New Tank Setup advice

[rxsalt]

I am going to be moving my 36G to a 75G. My 75 is not drilled and I would like to setup a sump. Should I have the tank drilled?? How may and what size holes?? Located on the back?? Or do I need an overflow box? If so what size? It will be a reef and fish tank.

I have two Oceanic wet/dry filters about 15 gallons each. Would like to use one as a sump with a skimmer and use the other as a filter or hook them together. Any suggestions?

Do I gravity feed the sump or pump it from the main tank? If so how do I calculate the GPM for each pump???

Looking at a Octopus skimmer for the sump any thoughts...

Any advice would be appreciated. Need to set this tank up and cycle it for a while before I breakdown the 36G.

Still need lots of pieces and parts heaters, live rock, sand (or no sand).

Should I invest in some live water or wait till the tank cycles for a while??

Lots of questions. Looking forward to the advice

Thanks

RXsalt
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[Joel A]

well without reading any further, i can tell you right away, absolutely get the tank drilled.. don't mess around with any HOB overflow boxes or anything like that... the tank can be drilled in the bottom pane (if it's not tempered) or the back pane... You could drill 1 or 2 holes, the first hole would be a drain, and 1.5" is a good size for a single drain.. the second hole could be a secondary drain, or a return (so the return line from your sump doesn't have to come up over the edge of the tank) and i would probably recommend 1" for that.

Trust me, get the tank drilled and get that squared away first.. makes life a million times easier from there on out..

 

[IPWitan]

Please please please, get the tank drilled, or sell it, and buy a drilled tank.

For one reason, you don't have to worry about an over flow. = and I mean worry. You worry that one or more of the siphons will get clogged, stopped up, blocked by snail, etc., and water pours onto your floor. I felt I could never keep the air out and so I would constantly check - constantly, and worry, about hearing water on my floor.

Granted, it never stopped, but every now and then, water bubbles would get in, and I couldn't permanently keep them out. Also, it has got to be cheaper to drill the tank than to buy an over flow kit. Those things are expensive for what they are ...

A drilled tank is also a bit quieter, imo.

my 75 has two holes, one for going down, and one for coming back up. seems to work well and the space it consumes inside the tank is nominal.

Best of luck.

 

[lisa foster]

check out the new super reef octopus I have an HOB I run sumpless but they have ones for in sump Once I got the kinks worked out it started pulling skim right away. The new bubble blaster pump is great. check out aquacave. I went for a 75to 125 I did not cycle 125 I used the water from my 75 and mixed new salt I used a whole new sandbed and put everything in that day. If you are going to go througha cycle get marco rocks if I had known about him I would have never spent all the money on live rock I would have just bought a few pieces to seed the marco rocks.

 

[Bruno]

oR JUST Buy my 90RR for a 100.00

 

[rxsalt]

Seems the vote is in for drilled.. Now all I have to do is find someone who knows what they are doing and get it done. I am not brave enough to attempt this on my own
RXsalt

 

[Bobbofin]

glass holes dot com

 

[jasbolto]

I got a kit from glass-holes.com it comes with everything you need including the drill bit and there is a video on the site that shows you what to do it was real easy.

 

[Bo_]

Have you thought about a coast to coast style overflow, you still have to drill the tank but i think it functions well and looks pretty nice

 

[rxsalt]

Have you thought about a coast to coast style overflow, you still have to drill the tank but i think it functions well and looks pretty nice

Not sure what that is. Do you have any information on this.
Thanks

 

[gweston]

cost to coast overflow = the overflow stretches the entire length of the tank. It allows for excellent surface skimming. There are different ways to set up the drains with a coast to coast. You can search images.google.com and see what they look like.

Probably the easiest config for a coast to coast is to have the back of the tank drilled, plumb in a bulkhead/drain out the back. Seriously consider multiple drains, in case one clogs. The problem with that is with drilling the return. You may need to go in over the back of the tank instead of through the back. Not a problem really. Depends on what you like.

For my 125gal 6' .... a work in progress. I will have a 4' internal overflow that drains out, and on the two right/left 1' sections on each end, I'll have drilled returns. It isn't a complete coast-to-coast layout, but prevents the need for piping the returns over the tank. The reason I am doing that is I can completely/easily cover the tank with clear mesh to prevent jumpers. Also for aesthetics.

My best advice... keep it simple ! My plan is turning out to be a larger project than I anticipated ! LOL. But I am ok with that. Having fun in the process.

The easiest way is to pick up a used reef ready tank (with bottom drilled durso type overflow). It works. It is proven. It is very common. Most new prefab mass produced reef tanks are set up this way.

 

[Bo_]

gweston covered it i just wanted to add some pictures so you could see what it looks like, this is just one version, i have seen people make a V shape with glass..i'll see if i can find a picture of that

thats not quite a coast 2 coast but its pretty close
NOT MY PICS FOUND THEM ON GOOGLE