overflow question

[rndc123]

good evening, I acquired a 40 gallon tank that was drilled for the bean/animal setup. it has a huge weir/skimmer box in the tank in-front of the plumbing. I am wanting to remove all the plumbing, and set it on the outside of the tank. I am just wondering if I can get away with not using a weir/skimmer box. I want to just attach the bulkheads to the glass, and overflow box outside of the tank. can I get away with just using some bulkhead strainers on the inside of the tank? either flat or male type strainers. I was wanting to buy the shadow overflow by synergy, but its crazy expensive, plus my tank has 3 holes that probably wont match up. if by chance 2 of the holes would match up I would still need the 3rd hole which will probably ruin the integrity of the box.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I'm scratching my head on this one. Bean animal overflows (weir) should be relatively small.....especially when compared to conventional corner overflows with durso pipes. Was this weir a DIY job that's larger than normal? I would recommend staying with the weir which should give you good surface skimming.