Time to drill.... Almost

[dantodd]

My wife, son and I picked up the 100g tank for his school yesterday.

It is a non-drilled 100g tank with a custom solid oak stand.

I am going to have to do a few things before it can get setup and start cycling. First I need to decide how I want to drill it for CL and overflow. I am thinking an external overflow will be easiest and give me the best flow.

Is anyone in the club willing to help out by building the overflow? I have a decent router and I could certainly buy an inexpensive table if needed. What I don't have is the experience or confidence to build and glue it up myself.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Elite]

If it is glass, I can help you out.

 

[dswong01]

If its acrylic I have holes saws to drill holes.

 

[dantodd]

doh.... didn't mention. It is acrylic and I really need some acrylic expertise to help with cutting/glueing the overflow.

Thanks for the offer of the hole saws. I'm sure we'll need it.

 

[Kinetic]

Tap Plastics can cut exact acrylic pieces for you. Then using weldon you could construct an external overflow.

Also, the basic hole saws at home depot will work on acrylic. Just drill them through like you would with any plastic.

 

[dswong01]

Dan
If dont want to build you can buy it from FYI

http://www.wetdryfilter.com/internal_overflow_boxes.htm

 

[Kinetic]

socalcreations.com also sells them

 

[Elite]

Since this is a school project, I think he's looking to save $$. If I know about acrylic, I would be happy to help out but I don't ...

 

[Kinetic]

ok I found the thread:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=562051

The thread above is "moderated" by a guy who is an acrylic expert who builds all sorts of tanks/cages out of acrylic.

Browse or ask any questions there, you'll get tons of feedback and info from acrylicman and other people's questions and answers =)

 

[dantodd]

well. I'd like to do this thing DYI with help which would be a little cheaper and sort of in the spirit of doing this thing with all volunteer/donation assistance. However; $60 for an internal overflow seems pretty affordable.

I was thinking of doing an external overflow but now I'm thinking that between drilling tons of overflow holes in the tank and the weight of the overflow hanging on the tank I may switch to an internal overflow.

 

[dswong01]

That was my point sometimes its cheaper to buy than to build in terms of material/time. Especially if dont have the proper tools. FWIW

 

[dantodd]

OK.

I haven't been able to scrounge anyone who is willing to build one for the school so I'm ordering an overflow from socalcreations. I used the RC calculator and it said I need 12" of overflow and a 1.17" drain for 800 gallons. I think we'll be using the Mag7 that someone donated as a return but thought I'd be ready for a Mag9 or better just in case we need to upgrade.

I am ordering the 3 sided overflow hoping that will be easier to glue into place.

On to the questions.
What size bulkhead should I get? 1.25" or 1.5"
How much clearance do these need inside the overflow?

TIA.

If anyone wants to volunteer to help with the glue up job, it would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,