To drill or not to drill?

[GloryBe]

OK, this newby has had a Fowlr 45 gal tall tank for the last 2yrs. A year and a half ago we got a deal on a 55 gal w/ about 60-70lbs of base rock. Have gotten it mostly under control with hermit crabs and snails the only livestock.

Hubby decides we need to upgrade and buys a 72 gal bowfront. We intended on doing this one right and consolidating the two (45 and 55) tanks into one -- sand bottom, drilling for drains, sump, good lights, nice stand... However, once we get home with the bfront it is discovered that the bottom of the tank is tempered glass. He plans to build a custom stand with a sump/refeguim designed in underneath, but now we are kinda stuck. Can we still drill this tank?

He wants to put in an overflow, but without a bottom drain can this work? We live in an area where electricity can and does go down on a regular basis. We are really worried about flooding with an over-the-edge siphon system. Has somebody done an overflow with the plumbing coming out the back of the tank?

Thanks

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Hi there and welcome to R2R!

You sure can drill the back if that tank is drillable. I am not sure about that tank in particular but I know many people who drill the back. Check out these overflows that you can use.

Complete Overflow Kits - Glass-Holes.com dope aquarium stuff

 

[caudill187]

It is possible but certainly don't drill the bottom, as you know. I've never done it, but here is something I just found. Maybe others can chime in.

Installation GH

 

[caudill187]

Hi there and welcome to R2R!

You sure can drill the back if that tank is drillable. I am not sure about that tank in particular but I know many people who drill the back. Check out these overflows that you can use.

Complete Overflow Kits - Glass-Holes.com dope aquarium stuff

Beat me to it Rev

 

[M@!]

I'm very happy with my herbie setup. It is completely quiet and the emergency drain adds piece of mind.

Takes two holes in the back but doesn't take up a lot of room.

 

[GloryBe]

I'm very happy with my herbie setup.

The Hubby,

Just did a quick search on the herbie overflow and found the thread that showed your tank and overflow. Looks like a very do-able fix to our overflow question. Does somebody have some design specs on one of these herbies?

Thank You so much for taking the time to respond.

 

[greg0385]

First thing to do is find out if the back is tempered as the bottom is. Usually the back isnt tempered but a easy way to find out is use polarized fishing glasses and a laptop. If the tank is empty put the laptop on a white screen( wordpad or paintbrush). place laptop inside the tank and put on the glasses. Tilt your head to a 45degree to see if the white screen turns pitch black or if it has streaks. Streaks are signs its tempered and if its pitch black then its not.

You can self drill with a diamond bit hole saw, you can get them off ebay. Get the proper size hole saw that your bulkheads calls for.

You can build a coast to coast out of plexiglass and paint it back if you want to with krylon fusion spraypaint.

I chose the bean animal overflow and have been pleased with it.

Everything i said above is what i did on my 150.

Good luck

 

[AZDesertRat]

Given a choice I would always go with a drilled tank and I prefer to buy one predrilled so the manufacturer takes the risk.

There are safe HOB overflow boxes though if drilling is not an option, the designs have improved over the years so they are pretty foolproof and with a properly designed return, backflow or flooding is not an issue.

 

[cdness]

"To drill or not to drill?" That is not a question as the answer 99.9% of the time is drill if you can... Just need to make sure it isn't tempered in the back. Glass-Holes has some really good kits that will fit your needs. Drilling isn't as hard as it looks, but it is as loud as it sounds

 

[GloryBe]

"To drill or not to drill?" That is not a question as the answer 99.9% of the time is drill if you can...

I'm getting the impression that I had better drill this tank! I really like the idea of the herbie drain system, and the way I figure -- if the herbie doesn't do what we need I will just drill one more hole and put in a bean drain system. So now along with the search for good lighting (that we can afford), I'm looking for a source for dark/black colored plexiglass for the overflo box. The local shop teacher does alot of work with plastic with his students so I'm hopeful that I can order some through him. I would rather not paint plastic as I don't want to have the paint chipping or coming off later and detracting from the look of the tank.

So before I start punching holes in this new tank, how big of drains do I need? I see where some salt water tanks have 1", but most have 1 1/2". Are the fittings easier to get for the larger size pipe? Or is this whole point of "size matters" mute until we have a pump picked out?

THANK YOU for all the answers eventhough this seems to just open up to more questions. This greenhorn is trying hard not to make any more stupid mistakes - air bubblers in a salt water tank ain't so bright.

 

[REEFKEEPER10]

Mistake are apart of learning. I have a 2" drain on my 75g. My biggest turbo snail could go to my sump and never stop up my pipes. Now I'm not forsure how well it would work with the herbie or bean. I'm going to find out when I setup my 150g. IMO a 1" would be good but it also depend on how much return flow you want going to your system.

 

[mcarroll]

I'm getting the impression that I had better drill this tank![…]

So before I start punching holes in this new tank, how big of drains do I need? I see where some salt water tanks have 1", but most have 1 1/2". Are the fittings easier to get for the larger size pipe? Or is this whole point of "size matters" mute until we have a pump picked out?

Plumbing a tank for a sump is fairly normal, but by far not a requirement. Most people do it to expand the volume of their system without getting a bigger display tank. They do this so they can load the tank down with all the extra gear required to overstock a tank with fish mostly , but there are lots of other little reasons too. None amounts to anything like a prerequisite though. Sounds like you were asking more from the "is it safe for my tank" angle than from a "is it useful" angle though. One thing going for an un-plumbed tank though is that your plumbing will never break or leak!

Concerning drain size (vs stratgy and layout wihich you seem to have already) you want more than just to be able to carry the water from point A to point B, you want to do it silently - without sucking sounds at the top of the tank, without flushing sounds in the plumbing and without a lot of churn (and resulting bubbles) in the sump.

Without telling you exactly what to go with (since you note you don't have a pump picked), here's a guiding idea: You want your plumbing to mimic the Mississippi, carrying tons of water slowly and smoothly. "Old man river." By contrast, you do not want your plumbing to mimic the Level IV rapids on the Cheat River as so many tanks do. Rivers like the Mississippi feature very few, very gradual elevation changes, wide sweeping curves (if any) and a very wide channel to carry the water. Rivers like the Cheat are about the opposite in most/all of those respects. So, a narrow pipe running straight from your tank drain to the sump woud be a great way to get the white-water effect! Plumbing with relatively big pipe that does soething to account for the speed of the water rushing down to the sump would be ideal.

Hopefully not too abstract a reference! Good luck!

-Matt

 

[greg0385]

I did a modify bean animal with only 2 drains. Both 1.5inch, one main syphon and one emergency. The main drains 2000gph and its valved down to 80%. Krylon fusion has been used many times. I just got regular plexiglass and put 3 thin coats on it and so far no problems.