First SW tank
- Thread starter midmichman80
- Start date
Once drilled what is the best way to get water to drilled hole? Do I need an overlfow box to sit in my tank and plumb that to the drilled spot? Sorry, I bet this is a real noob question, but I always like to know why and how before I do anything. How many holes should get drilled and their placement as well? I imagine towards the bottom of the tank and just one hole as I can run the return from the sump through a powerhead? Notice all the question marks, I start as statements and end as questions, sorry.
Happy reefing, this is coming along a bit quicker than I imagined. Still not going to rush it, but it seems things are falling into place rather quick for me.
Happy reefing, this is coming along a bit quicker than I imagined. Still not going to rush it, but it seems things are falling into place rather quick for me.
I would think you need two holes one for the drain and one for the return......both located about an inch down from the top of the water level.....I belive you would need some sort of internal overflow system such as a standpipe etc... I may be totally out to lunch here please correct me anyone.....
You actually can do this with one hole if you choose, but if you are getting it drilled you might as well get two.
If I were doing it, which I'm not, I would get two holes drilled in the bottom of the tank. One of the holes will be your exit and the other will be your return. You then build an acrylic enclosure around them and notch inlets for the water to overflow the rim of the box into the enclosure. For the exit use a durso standpipe to reduce noise. For the return pipe you will run the outlet up and then use a 90 deg. elbow to turn it through the top edge of the overflow box.
If you choose to drill one hole you will have to run your return up over the back of the tank and over the lip, then drop it back into the tank and at a 90 deg. angle for the outlet. They sell plastic pieces which do this.
If you haven't bought a tank yet and are planning to do so, I would just get an Aqueon (formerly All-Glass) pre-drilled glass tank with the overflow kit as it will have the enclosure and all the pipes. If not, I would definitely go to the LFS and take a look at such a tank so you know what the system you are recreating looks like. You can also buy their overflow kit separately and use it on your tank. The main thing you will then need to decide on is how big your overflow and return lines will be. I would, again, look at the commercially made tanks and pretty much replicate their thing.
But, that's just me and there are a lot of other ways to go about it. The method Lorna describes works well too. As in what I described, you will need to build an enclosure to prevent the water level in the display from dropping to the level of the exit holes.
If I were doing it, which I'm not, I would get two holes drilled in the bottom of the tank. One of the holes will be your exit and the other will be your return. You then build an acrylic enclosure around them and notch inlets for the water to overflow the rim of the box into the enclosure. For the exit use a durso standpipe to reduce noise. For the return pipe you will run the outlet up and then use a 90 deg. elbow to turn it through the top edge of the overflow box.
If you choose to drill one hole you will have to run your return up over the back of the tank and over the lip, then drop it back into the tank and at a 90 deg. angle for the outlet. They sell plastic pieces which do this.
If you haven't bought a tank yet and are planning to do so, I would just get an Aqueon (formerly All-Glass) pre-drilled glass tank with the overflow kit as it will have the enclosure and all the pipes. If not, I would definitely go to the LFS and take a look at such a tank so you know what the system you are recreating looks like. You can also buy their overflow kit separately and use it on your tank. The main thing you will then need to decide on is how big your overflow and return lines will be. I would, again, look at the commercially made tanks and pretty much replicate their thing.
But, that's just me and there are a lot of other ways to go about it. The method Lorna describes works well too. As in what I described, you will need to build an enclosure to prevent the water level in the display from dropping to the level of the exit holes.
Thanks for the responses to my questions. I like them both actually, a lot of good stuff to digest. I already have the tank I want to use, I have several empty tanks laying around the house. I will check out more ways to work the overflow before I make my final decision.
I picked up my lighting last night. I took a 3 hour drive to Kalamazoo last night and made a stop in Lansing at Preuss Pets(great store). The lights I got is a Nova 4x54w t5 48" HO fixture with lunar lights. One of the bulbs in burnt out and one of the feet had broken off, but I got the setup for $100 so I thought it was a good deal. Now to figure out what replacement bulb to get. It has two blue actinic bulbs and one white, not sure if it is 6700k or 10000k.
I am getting more and more excited as I keep parting this thing together. I have been building my sump for the past few days now. I got glass cut and am in the process of glueing the plates into the tank.
Thanks again for all the help everyone!!
I picked up my lighting last night. I took a 3 hour drive to Kalamazoo last night and made a stop in Lansing at Preuss Pets(great store). The lights I got is a Nova 4x54w t5 48" HO fixture with lunar lights. One of the bulbs in burnt out and one of the feet had broken off, but I got the setup for $100 so I thought it was a good deal. Now to figure out what replacement bulb to get. It has two blue actinic bulbs and one white, not sure if it is 6700k or 10000k.
I am getting more and more excited as I keep parting this thing together. I have been building my sump for the past few days now. I got glass cut and am in the process of glueing the plates into the tank.
Thanks again for all the help everyone!!
An update on my tank. I have the lights, skimmer on the way, overflow and holesaws to drill into tank, sump is built, and the powerheads are purchased. I ordered the 700 gph overflow package from glass-holes.com along with an additional 1 1/8" holesaw for the returns. My skimmer will be an Aqua Macro AS300. I will have to build a stand and find a place to put the tank and I will be in the market for some lr. Looking forward to filling the system with water. I will try to get some pics of the tank drilling process. That should be an adventure. Happy reefing all.
Another update as it has been another month. The process has been slow going for me and of course plans have changed a bit. My living room is empty and I plan on having most of my tanks in there, so I have an extra empty wall beside were I plan to put my reef tank and an extra tank. You see where I am going here,I will have a FOWLR sitting next to my reef tank. I plan on using the same sump for both tanks and splitting the return from my mag 9.5 to both tanks. Anyways, other then the change in plans, I have moved forward in my progess. I bought ten 2x4s yesterday for stands, I have my ro/di unit pumping out water to fill the tanks, and I bought a five gallon bucket of coralife salt. It is supposed to be good for 160 gallons, but at what salinity?
I plan to build and paint stands tonight after work, ordering another glass-holes overflow and need to drill tanks yet. I have put that off as my roomy has now moved out and I didn't have much room. I have yet to buy plumbing, thought it wouldn't be the smartest thing to do since I don't have stands built or holes in glass. I plan to have mixed saltwater in my tank by this weekend.
Not much going on, but there is momentum building. I had to post something to let you know I haven't given up on this idea. I have been reading a lot of information since my first post and spend most nights researching. I feel like I am almost knowledgable enough to jump in, but won't stop reading. I'll try to get some pics, if I remember to take some.
I plan to build and paint stands tonight after work, ordering another glass-holes overflow and need to drill tanks yet. I have put that off as my roomy has now moved out and I didn't have much room. I have yet to buy plumbing, thought it wouldn't be the smartest thing to do since I don't have stands built or holes in glass. I plan to have mixed saltwater in my tank by this weekend.
Not much going on, but there is momentum building. I had to post something to let you know I haven't given up on this idea. I have been reading a lot of information since my first post and spend most nights researching. I feel like I am almost knowledgable enough to jump in, but won't stop reading. I'll try to get some pics, if I remember to take some.