To drill or not to drill?

[BlennyFace]

Hey all!

I've been reefing for quite awhile and have an empty 37g that I would love to build for SH. I'm sure I'll have many questions for you guys over the process of the conversion, but here is the first I've seen quite a number of SH setups with just canisters on them, as opposed to sumping. I have an eheim pro II canister for the tank (spray bar/adjustable flow), do you guys think that will do it? Or should I spend the extra time/money to go get the tank drilled and build a sump out of a 15H? I'm concerned that an overflow will take up a lot of space in a 37g. My skimmer is HOB but could be easily converted to in-sump so it doesn't matter either way for that.

Plans for livestock include 1-2 pairs of H. erectus, CUC, softies/SH safe gorgs, macros, and a SH safe nano goby (undecided on species yet!).

Any input would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[namxas]

the canister will be fine providing you clean it bi-weekly, esp. any sponge media you may use. i used canisters for many years, but i MUCH prefer sump-type systems. to save space, if you can find someone to do it (or DIY), you can go with an external O/F box, and a single horizontal slot rather than teeth. we went that route on our 48" 100 gal and we LOVE it. granted, our tank is acrylic, but i've seen it done with glass tanx as well. a central trapezoidal internal O/F will save some space as well.

here are some pix:

JMO/JME

 

[BlennyFace]

Oooh that is a good idea! Although I think it might be too risky cutting something like that into glass. But you did remind me of the fact that there are other external overflow options, like a HOB style. I did consider a center O/F but unfortunately the bottom of the tank is tempered so my cutting will be limited to the side panes

Thanks for the post! Still weighing my options

 

[Radioheadx14]

I bought my overflow for my 37g at glass-holes.com. I went ahead and got a deluxe nano overflow box and return. Since its a seahorse tank. They also have very good instructions and videos how to do it.