Glass drill bits are NOT that expensive... see for yourself...http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart....html?E+scstore

The most expensive one is 20 bucks. I'd drill the back and build an overflow myself :biggrin:

ok say you drill all the holes the same size......

i personally would go dual overflow as its semmetric single overflows look out of place but thats me

you drill 2 holes same size for a single overflow

drill bit 16 bux shipping 7 bucks tax 3 bux =26
2 bulkheads $16 and thats a pretty good price
your overflow piping + fittings $20 and thats pretty good PVC isnt cheep

i had 3 pcs of glass cut for tank covers from a friend for 25 bucks but he said anyone else $45
so say you get the glass cut for $25

your total is now $87 for a single overflow and thats with good prices plus the labour you put in plus the fact if it cracks your out the cost of a new 90 tank $250 plus you give up a warrenty on it(he has one becuase he bought both the tank and stand combo)

im a big DIY guy nothing has been done to my car out of warrenty my entire tank was set up plumbed stand canopy sump built by me. but there is a line between doing it yourself and what your risking ie a $250 tank to save $13 POSSIBILY

that being said. grab 2 or 3 size drill bits and drill 10 holes in the back wall and have an awesome Closed loop (powerheads are ugly too)

this is my opinion and i havent been into SW very long tanke it with a grain of salt but im sure others agree with me

For your overflow if you want quiet, might consider a Herbie style. Only being able to drill on the backwall still could be done like Reefjunkies with an internal overflow chamber or with a external chamber where you would need notch out the backwall (such as Skimmin's old tank)

If not the Herbie can still do a Coast to Coast chamber style (a complicated example) or even something just from a horizontal piece of PVC.

+1, I wouldn't drill a tank if it had a warranty on it. Well, until the warranty runs out anyhow :lol:

I don't think drilling glass is nearly as risky as people think it is. The key is to go slow and make sure you're straight up and down at all times. And cool water flowing constantly.

I don't like the look of overflows at all. I think they are ugly and they take up valuable floorspace in the tank... But what other choices do we have, right?

lots don't take any floor space then with an external the box is outside the tank and you can make that you're only loosing an 1" deep or less of say a foot along of the backwall.

most tanks warrenty if you purchase the stand as well is 20 years

i also agree drilling the glass wasnt difficult at all much easier than i expected
i didnt keep the drill straight up and down i made circular motions but i also took 20 min to drill 3/8 glass...............key is to go SLOW

Ah, right, :lol: DUH, I knew that. :redface: I don't know why I didn't think of an external overflow when I was typing that. Or a coast to coast for that matter.

:mrgreen: Awesome, glad it went well for you.