overflow vs. drilled

[Mr. S]

Pros and cons of overflow versus drilled. (Besides the obvious of it being hard to drill tanks)

[Krux]

i would say one of the bigggest benefits of a drilled tank, at least from my experience, is the flexibility of plumbing and cost. when chewie and i set up my tank and plumbing system, the new plumbing required 13 holes, thats 13 bulkheads, 13 drains. a drill bit cost about 15 dollars to knock out the holes, and then bulkheads were 8 bucks a piece, coming to $104.00 dollars. if i had had to somehow work everything through overflows, it would have required at least 7 overflow boxes, at approximately 70.00 each... you can do the math. also, it would have been near impossible to plumb the closed loop system the way i wanted it if all of the plumbing had to go up over the top... possible, but i would have like 12 pipes leading in and out of the tank to have to hide.

all this was facilitated by making sure that i aquired an acrylic tank (i was planning ahead) so the risks of shattering the tank were not present, but given a glass tank, i probably would still drill it now that i have done this system.

pretty much the only 2 benefits of an overflow i can think of is ease of installation, and the fact that you will be limited by what you can plumb together, possibly making your project cheaper by limiting your options

[Mr. S]

I looked at overflow DIY and it seemed pretty cheap to make. Less than $15. I saw the only expense as dividers(baffles) for the tank and the cost of a pump. I have been looking at the Mag 5 or something equivalent. Wouldn't the only other plumbing be an intake line and a output line?

[reefcam]

Depending on what you are achieving. Both have their purposes and you can have them in the same tank. The traditional purpose of an overflow box is to skim the surface of the water to remove debris at the surface where as a drilled whole cannot not efficiently achieve a well built overflow box. However if you are need to run close loops and don't want to have pipes hanging out of your tank, then you should drill into your tank. You overflow box may or maynot be able to handle the water flow rate that a close loop can achieve.

So both have their advantages. This being said, I'm not saying you need an overflow box to have a reef tank.

[powdertoastman]

so if i wanted to set up a closed loop, what all would i need for it? a pump, pipe, valves, anything else? what i was thinking of doing is putting the pipe down into the top of my tank, having them run down the back to the pump under the tank, then from the tank it runs back into the other side of the tank, into another hole (both are already there btw, so dont have to drill them) and into a spray bar or into a few smaller spray bars. would this work? and would i be able to take my powerheads out if i do this? there ugly, and take up alot of space. sorry for stealing the thread Mr. S.

[SeanF]

I was wondering if anyone knew of a place preferably in the Eugene area that drilled tanks. I have a bunch that need done.

[Krux]

ptm, check out chweies thread about downsiizing, he has some pics of his new closed loop that is going in. essentially yes, all you need is two holes, a pump, and pipe to connect them. inside the tank you can do spraybars, jet nozzles, eductors, flare nozzles.... pretty much anything you want.

in my system water drains through one hole, goes down under the tank, goes through a pump, and returns through 3 scwds through 6 ports in the back. hopefully i will have it all running for the meeting and you can check it out then.

mr. s yeah you can also diy the overflows, i forgot about that option. the way to get surface skimming on a drilled system is to make a small 3 sided box in the corner covering the hole, and then notch the top. the water flows over the box, and then through the drain line. this allows you to have an unrestricted top if necessart for a canopy. also this type of box really doesnt need to be engineered at all for strength, as it is not hanging or holding water... it needs to be solid for sure, but your cuts can be a little more rough. when charles gets back ask him about diy overflows, he was going to build me one until i decided it was unnecessary when i switched my plumbing around.

[Mr. S]

Okay. Don't worry about stealing this thread ptm, we have all done this before and this seems applicable in this thread.