Drilling Overflow and Returns

I want to drill a return and overflow into both sides of a 55g long tank which will be built into a wall cabinet. I am having trouble finding what I thought would be a simple thing to do. I have found alot of DIY overflow boxes etc.. but this seems to defeat the purpose of me wanting to drill, which is to remove the box from the tank.

Can I not just drill a hole, insert a bulk head and have a pvc pipe with an elbow turned upwards? Pictures would be GREAT!

My head hurts from trying to search lot's of threads on different sites only to not find what I am looking for. Thanks for any help I can get..

Here is my thread with diagrams of what I am building.. space it as a premium in the tank so I would like to keep it clean inside..

http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/new-tank-cabinet-build-62037.html

 

yep you sure can. here is the way I did one on a tank I drill a year or two ago.

 

there is a slit about a sawblade width down the middle of the pipe for surface skimming.

 

just make sure its not tempered glass.

 

Isn't it usually just the bottom pane that's tempered? And I have found a pic of what I am looking to do..

 

Any opinions on this type of overflow? And Daniel, how do u know how many GPH your overflow set up is taking in?

 

The Gph depends on the size of the pipe in diameter, then you want to match that for the return pump... Ive never seen that type of overflow before, looks simple yet effective... im sorry i cant help you much, for I had a couple bad expediences with my sump, and no longer use it...

 

From my understanding, holes drilled on the sides and backs of tanks like that are usually used for a closed loop system (though in this case it looks like it's being used as a drain to sump). Your going to want to construct an overflow in the tank and drill the bottom, or use a hang on back overflow box.

The main reason for having an overflow box as opposed to some holes drilled on the side, is so that if the the power cuts out, or you cut it to take pictures or something, 1/2 the tank won't drain into the sump while the return pump isn't running to push it back into the display. With a closed loop, you don't need to worry about it because it is essentially a sealed loop and if the power cuts out water just sits in the lines until it's turned on again and the cycle begins.

I suppose you could construct and silicone a tower overflow style box in the tank and then drill the bottom or the side if you really want to. I've never seen it during my many searches here though. Usually if the tank's not "reef ready" meaning the overflow box isn't present and the holes aren't cut on the bottom, most most people will usually go with a HOB box. That is of course unless they're drilling for a CL type setup.

Edit:Now that I look at that picture again, it does seem as if there is a PVC U tube siphon happening on the other side of the glass,... Interesting .. I think I would still rather throw an HOB overflow on the back and be done with it. I don't know how you would keep stuff from getting sucked up in there. Maybe with some mesh at the expense of flow, but then snails and such could prove to be problematic..

 

My overflow only drains to the pipe that's it. No more than any other. I have made several of these overflows and they are effective.

 

I can't view the pictures on my computer so I don't know exactly what is going on-but you can just have extra sump volume so that if the power does cut out you won't have a flood. You can put the holes lower if you have more sump capacity-giving you a higher maximum flow rate.

You can always test the max flow you're going to get by cutting holes in a garbage can and measuring the volume flow rate. All that matters is the height of water above the hole-not the actual amount of water.