Drilling in an already established tank

zack schwartz

Active Member
My 50 gallon (which has everything listed below in signuture) is not reef ready tank. It is a normal arculic tank. I want to make a sumprefugoima for it. Someones idea was to drill on it. This was at totally new idea for me. How would I GO about doing it? Is therte something else I should andor could do to get a sump up and running? Thanks
ZACK
 

shadow678

Member
lol You seemed to have missed a very pertinent point, Iron. This is a established tank, meaning it has already been set up and stocked. Although if this were a new, empty tank, that would be a good idea to take example from a reef-ready tank on where to set up the overflow box and how to drill. Unfortunately Zack, there is no safe way to drill a loaded tank. Even if you could find a way to isolate the area you would be drilling, the drilling under pressure would likely cause cracks or a complete break. As Chris stated, you can buy a hang-on overflow and get the same effect as a drilled overflow in your tank, although there is more of a risk of having either the display or the sump overflowing for one reason or the other. If you match your components properly, the risk of this is reduced dramatically, so be careful which overflow/return pump you get. If you go this route, make sure your return pump is just a tiny bit larger capacity than your overflow, you can tone the return down with a ball valve to fine-tune the system. HTH
 

sal t. nutz

Member
You can drill it while it's up. You obviously don't have a built in overflow, so just drill up high. Drain about 20% of the water and determine where you want your water level to be. Drill a hole right in the back of the tank, at that level you decided on. Mount a bulkhead and a drain screen and you are all set. I would do this to the left and right side, so that you have redundant overflows.
 

zack schwartz

Active Member
Got your emaqil we replie with my desicon later once I vist lfs to actully see something.
Thanks a lot for your help
 

splash1914

Member
IMO, overflow boxes are a pain.... get a couple of rubber maids drain the tank... get the tank drilled and have a overflow wall put in.. then set the tank back up... after all said and done you will be happier in the long run...
 

ironreef

Member
I've drilled plenty of tanks that were set up. I just got rubbermaides had extra water..to water out to,some LR out livestock ..not all and drilled= simple no big deal. Go to a lfs and you can see how they are set up. Yes an overflow box is best. i don't like hangons they can flood= cpr. Lifereef is a better one that won't. Drilling a hole isn't going to stress it out anymore than having it drilled then adding water?? Don't see how it would. Not with acylic
 

j21kickster

Active Member
the SOS overflow is a good one as well as the one made by CPR, those are the only 2 i would consider. I would personally go with The Marineland SOS overflow box. Its pretty good
 

ironreef

Member
search the web. ppl have had more floods with CPR overflows than any other. Including me. Yes you can have a powerhead but IME when Murphy's law comes =powerhead doesn't start or breaks down you can lose siphon. Lifereef is desighed not to lose siphon. They are the best= no floods. Don't list to me search all the bboards and you will see 50% of the owners I bet have lose siphon= to much failure for me.
 

j21kickster

Active Member
By no means do i say that hang on overflows are better, predrilled holes always are your best option. but unless you want to take everything out, take it to a glass cutter, and then put everything back in i wouldnt do it.
 

david s

Member
I have a regular U tube type overflow it is like old faithful even if power is out for hours it starts right back up it may not be fancy but as far as safety it rocks. the trick is to have enuff flow to push any air right thru it
 

ironreef

Member
u type overflows are more dependable. Cpr isn't very dependable ppl with glass tanks I would recommend a Lifereef or =. The post has acrylic = easy to drill . Do a major w/c and drill in the process may tank 2 hrs then done.
 
Top