To drill or not to drill? (the tank)

[Joe_fro]

I would like to get some help on deciding whether or not to drill the back of my tank so that I can add an overflow box. I am going to have a sump therefore the hole. I have looked around my area LFS's and the cheapest including overflow box, bulkheads, and drilling is about $100. Are there any alternatives, and are they any better than my plan, possibly cheaper?

http://www.geocities.com/for_joes/

 

[King Jason]

Is tank glass or acrylic? What size is it?

 

[Leopardshark]

If you have an overflow box why would youwant to drill the tank???
If it is glass, don´t do it
if it is acrylic, then do it if you need to

 

[Joe_fro]

yes, the tank is glass its a 32 gal cube. what i was told is that with the overflow box they drill a hole through the glass and the box and put a bulkhead to waterproof it. I also have heard of a siphon system. I don't know how that works though. maybe you could give me some info.

 

[31-2c]

If it can be safely done, I would drill it. The hang on overflows are a pain in the ass.

 

[fishfarmer]

Get it drilled.

That seems like an ok price. I had mine drilled by my LFS, three holes and bulkheads were around $50. I made the oveflow boxes myself out of acrylic. For me everything came out to less than $100.

You can get hang on overflow boxes(siphon) for a little less than this depending on the product BUT you won't have the piece of mind you get from a drilled reef ready tank.

I originally bought a CPR hang on oveflow(siphon) AND the extra hardware for my sump pump to help the siphon restart. This cost more than getting my new tank drilled :roll:.

 

[LFS42]

DRILL
DRILL
DRILL

well worth the piece of mind that the siphon overflow may stop working.