After having my 4x18x24 up for 7 months and being comfortable with the hobby I made a few stupid mistakes. One being going away for the weekend (and not seeing the obviously wide open 20mm return line) and not quarantining from the word go with my tank. Needless to say I lost $300 livestock and alot of pride in over 3 days.
But learning from my mistakes, and having a chance to now get a proper drilled reef tank, I've decided to upgrade to 4' x 2' x 28" tank and have it drilled. My question is where to place the holes. I've been looking over sites in all my spare time and I've yet to find a decent site with info on hole positions. I'm not sure if i should go for an overflow box in each corner, and return and inlet holes drilled at the bottom of each... Or go for a single overflow box in the centre, with one or two inlet pipes at the bottom and two returns drilled into the back wall of the tank to fit locline pipes to.
I'm pretty lost. Any direction would be greatly appreciated. Would really like to get the tank built, drilled and stand to suit before I go overseas in 3 weeks, then when I get back I've got a week or two off to setup the new tank and transfer everything.
i would say its completly up to you. if i was to ever drill a tank i would drill in the bottom of the tank for the overflow and not drill one for the return. the reason is ( in my case ) to make me feel better about the overflow. the return i am planning on doing just at the waterline in the display so i wont have that much return syphon when the power goes out. im planning on drilling holes on each side in the rear and having a nice black acrylic covers. but like i said its basicly up to you, you know what the holes are for and why you want them so just base it on your stand layout and your needs..
I'm upgrading the tank from 90g to the 140g while I've got very little livestock and some cash to spend. The new 140g tank will be custom made for me, as will the stand.
I've basically booked in the meeting with the place that will make it for tomorrow, hopefully talking to them face to face will give me more of an idea what they can and will do. The guy I called today seems to think I should drill a drain in one corner on the back side of the tank towards the top, and two returns in the other corner, also at the top. That to me doesn't sound like a good option at all. I was thinking more along the lines of a drain to fit 1.5" bulkhead in the centre back of the floor, and two returns each side of the top back wall for returns, that way I could get some opposing current and run a durso in the overflow for noise reduction.
I guess I'll see what my options are tomorrow and work from there. I've learned to not rush these things but now is a good time for me in the way of time off work to get everything swapped and setup.
Decided on two returns, one in either top corner of the tank, both 1". Two drain holes side by side in the rear left corner of the tank. The guy said they only had drills that would do 25mm holes in the glass, which means I'm only going to be able to squeeze a 20mm or 3/4" bulkheads in. The store is the only one I've found in my area that does custom tanks and drilling.
Have you ever thoughtof drilling the holes yourself. I was very squemish the first hole I drilled, but after 4 holes, I am confident I can drill holes anytime using a hand drill and a diamond bit hole saw. There are a couple places I have seen that sell the hole saws. My 3/4" saw cost me $30. If you are interested, I can describe how to do it, or you may be able to buy the hole saw for whoever is drilling the hole so that you can get 1" holes.
Here is the link and a description of how to cut the holes:
Thadius, If I were to set up another tank I would drill the overflows at the top of the tank for the bulkheads for the inlet pipes and the returns on the bottom and the back top. Carlos's 150 gal on reefvideos.com did something similar. This gives you more control of your flow without the unsitely pipes and gives you the flexability for a closed loop if you decide you want one. I suggest placing the inlet holes on the back to gain more space for you livestock.
Thadius, it sounds like our tanks are of similar size/shape. Check here for how mine's set up. I have to say though, despite months and months of pre-planning, if we were to do it over again, we would have a horizontal overflow put in. It is one of the most efficient ways of skimming off the top surface and takes up much less real estate in the display. It's not so unsightly either. Our "off the center" overflow should work nicely as well, but now I have to figure out how to build a tower of rocks around it so that I'm not distracted by it.
I stumbled upon the horizontal overflow design after trying to read up as much as I could about skimmate production and how to get the best out of your skimmer and that's when I found the numerous articles/threads by Anthony Calfo. here's a list of them to read when you've got time!
Just an update guys... I managed to get to the shop yesterday before they had put the holes in my new 150G, thank god Now instead of having two in the bottom and one in each top corner, I've got 6 along the back. Two in each corner and another two each side of the centre tank brace.
I plan on going with the horizontal overflows for the back of the tank and run the centre holes as closed loop returns.
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