EXTERIOR REAR BOX: Gluing
NOTICE* The external holes for the pipes in the rear box are made slightly larger than the 1.5" PVC Pipes. This is normal. The color PVC has slightly smaller tolerance than Big Box white PVC and may seem very loose. Once glued, the glue will fill in the space between the Pipe and overflow hole when glued and will seal fine and not leak.
You can use 1.5" PVC directly into the bottom of the overflow. Or you can reduce it down to 1" if needed with 1.5" to 1" PVC Reducers. The flow rate of the overflow will be less than 1500 GPH if reduced to 1" drains.
Attach 3 short pieces (approx. 4”) of 1.5” PVC to the bottom of the rear box. (4” Pre Cut kits are available here)
- 1.We recommend you using Medium or Heavy Clear PVC Cement on outside of the rear box when gluing the PVC pipes to it. We have found that any PVC Cement will work, but care needs to be used when gluing to make sure the ports do not get excessive glue inside the openings. If the proper amount of glue is used it will not take any force to push the pipes into the ports. See figure A.2 Below:
We recommend that you attach 3 x 1.5” Unions to the 3 pieces you just glued into the bottom of the rear box. This will allow for easy removal of the overflow if needed in the future or for moving the overflow to another tank later. Unions are not necessary but make for a better installation.
Make sure to support the external plumbing properly to avoid any weight pulling down on the overflow rear box. The overflow was NOT designed to have the plumbing hanging from it. This can cause small leaks near the gaskets. We sell a few different pipe hanging clips here: 1.5″ Clic Clip or 1.5″ Cobra Clip that can assist with securing the external pipes to your aquarium stand.
Last modified 4mo ago