Newbie Questions on Overflow Placement

Please bear with me as I'm very new to this hobby and may not be using the terminology properly (or even placing this post in the correct forum!).

Right now I'm in the information gathering stage so I don't actually have any equipment yet. The ultimate location of the aquarium we want to get will make it viewable on all sides, therefore, I would like to have the filtering apparatus situated either in the center of the tank (as depicted in the image below) or, as a second choice, on the ends/sides of the tank.

I'm not finding these configurations offered in any of the online stores selling tanks (they're all situated in the corners or along the back wall) so I'm assuming that to achieve this effect I will have to order a custom tank.

My questions are:

• Is there a tank manufacturer that is known for their willingness to place these filtering holes in non-standard locations (for example a national company such as All Glass who would be willing to do it through a special order placed by a LFS for me)?
• What are the issues or considerations regarding placing the filtering apparatus in these locations (I imagine there must be some problems with it or it would be at least an option at some manufacturers)?
• In the image below, is this person doing anything different with the two PVC tubes sticking out of the rock pile than the standard overflow boxes I see in most aquariums or are they essentially doing the same thing but in a different way?

In case it might have some bearing on your input, we're considering getting a tank that is either 72x18x29 or 72x24x24 (I'll leave the size debate for another post ).

K-K

 

I cant really see what this tank has as far as an overflow, It looks like his return is a tall pvc pipe coming from the middle bottom of the tank and just hidden with live rock. Back to the overflow question--If you want a built in overflow (Reef Ready) It must be segregated from the main tanks water. In th middle of the tank it would have to be a full circle which would not be sturdy enough. Best bet would be on the side (Siliconed for rigidity) Don't know if you can order, but you can make your own overflow out of black acrylic and drill your own holes. Just make sure it is not tempered glass on bottom. Other option is hang on overflow.

 

That is a cool clean tank. I see what your going for and have you called any lfs? I go to the Tampa Marine Warehouse (813-884-0787)and they are a bunch of good people. They drilled and fitted my sump for me. They can order custom tanks for you and set it up also.

 

Anyone know how to achieve the look the OP is looking for? How would the overflow work in this case?

 

well the only thing I could think of is to get a tank, drill the bottom in the middle, run a large pvc pipe up the middle, maybe a 4" and bring that to the surface, cut notches in it to act like the overflow. Then you could also run return up the middle pipe, maybe 3/4" pvc. To save you time and money, I would suggest just buying standard tank and drilling it yourself.

 

That sounds pretty sweet! Has anyone on here done this before? How would you get water taken from different levels of the tank? Is that needed?

How would you hide the system for proper water flow?

 

You would just need to skim the surface, so that's not an issue. If I were to attempt, I would do multiple returns, one facing one way, the other facing the other facing the other way. You could hide all of the pipes with rock work, like the picture above.

 

Would those 2 return supply enough flow in the tank? I guessing if you moved to a large tank you could have to do a closed loop system of some sort for proper water movement?

Can you tell Im a stickler for a CLEAN look?

 

That OP pic is sweet. Did you notice how the power is hidden on the right side?

I like the look of that. A mountain to work with - ton of possibilities.

 

I would like to find a way to even eliminate that power cord.