200 gal TruVu acrylic tank

[rockwyld]

Hi all, I just bought a used 200 gallon TruVu acrylic tank for 100bucks. Good deal huh! First question, the tank has NO holes drilled anywhere, Where can I take tank to get two overflows put in the inside corners. Or is this a simple do it yourself project, or do any of you guys want to do it for me and get paid. What do you think it would cost for overflows and some holes drilled? Any help would be nice. thanks-Lance

 

[duec22]

nice score...I'm not sure about the drilling though, never done it.

 

[funman1]

Well if it's acrylic, drilling should be a CAKEWALK.
Just head over to Lowes or HD and get a holesaw the size of your bulk heads. and drill..

Easy as pie..

It's glass that gets tricky.

 

[dots]

If you are going to drill it and put in an overflow into it, you may want to consider the design simmilar to the Yourreef tanks and at the Coral Reef Shops, main display. Though you have a stand pipe in the center, you can reinforce it and make that a central rock support for an island look, or two w/two islands. The cool thing about these is that they pull the water off the top directly so all of the floating proteins are pulled down into the skimmer/filter for cleaner water. With my megaflow style AGA tank, I find this harder to do with the design of the stand pipe. Might be different and easier. Really it would be one or two holes in the bottom, a bulkhead and the length of pipe for the water height you want. Drill and return it using a spray bar along the back side. Using a larger than average pump and you could get away with maybe not having any powerheads in the main tank.

 

[little_d]

TruVu is acrylic so drilling it is very easy, like funman1 said.
For the overflow you would need a router to make the teeth, acrylic can be bought at tap plastic (they can even cut out the teeth for you but you can just save some cash doing it yourself) as well as the adhesive for it.

One thing I would suggest is to make the overflow longer than 6".

 

[rockwyld]

What do you mean longer than 6". Are you talking about how long the teeth are in depth. I think I would prefer overflows as oposed to a standpipe only because of making sure the tank is always toped off. At least with overflows, it gives you alittle more leaway.

 

[Reefugee]

Lance,

I assume that you want to install overflows similar to the megaflows - except in the corner and rectangular in shape. If you do - I would highly recommend that you make sure that the side of the tank is still straight. I have seen my fair share of Tru Vu tanks where there are slight budge. Trying to get a great seal with a budging tank may be very difficult.

Minh

 

[rockwyld]

If it is straight, what size of an overflow would you do? tank is 21" tall.

 

[dots]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7941812#post7941812 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reefugee
Lance,

I assume that you want to install overflows similar to the megaflows - except in the corner and rectangular in shape. If you do - I would highly recommend that you make sure that the side of the tank is still straight. I have seen my fair share of Tru Vu tanks where there are slight budge. Trying to get a great seal with a budging tank may be very difficult.

Minh

You could avoid this by making it five sided from the start and only worry about sealing the bottom through the bulkheads. Basicly a box within a box per se. But Minh has a very valid point, I think sealing would be the hardest of the project and the most unreliable. I have a hard time trusting my AGA overflow, esecially when the sump is out from under it during cleaning. I may have about 20-25 gallons of space in the sump if it ever blows, hopefully not at the bottom. Something to consider when glueing/caulking.

I Still like the single tubes up the middle and covered with rock.

 

[rockwyld]

what about the two stand pipes about an inchand half from top of waterline and a black acrylic box that is say, 6"x8"x 21" tall with slots (teeth) that are 1" below waterline. That way, pipe is completly hidden and there is an half inch difference between them. I would still skim off the top, and if overflows broke, I still would only drain from top 1.5". ????

 

[Nu2SW]

Dont know if you have ever been to mels site, but its full of information and is awesome.

http://www.melevsreef.com/links.html

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

IMLE the problem with stand pipes is the noise. You could drill the back of the tank and go with external Durso's (that is what I have on my 30 gal. cube and it works great). I have a hole for a 1" bulkhead near each corner about 4 inches down form the top. I then have a bulkhead with a street ell turned down on the inside of the tank. Surrounding the street ell is a corner overflow box and I have a Durso on the outside of the bulkhead. Works pretty well and doesn't take up a lot of room in the tank. It is also reasonably quiet. I have some utility tanks in my workshop that just have an open up turned ell for the overflow and they are very noisy. They are ok in that situation but I don’t think I would want one in my house.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7942019#post7942019 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rockwyld
what about the two stand pipes about an inchand half from top of waterline and a black acrylic box that is say, 6"x8"x 21" tall with slots (teeth) that are 1" below waterline. That way, pipe is completly hidden and there is an half inch difference between them. I would still skim off the top, and if overflows broke, I still would only drain from top 1.5". ????

If I understand what you are saying the stand pipe would be higher than the overflows? If so I don't think that is a very good idea as stuff would keep getting into the overflow box and you would constantly have to clean it. Without flow in the box it would just become a debris trap.

If you are saying that the stand pipes would be lower than the overflow boxes that would be correct however you might want to include Durso's or something similar to reduce the noise.

 

[little_d]

What I meant is don't make the length of the overflow just 6" especially if you're going to put a 1.5" durso, there will be hardly any room to work with. My 240 overflow is 6"x6" and I wish it was 12"x6". Also, a big bonus is that more waste will enter the overflow which can be exported by the skimmer.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7941539#post7941539 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rockwyld
What do you mean longer than 6". Are you talking about how long the teeth are in depth. I think I would prefer overflows as oposed to a standpipe only because of making sure the tank is always toped off. At least with overflows, it gives you alittle more leaway.

 

[fishnfst]

Definitely go with the 5 sided box pre made and a full height overflow.. You could then just sillicone it in if you didn't want to take the chance with the weldon and just drill it for a bulkhead..

Any good quality holesaw will eat right through the acrylic.. Just pilot it first so You don't bind up the holesaw and crack anything.. I normally drill halfway through the tank on one side then drill from the other side the rest of the way through.. IT gives you a very finished looking hole this way... I think I normally use a .25 drill bit to pilot.. Use very little pressure and let the bit work.. You don't want the bit to start to screw into the plastic as it will crack coming out the other side... I like chips more than a long thin stream of acrylic...