Durso Standpipes Portal

Pipe Strainers made from Light Diffuser.

A common fear with all overflow designs is a concern with them getting plugged. If a snail, small fish or large Valonia algae bubble gets sucked into the standpipe it may get lodged at the pipe reducer or bulkhead. When this happened to me the other standpipe handled the flow (mostly) and only about 2 gallons of water spilled onto the floor.

Jim Fox, a fellow reef keeper, made me these handy intake strainers that fit snuggly right into the Street-Ell opening. The strainers are made from light diffusers.A different twist is to insert the airline tube directly into a hole drilled into the end-cap. Then attach the air value to the end of the tubing. This helps to keep salt creep off the value.

If you try these, be sure to test that they do not reduce the water volume you can process. (you might need to adjust the air-valve or hole size, this should be very rare). I would not recommend these if you are currently having algae problems or grow leafy macro algae in your display tank. The algae may collect and plug the opening. The strainers do however, pop right out for easy cleaning.

Another suggestion would be to use light diffuser (egg crate) over the top of the overflow chamber and secure to the overflow chamber with plastic wire ties. This should help prevent snails from crawling over the chamber walls.