a problem with their Yellow Watchman Gobie going through the cracks in the overflow. Well I bought mine yesterday and low and behold I come home and he is sitting in my overflow. So I built this little thing for my over flow so that hopefully I wont have this problem any more.

Here is the problem

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/quads4_life/100gal%20reef/DSC02413.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/quads4_life/100gal%20reef/DSC02404.jpg

All you need is some gutter guard that you can buy at your local Lowes or Home Depot.; a pair of sissors; some 4" zipties; a tape measure and about 30 min.

On the first one I didI took the gutter guard and for my over flow I cut it 14 1/2" then I cut it in half down the middle. I also knotched it out for the return line.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/quads4_life/100gal%20reef/DSC02402.jpg

On the other side I decided to just fold it over and It worked just fine.

Then I took the gutter guard and made it in a criss cross pattern with the two seperat pieces (or folded)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/quads4_life/100gal%20reef/DSC02415.jpg

Then I just zip tied it to the slots in the overflow and your done. hopefully no more fishing for gobies or shrimp wich I also found in my sump.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/quads4_life/100gal%20reef/DSC02403.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/quads4_life/100gal%20reef/DSC02408.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/quads4_life/100gal%20reef/DSC02409.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/quads4_life/100gal%20reef/DSC02412.jpg

Hope this helps somebody


OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Heres your instructions for the stupid person in us all. TURN OFF YOUR METAL HALID LIGHTS before attempting this project. I burned the living crap :w00t out of my hand not once but twice. It was so bad that I heard the sizzle of my flesh on the bulb.

[stoneroller]

Be vigilant on keeping the gutter guard clean b/c if it starts backing up water in your tank then you might have a flood if power goes out (depending on how small your sump is of course). I only say this from experience.

[Chicken_Eye]

Yes I have flooded my floor several times in the past. I just added cleaning the gutter guard to my list of monthly maint. Just use your wifes tooth brush it works really well. Also I have a 55gal sump so I have plenty of room for water in a power outage

[erikharrison]

bah wish I had seen this earlier (lost a fish in my wet/dry yesterday!)

[Headless_donkey]

Did the exact same thing to keep young seahorses out of the overflow.

[LoneStar]

That setup works out great. Just keep it algea free and you good to go!





OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Heres your instructions for the stupid person in us all. TURN OFF YOUR METAL HALID LIGHTS before attempting this project. I burned the living out of my hand not once but twice. It was so bad that I heard the sizzle of my flesh on the bulb.


Been there before too many times....