Bless my loving wife!
 

In the spring I bought a 55 gallon from someone that was already set-up. Since then I've had ups and down (most notably a complete crash:sad:) but after reading here I perservered and now have a healthy looking Reef that is finally growing coraline algea, nothing is dying etc, etc. Thanks members of CanReef BTW.
Yesterday I came home from work to discouver that my wife had been to the local Fish Store and returned home with a 90 gallon tank/stand/canopy! Whoo-Hoo!!!:biggrin:
However I have an issue. It doesn't have an overflow - internal or external. Short of returning it and trying to avoid using an external overflow (again) is there anyway to get around this? The bottom is tempered so no drilling. Is it possible to make an enclosure inside and drill the wall of the tank?
Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks

nondrilled tank
 

why not return and exchange for reef ready tank. most reputable lfs will honor your purchase and give you exchange which will save you tons of headache etc drilling your own tank. just make the store people happy by getting a few more essentials at time of exchange and promises of future purchases to come their way.

you can drill the back. lets say you want a herbie style overflow. drill one near the bottom, not to close though, and then drill another one a little higher up and just put a 90 on it and have the pipe out of the water. you could also drill for your returns and order glass from a store for the overflow. its not to hard. depending on your skills it might be cheaper, reef ready tanks are alot more than just a normal tank.

reef ready tanks are only about a 100 bux more........

that being said my friend drilled his tank and its not hard i drilled a few holes in some glass baffles i had lying around to practice, the only thing is the drill bits are 50 bux or so and then needing glass cut and silicone in the end its cheeper and less of a headache to just get the reef ready also since u have the tank stand combo the tank will have a warretny god forbid anythnig happens,but you drill the tank yourself and goodbye warrenty

I would see about returning it for a reef tank , but if that is not a option, glass shops drill holes for about $20 bucks a hole, call a round, or PM me!
Or I know Aquatic Additions can drill tanks and build over flows
Best of luck !!

Heh. Thanks all! It was a birthday present and I would feel crappy about exchanging it. Besides, a project is half the fun of this hobby I'm finding!

lucky!

my parents just give me money for fish stuff, cuz the only way they know what i want for fish stuff,
(other than my dad, but thats only for FW) is i have to go to the store, pic it up, and put it on the counter :P

x2

I agree with trying to return it but if that doesn't pan out you will be able to make an overflow work by drilling the back. That's awesome that your wife went out and bought it for you! Keep us posted on the progress of your new 90g reef :)

Go to Aquatic Addictions and see Dan. He can set you up with the drilling and the overflows. He knows his stuff.

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.