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Adding a sump, need advice


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I have a friend with a 150 wanting to add a sump but of course his tank is not sump-ready with overflows, etc.  What is the current best-practice for getting this done?  I have used glass-holes kits in the past with great success (with empty tanks) but never with a production tank.

 

Looking for advice and stories of where you've drilled a set up tank and any issues you ran into.  Thx in advance.

 

Roscoe

 

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I have a friend with a 150 wanting to add a sump but of course his tank is not sump-ready with overflows, etc.  What is the current best-practice for getting this done?  I have used glass-holes kits in the past with great success (with empty tanks) but never with a production tank.

 

Looking for advice and stories of where you've drilled a set up tank and any issues you ran into.  Thx in advance.

 

Roscoe

 

Hey Roscoe,

 

This is an area I'm certainly opinionated about, so I'll throw my 2c in. Your friend is in a GREAT situation right now, I love the ability to plan a tank out the way I want it! I hate stock overflows, they are easy, but they also take away so much valuable real-estate. First, do you think you friend will be happy with the 150? If it is a 6', I found the dimensions to be very shallow in depth, and would suggest trying a 180. If it's the 4', then I would not worry. Also, make sure the glass isn't tempered, and it can be drilled!

 

Second, is the tank up and running? I think that's what you mean by production, which probably voids everything I said already. Are you going to be able to move it? If it is, you're probably going to have a bad time. I would either try and drain it to drill it. If so, is it up against a wall? The hard part about drilling a tank while it's upright and running (even if you drain the water out or down) is keeping the drill bit wet. You can't exactly put plumbing putty and drill vertically. If you do run water over it, your getting it all over everything else. I have drilled this way, but outside, and with somebody pouring water over the bit while I worked it.

 

I have not used glass holes, although I have heard great things about them. The popular options these days are Reef Savvy Ghost Overflow.

Synergy also offers a ghost overflow.

Now I'll let you do your own research, or your friend, but I have used Modular Marine's on Ebay and I was very satisfied with the quality. They use Cell Cast Acrylic, which is the type you want when it comes to this application, and the craftsmanship was phenomenal The inside of the external box was a bit sloppy with the glue job on the seams... however, you see that once when you do your plumbing, and probably never again. If I had to do it all over again, I would still pull the trigger on Modular Marine. You can read about my personal journey through this exact same decision here. One of our members got his a little earlier than me and ended up documenting the drilling and install here. You can see pictures of my not as nicely documented, but pictured finished product here. I would suggest a guide, a new drill bit, and remember to keep it wet.

 

Third, if you go with this type of overflow, I would suggest having enough room to at least reach behind the tank and tightening up the bulkheads, pipes, whatever needs to be done. I also suggest you go with a Bean Animal style overflow. If you're not familiar, read up on it, and you will want to convert all your tanks and never look back.

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You can drill but it is not recommended while the tank is in "production". Among other things, you will get glass shards in the tank later to be filtered into unsuspecting fish lungs. But check out youtube videos of this being done. The bottom is almost certainly tempered while the sides are probably not.

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Drilling a tank while vertical is no trouble at all. You just have to keep the area lubricated and cool. It doesn't have to be floating in water. Use a spray bottle to keep the area moist. A squirt or two every 5-10 seconds works fine. I drilled 4 large holes in my tank while vertical when setting it up.

 

Secondly, you can drill a tank while it's operational (that is, with water and life in it). There's just greater risk in doing so. The risk is not from glass shards, but from shattering the glass should you be in a situation where you've mistakenly started to drill tempered glass. So do your research and make sure that you're not drilling tempered glass because, if you try it, you'll fail and that failure will be compounded many times over if the tank is full of water. You can drill from the inside-out or the outside-in. Your choice. The bit doesn't chip, but grinds, glass into dust in order to get through. (Lubricating the area with water helps to keep this dust from clogging the bit and helps to keep the glass from developing too much heat during the grinding process.) At the very end, there's normally some modest breakout which, if you tape the back side with duct tape, is normally all caught. Even if it were to fall into the water, you needn't worry about fish "inhaling" it any more than if they were to inhale sand particles as most of it will just settle to the bottom of the tank.

