Drilling tanks

[tangcrazy]

Here's the deal I am moving completely out of freshwater and replacing the space with salt water. I am going to tie 4 tanks of equal size together, either 4 -75's or 4- 50's depending on the space. I plan on running a large sump and maybe one more tank as a refugium. Now the first question is should I drill these tanks or has overflow box technology advanced to the point where it is fail proof, or is there some other overflow technology I should look at. No I am not a novice at salt water. I currently have two 75 gal salt tanks, one reef and one fish only. The reef has been setup for three years, the fish only about a year and half. I want to get rid of all of the hang overs into the tank with these tanks. No I have not decided on the plumbing or the building structure yet. I have a whole room to work with. None of my other tanks are drilled. How expensive is it to drill one?

[rottielover]

I can't speak to the $$ for drilling, but I can tell you that for what your wanting to do sounds like drilling is the way to go. I have a 125 gal "All-Glass" tank that I did NOT want to drill (that and tempered glass), so I got a CPR overflow box and it's been great. However I can see failure points, like if my "lifter" pump dies, or if the airline tubing gets a hole and starts letting air seep in.

I would go with what the LFS's do, your proposed setup sounds a lot like the LFS's in my area, they drill the tanks and plumb them all together with one huge sump and a swimming pool sized pump or two.

[Tuscani609]

i work at a LFS and we charge $15 per hole. in my opinon drilling is the way to go, no big bulky overflow in the tank. also tends to be cheaper then an overflow box.