to drill, or not to drill?

[luckytree]

Hello all, I’m here for the first time in search of answers to my questions. I have a 220-gallon glass aquarium, which I plan on housing a bamboo shark in (I’ve done my shark care homework/research). I’m going to use the tank as a room divider; so all angles will be visible. The tank came with an overflow box, and is not drilled. I’ve never dealt with a tank this size, but question if the overflow box would provide adequate water flow to my sump. So I have called around, and found a local glass dealer that will drill the tank. If I go this rout, which I think I will, I was wondering how many holes should I get drilled, of what size, and where should they be place? Or is the overflow setup my best bet? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Doug1]

With a tank visible from all sides an overflow box is going to stick out like a sore thumb. A built in overflow is going to allow a higher return/drain rate but you need to figure out where to put it thats going to be the least detracting from the tanks looks. My thought would be one end or the other, maybe have a 6" thick box arrangement that connencts the cabinet to the canopy. This would allow you to conceal the plumbing and the wires going to the lights and stuff

[salt creepette]

WELCOME TO TRT!!!

sorry i dont know anything about overflows, but if i were using the tank as a room divider, if any one side were going to be against the wall, i would put the overflow side there and drill there. that may make no sense since I have no experience with this kinda thing, but there it is.

[Doug1]

I forgot to ask, does the tank have a tempered bottom? If it does, you cant drill that

[Geoff]

Welcome to TRT!!!!



if the bottom is tempered this is going to be tough. if you could you get a pic or drawing of what you are thinking that would be great. if you are thinking of viewing from all sides then maybe having an overflow in the middle of the tank. this would be kinda annoying to the shark though, maybe not to bad since it will prolly be trolling around the outside of the tank at night and not in the middle of the tank much.

if you were able to live with one of the sides not viewable then your options would open up. you could run all of the plumbing up and down this side. you could even run some of the plumbing hidden inside the canopy to get water returns to the far side of the tank.

G~

[Python73]

I agree. First choice (if tank isn't tempered on bottom) is to drill both drains and returns in the bottom middle. Then put an acrylic or glass overflow box in.

If you can give up one of the short sides, I'd drill three 2.5" holes for 1.5" bulkheads for drain lines, and two 1.75" holes for 1" returns. Then I'd build a glass spill-over overflow around the 3 bulkheads so that it would surface drain. You can always cap one later if you don't need it.

S !

[luckytree]

Thanks for all of the advice! I went home last night and did some soul searching and decided to back one small side of the tank against a wall. So like ya'll suguested, this has opened up a lot of options for me. I’m not 100% sure if the bottom of the tank is tempered… There is a small sticker on the bottom that I haven’t inspected yet, and I’m hoping this will give me some more info on the tank. When I get some drawings and pics I’ll post them and see what everyone thinks. Thanks again!

[Doug1]

What brand is it? Maybe some one has exp with it