Need help drilling holes plumbing for sump!

pierrebalmain

Reefing newb
hey im a new fish tank owner and i recently got a custom tank made up to fit in a really tight gap between my bed and my wall in the corner, i had a saltwater marine setup running of a canister filter only.

once i had it all setup got the water + filter running ran test on water was perfect i bought fish 2 weeks later puffer fish that lived pretty well then bought a lion fish and it would sit on the bottom of the sand bed like it was sick but really it was dying, eventually it passed away but the puffer fish was still living tested the water and apparently i got an amonia spike within a 6 hr period. so i took the fish out put it in my Cousins healthy tank and thats living there now so what happened was a couple of days later untreated maggots started to grow so i said stuff this i pulled it out and decided to start from scratch.

my problem is i was running it off a canister filter and i needed a sump + media with a decent protien skimmer, only problem is the spot where my tank fits its right in the corner and the dimensions of my tank are 250 thick 600 high and 1600 long in mm.

trouble here is my tank thin to get a custom made sump + skimmer to fit and there is no access from the front of the tank only the thin 250mm with side thats facing outways not the wall side,

what i needed help with was is it possible to drill both the intake and outake holes needed on the one side of the tank? its only 250 mm long so its pretty thin im not worried about the glass cracking cause i will take it back to the tank maker and its his responsibility, what i wanted to know is would i get a decent flow without any complications or if this is possible to run my plumbing like this? if so, what size piping and holes are recomended? do i run my intake pipe from the top hole and the outake from the bottom or vice versa?

someone please help asap cause if its possible the room next door is the garage with a gyprock partition wall i can drill these holes on the wall side hide all my plumbing sit it my setup on a stand or a rack and then i can go nuts n get the biggest sump best skimmer and do anythign i want with so much space to run a crazy setup

image (3).jpg

this is the thickness of my tank and i wanted to know if i can get both holes drilled on top of each other, obviously side by side isnt possible

image (2).jpg

this is the corner im talking about and the base of my tank, as you can see how small it is and where its placed its practically impossible to fit a sump let alone maintain it, the wall were that painting is is the side i wanted to drill my holes from my fishtank to go into my garage where my sump would sit

image (4).jpg

this is where my sump would sit and this is the other side of the wall, sorry mind the mess but once i throw all that stuff out and make room for a sump this is where it will sit with my piping!

final.jpg

this will be the final finished product, this is how it was before i copped all them problems
 
Sorry, but I doubt that tank is wide enough for a lionfish. Can you use an overflow box?

And explain the "maggots" more.
 
Sorry, but I doubt that tank is wide enough for a lionfish. Can you use an overflow box?

And explain the "maggots" more.

yer i can use watever i want, once my plumbing goes thru my wall into the garage i can do anything, all i need to know is if i can get a good flow going with two plumbing holes drilled on top of each other on the same side with a tank that thin and if its possible

yeah i kno but it was a baby to, im not looking to put any predator fish anymore mayb just a really good live rock setup and good health system running so i can drop corals sick led light and a wave maker reef type aquarium to deck out my mancave

maggots looked like little worms sitting on the bottom of the sandbed wen i took everything out, it was like a little colony of them after about 4 5 days it looked putrid so i got that shit out of there
 
Sorry, but I doubt that tank is wide enough for a lionfish. Can you use an overflow box?

And explain the "maggots" more.

also i was feeding my puffer krill, when i dropped the lionfish in it was sitting at the bottom of the sandbed me like a dhead kept dropping food next to it thinking if it ate would make it better but didnt go near it, guy at the aquarium shop told me thats the reason why i copped such a bad ammonia spike and i wasnt running a protien skimmer!
 
also i was feeding my puffer krill, when i dropped the lionfish in it was sitting at the bottom of the sandbed me like a dhead kept dropping food next to it thinking if it ate would make it better but didnt go near it, guy at the aquarium shop told me thats the reason why i copped such a bad ammonia spike and i wasnt running a protien skimmer!

I believe that why you got such an ammonia spike is because, correct me if I am wrong, you put two fish in a tank that was only two weeks old. Any time you move a tank, you have to assume that you have a completely new cycle.
 
That's a bit of an odd tank - looks almost like a custom fw breeder tank I used to have. My first advice is to get a new tank - tanks are cheap in relation to everything in a marine setup.

But, if you are inclined to make it work with this tank - there are several standard drill sizes for aquariums and they go with standard bulkhead sizes: (30mm - 1/2 inch, 40mm - 3/4", 45mm - 1", 60mm - 1.5"). One limiting parameter is the thickness of your glass - unless you have 1/2" glass - I would not drill a 1.5" hole for example.

I did some rough math and your aquarium is about 60 gallons (correct me if i'm wrong). So you may want a return pump with about a 500gph rating (after headloss) ~ 8 turnovers an hour.

I would suggest a drain hole of 1" and a return hole of 1/2". Although I must say I haven't worked with a tank like yours (long and thin).

In terms of where to put the holes - I would not put them close together unless you have real thick glass.

You will need to have proper overflow over the drain hole (not going to explain this too much - its a whole other thread). I think you are going to need a custom overflow due to 9" width of tank.

As for where to put the holes I would suggest one of:

1) Center overflow - drain hole goes into centre back of tank, return on either side and back of tank. Think this might work best from the odd length of your tank.

2) Bottom drain on one side with return on other side near top back of tank. Check to make sure you can drill the bottom and its not tempered glass. You can then use standard drainage plumping and side overflows. You will see on standard setup for bottom drains the return hole and the drain holes are on the same side and there is side overflow panel. This may work but I'm a bit suspect due to the dimension of your tank.

3) Drain on top of one side and return on the other side. You will have to make sure the flow facilitates drainage from all areas of tank.
 
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