Bulkheads and drill bits

truebeliever71

truebeliever71

Premium Member
Does anyone of know of a place local that I can get bulkheads for a tank that needs drilling? Also is there a place I can rent or borrow the bits?
 
+1

I've always ordered my stuff from glass holes too. As far as the bits, what size and how big is the tank? If I have a bit that will work you're welcome to borrow it.
 
The size of the holes is really based on how much flow you want and whether the drain lines are open channels or full siphon/closed loop.

Do you know what you want for flow?
 
Right now I have about 600gph on my 140G tank so I think I would like to have that ability on this one. My thought is to have make an overflow on side of the tank since I'm going to do a large rock formation that peaks above the water on the opposite side.
 
I've got that bit, but if you're looking to push 600gph through that box, it will be fairly noisy. If noise is a concern, I'd run 2 boxes, or one bigger box.

2 boxes would be safer, so that's a plus...but not sure how you feel about running 2 boxes considering your planned rock work. Then again, the bigger box is , iirc, significantly bigger.
 
I've been looking at the 1200gph one... but I was up to ABC today and talking to Dave... he has the 750 and said that he's running about 600gph though it and it wasn't noisey at all.
 
Yeah, he told me the same thing when I was redoing my setup. I'm not saying he's wrong, but... I think the issue is that the term "noisy" is relative...what I consider noisy may be different than what someone else considers noisy. I posted about the noise on RC (in the general reef forum) and got a lot of responses that agreed with me. The boxes from glass holes are high quality, super reliable, but not especially quiet, unless you run them at low flow (no more than half of what they are rated for). My experience lines up with that. And logically it makes sense too...anytime you have water and air mixing, there is going to be some noise...it's just a question of how much.

For what it's worth, my overflow box is DEFINITELY the loudest part of my system...louder than my cooling fans, return pump, skimmer, etc. The Eshopp's HOB overflow box I had prior was quieter.
 
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If I had a choice, I would prefer 1 overflow over 2 because of space and appeal. Noise can always be reduced by lowering the return flow rate. Also, if you are getting adjustable durso's, keeping the height of the water inside the overflow at 1/2 inch below the tank level keeps things pretty quite. Using 45's or flex tubing in the return path also help keep things quiet. IMO high flow rates through a sump really arent necessary (although some argue otherwise).
 
I should point out that the one disadvantage of the elbows vs overflow box is the surface skimming area. An overflow box has a much bigger surface skimming area and keeping the crud off of it can make a difference in light penetration I have heard. Being how shallow my 40 is and having a 175 MH over it I’m not too worried about it. If it were a deep tank it would be something I would take into consideration.
 
I'm definitely going with the overflow box style... though through some research I found that my particular tank doesn't have any tempered panels. So, a possibility of standing overflow is there.

Any input would be appreciated.
 
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