Location of drain lines???

[angel50]

I have been doing a lot of research lately for my hopefully new acquistion of a larger tank. I am confused on the location of the drain lines to the sump. I thought the best and most common was on the bottom of the tank. However I have heard of having them drilled on the side of the tank. What is the purpose of this, which is best?

 

[MrPillow]

If the drain is placed on the bottom of the tank, the entire volume of the tank would drain out the bottom into the sump in the event of a power failure

 

[mfdrookie516]

Not necessarily... if set up properly with an overflow box, it works the same as one drilled on the side of the tank. It's the difference in having a full length overflow box in the tank, or a smaller overflow box up at the top. No matter how its set up, the tank should not overflow water when the pump is off.

One thing with the bottom drilled tanks is that you can also bring your returns up through another hole, reducing the amount of things behind the tank.

 

[angel50]

That makes sense and less room being taken up by the overflow box would be nice, but having everything underneath the tank would be a plus. Lots of food for thought.

Thanks.