Drilled Tank vs. Overflow Boxes

[daveydoodle]

I'm comfortable trying what would be my first attempt at a drilled tank, but was just wondering is there any drawback to a drilled tank versus a tank utilizing multiple overflow boxes?
I'm literally ready now to bring this tank in from the garage (testing the plumbing phase) but I'm starting to wonder if I should just go ahead and drill it before I set it up, and re-do the plumbing. In the end is it easier to have a drilled tank?
Also, I've seen tank drilled near the bottom, wouldn't you want it near the top to control the water level if the power goes out and the sump cannot return water? Prevent the sump from overflowing?

 

[BadOleRoss]

I'm comfortable trying what would be my first attempt at a drilled tank, but was just wondering is there any drawback to a drilled tank versus a tank utilizing multiple overflow boxes?
I'm literally ready now to bring this tank in from the garage (testing the plumbing phase) but I'm starting to wonder if I should just go ahead and drill it before I set it up, and re-do the plumbing. In the end is it easier to have a drilled tank?
Also, I've seen tank drilled near the bottom, wouldn't you want it near the top to control the water level if the power goes out and the sump cannot return water? Prevent the sump from overflowing?

Depending on whether you want surface skimming or you want your fiter to pull water from the center of the tank will determine where you drill your holes. It's the pluming on the outside of the tank that will determine the water level. Make sure you plan everything out ahead of time. You dont wnt to drill holes and then realize they are too small for your pump(s).

 

[nfored]

I drilled my holes at the top of the tank so if something bad happens I don't loose a lot of water. I can then either surface skim or use a down facing 90 to pull from lower in the tank. I think drilled is always safer then an over flow box, any overflow box can fail, and as far as I know it gravity has a perfect record.

 

[Twigg]

Drilling the base is the only way to hide all the plumbing.

There is no real reason to worry about disasters, the overflow lip will prevent all but minor spills even in a plumbing catastrophe. The worst that could happen is that your filter contents (or some of them) might be spilled.

 

[KaiserSousay]

the overflow lip will prevent all but minor spills even in a plumbing catastrophe.

Not all drilled tanks use overflows.
Many will use pipe length only as the drain limit, on a bottom drilled tank.
Side drilled can have a street ell angled to be their drain level adjustment.
You could have a skimmer box sitting on top of the pipe from a bottom drilled, or up against the glass for side drilled.
Not saying answers based only on a particular style system are bad, we just need to keep in mind, everyone does not have the same configurations as we do.

as far as I know it gravity has a perfect record.

Amen.

 

[nfored]

I can tell you at least one person who has seen this overflow lip not save them, the seal in the middle of the overflow began to leak. This went unnoticed since the overflow was normally full up to that point. It was not noticed until the bulk head also started to leak, they then had to drain the over flow to replace the bulk head. So while no real damage was done since the bulk head leak was small and was noticed quickly, it does prove that disaster can happen.

 

[Twigg]

Drilling the bottom of a tank and NOT fitting an overflow but relying solely on a standpipe is asking for trouble

For the sake of two or three pieces of glass or acrylic and some adhesive, fit an overflow! It might be your best defense against 100 gallons of water on your carpet.

If you do this then you need two things to fail at once to lose more than a few gallons of water, worst case.

 

[Hasi]

Drilling the bottom of a tank and NOT fitting an overflow but relying solely on a standpipe is asking for trouble

For the sake of two or three pieces of glass or acrylic and some adhesive, fit an overflow! It might be your best defense against 100 gallons of water on your carpet.

If you do this then you need two things to fail at once to lose more than a few gallons of water, worst case.

Could you please expand on your comment? I don't quite get what you are trying to say here

daveydoodle - Drill all day. Coming from someone who didn't want to drill and instead went with the overflow (U-pipe that is a sticky) I can assure you that eventually you will have wished you had drilled your tank.

Much more neat and easier to work with.

 

[Bee0912]

Drill it. Drilled tanks do not have to be complicated. I did not want huge overflows taking up space.

 

[Twigg]

Could you please expand on your comment? I don't quite get what you are trying to say here

daveydoodle - Drill all day. Coming from someone who didn't want to drill and instead went with the overflow (U-pipe that is a sticky) I can assure you that eventually you will have wished you had drilled your tank.

Much more neat and easier to work with.

If you drill the base of a tank, rather than a vertical surface, then all the plumbing can be concealed.

However, doing so introduces a potential point of failure that could be catastrophic .... ie ... all the water exiting in an unplanned and untimely manner ... and a very unhappy spouse

A good bulkhead fitting, and a well fixed standpipe will mitigate nearly all of the danger, and for many folk that is all they do. If the bulkhead, or pipe connection fails, then we are back in an "unhappy spouse" scenario.

An overflow cemented into the tank avoids this, because to lose the tank contents both the overflow AND the fittings would have to fail. It is possible that the overflow could fail un-noticed, followed by a fitting failure later, but you also could be run over by a bus ..... regular checks should catch that.

The overflow not only gives you some flexibility about how you arrange the filtration, but effectively takes the drilling OUTSIDE the tank, and removes it as a point of failure.

It seems to me that relying on a single skin fitting to protect your tank contents is a risk that is avoidable .... and actually, it's two skin fittings, so the risk is doubled.

just sayin'