should i have holes put in my tank?

[border324]

i just empty out my 55 gallon salt water fish tank. and cleaned it up real nice like!
i am trying to brainstorm up some ideas to keep what i have to have on my tank at a bare minium.
my local fish store has a 125 gallon fish tank set up! i see he has no hoses or hang on filter on the back of his tank! he has a tube that has been inserted in the bottom of his tank for the water to return and filter! my question is how would i go by doing that and what do i need to do it?
is it a good idea for a reef system?
what type of filter should i have for it? is a canister filter good enough?THANKS
michael

 

[Dewey]

Well if it was me id have someone else drill the tank.I would run the over flow to a sump underneath the tank. This would be a good reef set up. If you have lots of live rock that will be your filtration. You can put your skimmer and other stuff in the sump out of sight. There is a article on this site explaining sumps read that.
Hope this helps good luck Dewey

 

[loganj]

The bottom glass in your 55 is likely (not always) tempered glass and can't be drilled. Be sure before you have it drilled. You could drill the tank through the back and run the standpipe out there. The back glass is probably not tempered although it could be...just have to check it. Take it to a glass shop...it takes special bits to drill glass...expensive bits.
A canister isn't really a good filter for a reef tank. You can use it with no media for circulation if you already have the filter, but that's about it. Go to the articles section (home page, left side) and read the article on the Berlin method of reef filtration...that will explain a lot.

 

[fishfreek]

Also the size of the hole will not be goverened as much by the size of the return and drain lines but more the size of the return and drain line bulkheads. For example a 1" drain line could require a 1 3/4" hole to be drilled so you can install the properly sized bulkhead to seal the hole and provide a place to connect the pvc.

Have a glass shop or your LFS drill the tank. A glass shop will proably be cheaper. The drain lines and return lines will be connected to a sump that is below the tank. It is in the sump that your skimmer, heater and any other filtration you have ill be placed.