Glass-Holes Aquarium Products - Dope Aquarium Stuff (It really is pimp as F***!)

I've made a reference in another post to the Glass-Holes products and thought i'd do a little review / show you guys the stuff this company makes that i've never seen before in Australia, and that has completely blown me away and what i believe has made my tank that just tiny bit more "high tech" so to speak.

I first heard of GH on the Nano-Reef forum, where guys practically praise the overflow boxes the company produces. In the past i have used a conventional weir design, a false wall and in my last 6ft tank i had two overflow pipes on the side wall of the tank, with a giant overflow box. It effectively was exactly the same as what GH produce.. just it sucked compared to what they make.

When i sold my 6ft setup i decided i wanted to have a smaller tank, something super pimp.. something that i was truly proud of, as over the years of having all sorts of sized tanks (lets see.. i've had two x 2fts, a 4ft, a 6ft, and a 1ft, 2ft and 3ft freshwater previously to marine) i've learnt what does work, what doesn't work, and what looks awesome. Granted, i have a LOT left to learn as i'm sure everyone does.. but each time i've set up a new tank i've somehow refined something or improved on a previous idea.

My usual problem though is that i'm a gigantic tightass. This was solved this time by simply having a giant wad of cash from selling my old setup, and knowing that it would easily cover what i wanted to do with the new tank. This allowed me to splurge a little and buy some stuff that is really highly regarded in the aquarium industry from what i've gathered.

I researched a lot regarding the GH overflow kits, and pretty much 99% of people on Nano-Reef swear by them, and use them in all their own tanks. Theres a lot of seriously incredible tanks on that forum, so they must be pretty damn good.

I ended up deciding on this particular kit for my tank, the "Super Nano Overflow Box" complete kit. This is the refined version of their original, with a few baffles inside the box. Aside from that it probably works just as well as the original one. They also have a "Super Nano con Dientes" overflow box kit which i have no idea what the mexican slang means. It is basically the same as the Super Nano from what i can gather, but has teeth on the front face of the box. My "Super Nano" kit has the baffles, and some sort of mesh cover to stop anything getting inside the box. That suits me fine! The teeth just clog up with shit anyway as i have found over the years if you don't clean it out regulaly.

Here is a link to the kit i used. Super Nano Overflow Box.

The next part of their awesomeness, is the return line stuff. I ordered a loc-line return kit from them, which i know Guppies down the Gold Coast sells, although i do believe Guppies potentially are missing something that the GH kit doesn't have, but i can't remember what it was.. regardless, the return kit.. I swear mine was 1" but i can't seem to find it on their site. Anyway, heres the 3/4" one - 3/4" Inch Loc-Line Return Kit.

I found this was also super pimp because it came through the back glass, i didn't have to worry about any fart assing around with stupid U shaped plastic return lines like i've done in the past. I wanted to be able to completely cover the tank with the lids i was given, and i hated how in the past i haven't been able to do that. Those U shaped things suck..

I ended up having my tank drilled to suit the overflow and the return, and funnily enough.. Aquariums R Us have NEVER drilled an imperial sized hole, and have NEVER seen any of the GH stuff. I ended up trading the hole saws for a discount and some plumbing bits i needed that they had at the Wooloowin shop. They guy over there thought the GH stuff was really neat though.

Anyway after having the holes drilled i was able to install these items of high levels of awesome, and began setting up my plumbing.

The next GH items i used in my plumbing line was the overflow sock mount kit they sell. This kit is super awesome, although i didn't end up using it entirely as it is designed.. probably because i wanted a higher water level in my first sump chamber than the kit is designed for, unless americans use ridiculously tall sumps but i don't think thats the case..

Here is the kit i used. Berlin Sump Acrylic Mount with Filter Sock 4". I really like this because the T piece allows the water to flow through it, and then i added another piece of pipe on the bottom side so the water flows into about the middle of the sock, as i tried without but it splashed too much for my liking. I did need to buy a cap for the back of the T piece, they should really include that.. infact i just realized they do sell the caps on the GH website but i didn't realize at the time i needed it. It was like 20c and i needed like $40 worth of plumbing fittings so i didn't really care too much. I ended up placing the mount a bit above my sump, but i decided not to plumbing glue it so i can remove it when needed. It works really well and i really agree with Liquidg on prefiltering. Super important!

