new 55 gallon tank from wal mart

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twostepct

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 5, 2003
Messages
12
Location
texas
hello, this is my 2nd (hit the big time huh...) post on this forum. i posted the same thing in the freshwater forum and will post here as well. i am trying to figure out what options i have on filtration. my wife would like for us to eventually go saltwater with the setup. the folks on the freshwater side said that it would not be able to be drilled for an overflow. the guy at the lfs told me that i would need that should i decide to try for a reef setup. i plan on doing some sort of background out of plexiglass and rock and was wondering if i could put a submersible pump in the bottom to pump water out and try to replicate the action of an overflow. any advice is greatly appreciated. tyson
 
overflow

Could you not just do an overflow that hangs on the back? Once we get the 75 gal going, my wife wants to set up a 29 Gal reef and we will use the overflow that came with the wet/dry kit we bought. The 75 gal is drilled so we don't need it for that tank.
 
twostepct,

Welcome to AA.com! First off any tank can be drilled unless the entire thing is made of tempered glass. (which I know is not true if you bought it from walmart). The tank can be drilled on the sides of the tank or possibly the bottom you will have to check and see if its tempered glass for the bottom. If its not tempered on the bottom i would go with a standpipe overflow. IF the bottom is tempered i would go with the overflow on the back drilled like this heres a pic:

This is the overflow that i have on the back of my 75 gallon. You should be able to have something similar to this. If you do plan on going SW definitly go with the overflow system, makes the tank perform and look great! HTH
 
gooyferret, could you explain that more? is the overflow on the bottom of the side or on the top? also, how do you keep fish from being sucked out? thanks, tyson
 
sounds like the guy at the lfs doesnt know jack (as usual). You dont have to drill a tank to make a reef setup. If that was the case then every reef tank would be drilled. If you get an underground filter system for freshwater then dont expect to use it for saltwater. You need to decide on a fish only or full reef system. A reef is self supporting but the fish only needs a skimmer and wet/dry. Of course a skimmer on a reef tank is ok too. The people on this forum know a lot and id trust them over any LFS. Heed their advice and youll have a good setup :)
 
The overflow consists of two acrylic boxes...one inside the tank and the other outside. It hangs on the top of the tank on the back. There is a siphon tube that runs from the inside box to the outside. Water flows over the lip of the inside box and is siphoned into the outside box. The external box has a drain that goes to the sump. The height of the internal box controls the water level in the tank.
 
Here's a couple of more pics that might clear things up some more. The first one is a front/top view of an overflow working...note that the water level is even with the top of the internal box. The second is an old pic of my 20g reef...you can see the internal box in the upper left corner of the tank.
 
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