Major drilling question

[Powederblue]

Hey all,

I have a 45gallon rimless cadlight and it is RR. It has a 1 inch drain and a 1/2 inch hole for the return, both in the bottom of the tank.
Heres my question, I want to run a herbie style or some other sort of super quiet and super safe overflow.
I was thinking about drilling the back of the tank behind the overflow box.

I got to looking and was wondering if it was possible to re-drill the 1/2 inch hole and make it a 1 inch so i have 2 1 inch drains.

Or just leave it the way it is and run 1, 1inch drain with my 1/2inch return, OR run the 1/2 inch as my siphon and the 1 inch as my emergency and run the return up over the back.

Questions, comments, concerns please.

Thanks in advance everyone.

Casey

 

[edsbeaker]

I'm not positive about this, but I'm sure others will know, but aren't most tank bottoms tempered glass? If so, you probably can't drill the bottom.

It's not a good idea to have your drain pipe smaller then your return in case something plugs up the drain. This will cause having no water going down to your sump but your pump will continue to pump water into the tank causing a flood.

If you are going for a silent herbie style I might lean towards having the drain (1") in the overflow for the full suction, the return (1/2")in the overflow as the emergency, and your new return (1/2") over the rim as you suggested.

I think this would work, but more experienced people will chime in.

 

[Powederblue]

this is the bottom of the tank. just either going to make the small hole larger or drill the back.

 

[Powederblue]

i thought about using the 1/2 inch as emergency but afraid it won't hold the speed of the return if the 1 inch gets clogged

 

[BigKahuna]

From the copious amounts of fantastic info I've read on RC WRT the Herbie the emergency standpipe in a Herbie is just that, emergency. Having the main drain go into full siphon is going to put a lot of water through there so on a 45 gallon tank you'd need to have a hurricane force flow through your sump on such a small tank to push that flow to maximum. I think the inch drain and 1/2 emergency is probably more than enough as it is. I wouldn't risk breaking the tank drilling it to make the emergency bigger when you don't need to.

 

[Powederblue]

case closed just going to make the 1 inch my siphon and make the 1/2 inch my emergency. Knock on wood i never had anything get clogged up in it in my 8 years but if it does, like you said BigKahuna, i think the 1/2 will be able to drain fast enough once i dial down the siphon and get the return pump adjusted.

 

[BigKahuna]

If you're worried about a clog just put an intake strainer on one or both of the drains. Nothing wrong with a little precaution like that if it gives you peace of mind.

 

[Powederblue]

10-4 thanks for yalls help. Don't know what got into me wanting to drill a tank. haha think i just had the drill bug. To cure it i drill the crap out of a 10 gallon haha.