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the idea of a bottom drilled didn't sit right with me
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Why? Sea Star has made probably thousands of tanks in this manner. It is the standard in reef keeping to have a bottom drilled if all possible.
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having only 20ish gal leak out than all 90 if something went wrong
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You wouldn't have all the tank drain. Only what is able to flow over the teeth on the overflow. You will get the same amount of water overflowing with your design as if the power went out with a bottom drilled. I don't know if you realise this but, the bottom of the overflow is sealed against the bottom glass. I get a feeling that you have read about overflows but haven't seen it in action. I am probably wrong but I just get that feeling.
I guess I am just confused by all this. You speak of saving space. Yet now you need to run the plumbing inside the cabinet where with the bottom drilled the plumbing runs straight into the sump. With bottom drilled drains along side your returns your entire cabinet would be free for storage or equipment.
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another big factor was realestate. a bottom drilled bulkhead and overflow takes away probably 20 + in square of surface area. the way I did it I can start the overflow boxes 15" above the bottom so I reclaim all that sand bed area. (if I use overflow boxes)
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My 33 is set up like this. And to tell you the truth, it is a PITA! yeah you get the sandbed. But good luck managing the rock and such. It is dead space IMO. In a small tank like mine it is a bit of a space saver, but in a large tank you may find it causes a lot of headaches. That space you have reclaimed may be costing you another bag of sand.
Oh well. I do hope it works well. Am just kind of confused about it is all.