 

Glass-holes kits still work great. You have other options from BRS and probably even some other options that I've not researched in the years since I drilled my tank. Glass-holes used to have have information about various aquariums and whether or not they have tempered panels. I don't know if they still do. Many larger tanks have tempered bottoms. 

 

Here's a video of a guy drilling an empty tank while upright just for reference. Note the tape on the back side of where he's drilling. This is to catch and hold the blank as well as any chips that result from the last seconds of drilling. Also notice that he's using a spray bottle to keep the area flushed and cool.

 

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+1 what tom and isaac shared, roscoe. you're in a great position to design as needed/wanted for the system both in terms function and aesthetics to match the rest of the system and planning.

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Drilling a tank while vertical is no trouble at all. You just have to keep the area lubricated and cool. It doesn't have to be floating in water. Use a spray bottle to keep the area moist. A squirt or two every 5-10 seconds works fine. I drilled 4 large holes in my tank while vertical when setting it up.

 

Yeah, I know it can be done, but you've gotta figure even a spritz every 10 seconds is gonna get wet pretty quick after 5 minutes of taking er' easy. I just picture the worst situation possible here, like the full running tank is up against a wall, needs to be moved out, its on a carpet, and the bit is old and worn down.

 

I'm not a betting man, but I would be willing to say the tank probably has to come off a wall first.

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Yeah, I know it can be done, but you've gotta figure even a spritz every 10 seconds is gonna get wet pretty quick after 5 minutes of taking er' easy. I just picture the worst situation possible here, like the full running tank is up against a wall, needs to be moved out, its on a carpet, and the bit is old and worn down.

 

I'm not a betting man, but I would be willing to say the tank probably has to come off a wall first.

If the tank doesn't have room to install the overflow and plumbing, it will almost certainly have to come off the wall unless the overflow were mounted on the side of the tank. That may have aesthetic issues, though.

 

If you drill from the inside, the water draining down is not an issue. Just use a battery-powered drill and not one plugged into your home 120VAC!

 

Even if you drill from the outside, though, a towel on the ground absorbs most all of the water that you'll use. In the end, you only use a few ounces of water. It's rather surprising, actually, how little is used. Say that these are 2 cc (1 ml) spritzes. That's only 12 ccs or 0.4 ounces per minute. 

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Here's how I drilled mine. 

 

- I measured over and over and over to make sure I had the template right.  I labeled the template.

 

- I built a jig out of scrap that would clamp the template on the inside of the tank, and hold a piece of scrap wood on the outside to prevent chipping.

 

- I placed a bucket with a couple gallons of water in the aquarium

 

- I put a powerhead in the bucket with vinyl hose to keep the diamond bit cool and clean

 

- I taped thin plastic under the template to create a funnel from the work area back to the bucket

 

- I used the top clamp as a pinch valve to regulate water flow

 

- I used a cordless drill with the clutch set relatively low

 

- I took my time.  It was probably 20 minutes per hole, in 3/4" glass.  Seemed a lot longer.

 

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- I took my time.  It was probably 20 minutes per hole, in 3/4" glass.  Seemed a lot longer.

 

 

That's a well thought out meticulous job there, well done. Even if you work it pretty fast (not recommended) it always seems like forever.

 

A template is key, that's a good reminder. I have seen sizeable templates made out of plastic, square with a diamond inside, and those were great. Wood also works fine.

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YHSublime, or anyone that knows... these kits come with everything you need?  Some of the descriptions are not very descriptive of what exactly is in the box. I know enough to ask about the template and making sure i have a new or mostly new drill bit but i worry about some of the little piece parts that create the siphon, the emergency, or whatever that third one is called that go into that outside box.

 

Call me a worrier...appreciate any experience provided.  Thx

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YHSublime, or anyone that knows... these kits come with everything you need? Some of the descriptions are not very descriptive of what exactly is in the box. I know enough to ask about the template and making sure i have a new or mostly new drill bit but i worry about some of the little piece parts that create the siphon, the emergency, or whatever that third one is called that go into that outside box.

 

Call me a worrier...appreciate any experience provided. Thx

If you are doing a bean animal, then you essentially need 3 different levels of pvc (think of an organs pipes in ascending order, small to tall) you'll need a gate valve as well. Et else should be standard plumbing job equipment, elbows, 1" drain, 3/4" return, etc.

 

It would be helpful if you could provide links of what you are looking at!

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