The last piece of awesomeness i used from them was one of these nifty check valves. They have like, 50 of these check valves, all different sizes and some threaded and some slip, and then some that are threaded and slip.. so basically one for any situation. I accidently ordered one too big, but it was okay because i just got some reducers and stuff and it all worked out anyway. The basic idea is that they work much like a ball valve does, only they actually work. The water passes through one side, and when your pump goes out the little gate thingy closes from the pressure of the water pushing down on it, and it seals shut. I think they do have a tendency to drip slightly, or at least mine did when i had my pump off once for a day or so letting silicon dry.. so they are pretty effective for a short term blackout and potentially longer if need be. I really recommend having one on your return line, especially if you are to use a loc-line return kit and can't have a stop syphon hole drilled somewhere in the return (i have done this previously and it does work as an alternative..).

Here is a link to the check valves - Check Valves Yay!

Anyway, hopefully this write up will be of use to some people, and will provide an alternative idea to having a stupid weir or false wall in your tank that takes up a heap of room. Maybe not such a drama in a tank thats like 6ft wide, but when your tank is 2 / 2.5ft (Mine is a 2.5ft x 18" x 18") it really makes a difference having a small box up the top.

GH also do provide for larger tanks, and they do have larger sized overflow boxes with more than one outlet, so don't think they are purely for nano tanks.

I hope at least one person benefits from this, because it took me a bloody long time to write it up.

For the sake of making my thread even more awesome, heres some pictures of the stuff installed in my tank.

Here is all the parts i got from my GH order. I think it was like.. $180 or something. Its kinda (Lol, Google Chrome thinks "kinda" is a better word to have than kind of. Thats odd..) expensive but then i thought by the time you piss fart around driving everywhere to collect all the pieces, spend a lot of money buying said pieces plus fuel, plus your time.. and then all the time making the stuff and hoping it works out.. i think its a fair price to just buy the stuff straight up.

In the picture you can see the filter sock mount on the far left, the overflow box and bulkhead to the right of that, the return loc-line kit and included bulkhead under that, and the check valve to the far right.



As you can see in this picture, if i had mounted the filter sock mount as it is designed by hanging over the edge of the tank, it'd be pretty well submerged. That is why i factored into the plumbing pipe length to allow for it to sit higher up. I did also end up making an acrylic stand for the skimmer to sit on, but that wasn't in this picture..

Where i have it mounted i believe it is working to its full potential, as water MUST flow out of the sock as opposed to overflowing from it, to continue through the sump. That way i don't lose anything out of the sock and it filters 100% of the water.

Here you can kind of see the return line kit installed. It has the loc-line on the inside of your tank, and you can change the direction of where it flows water simply by moving the loc-line to where you want it to face. The bulkhead goes between the glass and then you screw in the supplied 90 degree, what GH call a "street elbow" into the back of the bulkhead. I honestly have no idea what a "street elbow" means, but it does what its supposed to do.

I ended up having the elbow on a 45 degree angle due to the angle of where the return line came out of the cabinet, but it really makes no difference.

Here is a few more pictures i just found.

This gives a good view of the back of the tank view of how the overflow box works. The little black hose is supposed to stop the gurgling noise. I think if your return pump is anymore than 800lph and you use the "Super Nano" overflow box, you'll get gurgling. I have my return pump's ball valve half closed to restrict some of the water because it was way louder when fully open. I think i will need to get a 6 - 700 lph return pump eventually so i can run it fully open and get a tad more in tank flow. Shouldn't be a problem with my Tunze wavemaker though.



Here is the in tank look at the overflow box. The quality of construction of these is so high up there, i really cannot fault it. Its a super nice bit of kit.



Heres another look at the loc-line return kit.



And finally one of my tanks plumbing, minus the sumps return section that i had not yet glued in. You can see where i mounted the check valve. This can basically go anywhere in the return lines plumbing line, but i decided i didn't want it inside the sump because they are kind of bulky.. and i just thought it would make it a tidier setup to have it hidden on the back side of the cabinet.

My one mistake was that i was so excited about how awesome the plumbing was coming along, that i forgot to paint the back of the tank before i siliconed the bulkheads in. Whoopsies. All good though, masked it up and sprayed it anyway.



So yeah, i would most definitely recommend using the GH overflow, return, and filter sock mounts in any marine tank, as opposed to trying to "DIY" and making it all from scratch. The stuff is super high quality and very much worth the money.

It also amuses me the little extras they throw in the packaging with the components, but thats for me to know and you to find out. Their instructions are also full of lulz. And very well set out too.