staring refugim, need help w/ plumbing

[always learning]

I have a 20 gal. (glass) reef and I want to start a 10 gal. refugim. I was planning to set it up with powerheads pumping the water back and forth between the two tanks. I realized that there were some problems of course, I found this to be a very sensitive system. So I decided to just to have water "over-flowing" into the 10 gal. The only problem is that I would need to drill a hole into the side of the tank just about water level, with a fully loaded tank up for about 3-4 months now. As you may know glass cracks when you drill it, so I hve some problems here. I do know there are ways of cleanly cutting glass with just dill bits, but I can't really take the risk of my tank cracking and-or exploding on me. :shake:
What can I do? :confused:
I will deeply apreciate all/any help you can provide.

thanx,
always learning.

[gbolton]

Dont know if this will help but here is a posting on how someone drilled their tank full.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17890

[plantman1028]

You can drill your glass rather easily if you use a diamond dust drill bit.They are quite expensive to buy,but you can usuall find them at a tool rental shop.Use a FAST drill and very little pressure when you actually start drilling.GO SLOW.Trying to push too hard or fast will cause the tank to crack.This worked well for me when I drilled my 125.
Have you thought about using a siphon tube from the 20 to the 10 for your inlet.Then you can use a powerhead as a return.this set up will also work and is a lot easier than drilling the tank.Either way you go ,I wish the best of luck.Hope I was Helpful.
CHRIS

[always learning]

thanks for all u'r help chris.
and yes I did think of a siphon, but there's a problem, if you tried it you would know. If you start siphoning water from one tank to a lower one and have the water being pumped back it seems great, fool-proof, right? