opinions on drilling

[bwaller76]

Ok so I am getting ready to drill my tank soon. I am going to drill the tank on either side of the back in the lower corners. I need to know how big the holes should be. I am going to install some valves to control water flow. Also my LFS indicated that they would drill for 10 bucks a hole, not sure If it is worth hauling the tank all the way down there. Building the overflows...is it hard? Are there plans to follow somewhere? Help a brutha out :)

 

[Oscarsdad608]

Go to glassholes.com they sell overflow kits. You don't need to drill the bottom of the tank. Reef ready tanks are kind of a thing of the past. The over flows in the bottom take up way to much space.

 

[Bifferwine]

You shouldn't put in valves to control water flow. You should never impede flow downward -- it's asking for a flood!

Instead, control the flow back up, by putting a valve after the return pump.

 

[bwaller76]

Its not drilling the bottom of the tank its low on the back side and from the research I have done and the opinions I have gathered drilling to a sump is the only way to go. My only thought on the valve is that if there is a flood I can easily stop the waterflow to address it.

 

[Hornet]

You shouldn't put in valves to control water flow. You should never impede flow downward -- it's asking for a flood!

Instead, control the flow back up, by putting a valve after the return pump.

+1

Its not drilling the bottom of the tank its low on the back side and from the research I have done and the opinions I have gathered drilling to a sump is the only way to go. My only thought on the valve is that if there is a flood I can easily stop the waterflow to address it.

I would really suggest that you identify the return pump your going to use, and some type of overflow system before you drill. While you are correct in saying that drilling to get to the sump is a better option than a HOB overflow, a hole in the back of the tank and a valve is not the ideal situation. There are several different types of ways to get water from the DT to the sump: Custom overflow with a stand pipe, Caflo overflow, or some kind of overflow box that aids in skimming the surface of the water. I chose to go with a overflow kit from glass-holes as I stated in an earlier post they ship the drill bits, bulk heads and overflow box all together so there is no question about drilling the proper hole for the bulk head

 

[bwaller76]

perhaps I misunderstood the previous post. I plan on doing an overflow system with a hole drilled for the evacuation to my sump. The only question now is where to get the overflow and other items etc... I think you answered my question.

I am down to the point I think where I am understanding the mechanics of the setup and how to drill, plumb, setup, and move to functional. Just the money that stands in the way. I got ahold of Alexander here in Boise and he is going to sell me some of the stuff he is not using like his lights and protein skimmer from a tank he is not using at "we've been friends our whole lives and Im going to hook you up bro" prices! This is going to save my financial life and allow me to get things going ahead of schedule.

Thanks for the information, keep it coming because its helping so much, couldnt do it without all you guys :D

 

[Hornet]

Glad you found somebody to cut you a deal on some used equipment. Keep asking questions and surfing the web and reading up on things.

 

[yote]

B. Instead of drilling in the lower corners,drill the upper corners.That way you you dont have to worry about space down there.Plus you'll want to pull water off the surface to keep those nasty films from building up.
If it was me,I'd plan on a inch and a half drain and one inch return lines.

 

[sen5241b]

1+ Yote

Its best to have water leave a hole near the top of any tank. In the event of a flood (they happen to everybody) only so much water will be lost. If the pipe is connected near the bottom of the tank you are running a huge risk of losing all the water in the tank. I wish you could know how many people in this hobby have had sumps, fuges, tanks, etc overflow and cause a flood. Drilling near the bottom of the tank is a bad idea. I can't see it. Also if you drill to close to the edge of the tank glass it can shatter.

 

[bwaller76]

you know that was my thought too. I talked to the guy at the LFS and he was talking about drilling close to the bottom...I knew if I posted in here I would get the best advice. You know its kind of funny when you do your research enough to where you know more about some things than the guys at the LFS. Ok so help me out some more...how far down on the tank from the top should I drill? I want to make sure that I eliminate the possibilities of that dreaded flood. I know that the place on the tank to drill would be in proportion to the full tank subtract approximate volume of sump. Now it is time to figure the cubic area in the main display from the very top to the calculated surface area after the sump is filled. This will give me the location of the drilled hole, but do I place the hole under the calculated surface area or partially submerged?
:pooh:

 

[bwaller76]

yote what is the explanation of the 1.5" drain with a 1" return? Just trying to get an idea of why...

 

[Rcpilot]

If you're installing a 1.5" bulkhead you'll need a 2 and 3/8" drill (60mm). But confirm that when you buy the bulk head. Different manufacturers make bulk heads in different O.D. sizes. One might need a 60mm hole and the other a 55mm hole. Find out from the people you buy the bulk heads from.

I don't know what kind of overflow box you're going to use. My overflow box is right up against the bottom of the top lip and the teeth are about 1.25" deep in the overflow box.
I have the medium box shown on this page:
Overflow Boxes - English

And this 1.5" bulk head. It's the 5th one down on the left side. You glue a raw piece of 1.5" PVC to the back of it and the inside part inside the tank is female threaded.
Product Listing - BulkheadFittingsEconomy

Into that threaded female side I installed this black strainer. Again, 5th one down on the left.
Product Listing - BulkheadFittingsEconomy

That screws into the front of the bulk head. It just barely fits inside the overflow box. You can screw it in and out while it's all up and running. I do it weekly to clean the strainer.

My hole for the bulk head is about 6" below the top of the tank rim when viewed from the outside. It's about 6" from the side/corner.

These cheap hole saws work great. Shipped in a tiny box from Hong Kong in about 10-14 days.
Diamond coated hole saw

I've done several videos. Do you want to see a video of me drilling a hole in the back of a 29g tank? Do you want to see 3 short videos of me showing the shut down on my tank so you can watch it all drain out and stop without overflowing? They are uploaded to photobucket and I'll link them here if you want to see them.

 

[bwaller76]

plz do

 

[bwaller76]

also I have been seeing that there are many different ratings for GPH on these overflow boxes...any suggestions or information on that?

 

[Rcpilot]

I'd just go by what the manufacturer recommends. Keep in mind most boxes will be rated for a straight down -- pure vertical drain. That will drain a lot more than a drain with even a 10* angle on it. If the manufacturer says it'll drain 900gph - you either gotta trust them or be really cautious and limit yourself to 800gph to be safe. Give yourself a safety margin.

I was searching wet web media or maybe it was melevs reef........... I found an article that described how much water you can drain through a certain number of teeth in an overflow. It was some number like X number of gallons per hour if the teeth were this far apart and X inches deep - every 2" of teeth would drain X per hour. There's a calculation somewhere that will tell you how many teeth and how far apart to drain X gallons.

 

[Rcpilot]

Watch these in order:



Number 2:


Number 3:

 

[Rcpilot]

Drilling glass part 1:


Drilling glass part 2:

 

[Rcpilot]

I know I'm a tool. :mrgreen:

This was my first time ever doing anything like this. I've never drilled a hole in glass (was rather shocked when it went off successfully) - never plumbed a sump or a fuge (again, utter surprise on my end) - never glued a baffle in a sump (made a couple mistakes - but it works) - never stuck an acrylic overflow box to the side of a tank with silicone (it was a piece of cake)

It all worked out though (more complete surprise and befuddlement). I'm really happy with the whole system (REALLY). It's way overkill, but it just kinda fell together when I needed it. I need to get off my ass and stock the frag tank - buy a reflector for my 175w MH and build a whole retrofit canopy with the 175w MH and the dual 65w PC lights. It's gonna be a work in progress for a year the way I'm crawling along. :grumble:

I hope some of this helps you out. I'll try to help if you have more questions. I'm not saying this is the only way to do it. There's a million ways to get water out of a tank - to a remote sump - and back to the tank. This is how I happened to do it and it works pretty good.

 

[bwaller76]

so everything makes sense except one thing...can you please expound on the 1/4" hole in the white pipe. If I am looking at it correctly that is your return from your sump. What is the hole designed to do? It seems as tho it is a safeguard but I cant quite wrap my brain around it lol

 

[Bifferwine]

I didn't watch the videos, but I'm guessing that whole you are asking about is drilled right at the water level in the tank? If so, that's to break the back-siphon should the power go out. Without it, the return line/s will drain the water in your display tank as deep as they go. If you drill a hole in the return line, as soon as enough water drains that that hole is exposed to air, the back siphon will break. So your sump doesn't get flooded in a power outage.