Drilled tank question... Yes, again. LOL...

[cedzaquaddiction]

OK. I know it works because I've done it several times, and gotten lucky, but being an engineer, I just have to ask questions to understand why sometimes. It is a blessing and a curse... Well, more of a curse....

Alright. I understand that you can't drill tempered glass, but, you can drill tempered glass, and I understand why... Most reef ready drilled-from-the factory tanks I've seen before have extremely thick bottom glass, and reasonably thick glass around the sides. I completely understand why this is the case.

My question is for the non-tempered aquariums that we drill. The glass on the bottom appears to be no thicker than the side glass. Are we inviting a disaster by drilling on such thin glass then placing hundreds of pounds of substrate and water on top of a weakened platform, or do physics take over, and ensure the safety?

If the glass is safe at the thinner state that some of the non-tempered aquarium bottoms are, then why do the factory drilled or reef ready tanks have such thick glass at the bottom?

Sorry for if I have confused you all as much as I have myself. I tend to overthink things sometimes. Just trying to understand.

 

[rdnelson]

Simple solution, drill the top back of the tank and go with Bean Animal. I love mine and the pressures are less at the top of the tank. In addition, you have the frame near by as added support. People are probably sick of hearing me say it but, given the choice, I would never have anything but a bean animal overflow. Comined with an external coast-to-coast overflow box I think you have the perfect set up.

 

[cedzaquaddiction]

Dang. Once again, you have come through with some wisdom. Do you have any pictures you can share? My DT is tempered on the bottom, but, I don't think it is on the back and sides. I've seen examples on the web, but the more the marrier (<- spelling?)...

 

[rdnelson]

Here you go.
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[cedzaquaddiction]

Wow. That's beautiful. Is it quiet or high maintenance? Did you build your own overflow box?

 

[rdnelson]

Quiet as a church mouse. My lights are off now and I can't hear a thing except a little ripple from the power head. I did build the overflow box out of scrap acrylic I found at our shop. Piece of cake with the table saw.
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[cedzaquaddiction]

Is that a aqualifter on the overflow towards the middle?

What are your opinions of the durso overflow?

 

[rdnelson]

Nope. Just a tube that goes back into the sump. The purpose is to let air into that drain line to prevent a siphon (which would cause the gurgle noise) but if the other drain were to get plugged, water would rise in the overflow box and plug that line. That would stop the air entering and would cause it to change to a sipon preventing a flood. Here is the web page I used. This is the guy who came up with it and it gives a great explaination.

 

[eagle9252]

In the process of doing a. Internal overflow with an external overflow box for a 27g nano cube. Will post pics tonight.

 

[cedzaquaddiction]

rdnelson99: Aaaaah. I remember reading about that. If an air bubble is created at the top of the bend, it will cause a siphon break, and probably a flood because water is being pumped into the tank and not exiting through the plumbing. How long has it been running, and how does it react in a power outage?

eagle9252: Great. Looking forward to it. I'm also going to check out your 120 upgrade.

thanks all...

Edit: Edit... NM. I read up on the power outage part...

 

[rdnelson]

Mine has been running for about 5 months I think. No problem at all on power outages. It will be noisy at start up until the air gets worked out of it. I just give it a few minutes to get running good then pull the two downward pointed elbows off (in the overflow box) and let the air out. After that is is dead silent. If I were not home it would still run fine but just be a bit noisy until I get home.

 

[eagle9252]

here ya go

 

[cedzaquaddiction]

You know what? Y'all are really making this look easy. May break my DT down and set this up. I was looking at the durso overflow, but that still goes over the top of the tank instead of through the tank...

I still have a question bugging me, though... My 40gallon breeder is non-tempered all around, and thin glass on the bottom. Though it can be drilled on the bottom, the thin glass and the pressure that these tanks endure on the bottom (more so than the upper sides), just make it seem like it is a bad idea...

I'm pretty much sold on the bean overflow. Just want to clear this up in my head...

Eagle9252: I can't post a reply to your build, but I want to let you know that you too have done some beautiful work!!!

 

[ichthyoid]

Durso's are pretty fool proof, ime.

The Beananimal is nothing really miraculous, just a redundant design.

I'm not sold on the coast-to-coast thing, but if you dig it, go for it.

As long as you have a surface overflow, and your turn over is sufficient, I see no advantage.

The main thing is to skim off any 'oily' film on the water surface, to ensure good gas exchange.

I have run single and double overflows, even a siphon overflow, and never (knock on wood) had one put water on the floor (in 20+ years).

I'm about to go back to a single corner overflow on a 120. I guess I 'could' drill an extra hole in the side for a bulkhead with upturned elbow, and call it a 'Billanimal' (just to be a smart Alec!) ... Think I'd get sued?

 

[eagle9252]

First off I’m still new and this is the way I see it.

Realistically the beananimal is almost 2 durso’s with an emergency drain redundant maybe but the extra drain is good.

The new style durso has a 3/8” hole drilled in the side about 1” below the center of the 90*. This allows more water to enter below the surface. Whereas the BA has one full siphon sucking water wide open. Then the other durso old style has a gate valve so you can reduce the flow some to level off the water line in the OF box. The only time the emergency tube is used is at startup and the open channel is turned into a full siphon just during startup.

I ran a durso style drain in my custom made HOB OF. The flow was greater when I offset the tee to allow more water flow from under the waterline which is the same thing as the 3/8” drilled hole. They clam it’s an anti-siphon but the large hole allows for the more water flow.

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[cedzaquaddiction]

I'm starting to get over my hesitation on this subject.

ichthyoid: When running the overflows on each corners of your tank, did you have any issues with the overflows fighting eachother and making one gurgle so-to-speak to catch up?

eagle 9252: Thanks for the info for basically what the beananimal was composed of. Did you say you made your own custom HOB OF? Got any links to it? I can't seem to access the link to your 120 upgrade for some reason...

 

[ichthyoid]

No issues with dual overflows at all.

It is important to level the tank, for a variety of reasons. One of them being to help ensure even flow through both overflows.

One thing to be careful of with any overflow system is using too much pump, so it overflows the tank.

You can install a 'bypass valve' on the output side of any pump, and divert any excess flow back to the sump. This makes the whole thing adjustable.

Some just put a valve in line and 'throttle' the pump. That's not my preferred method.

 

[eagle9252]

I can’t find the write up but I followed Melevsreef’s build and add some extra too it as my BH was going to be larger

http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html">http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html</a>

[IMG]http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/overflow.html">http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/overflow.html</a>

I still have mine. I’ll trade you for the broken 40B. come on over as I’m at home ATM

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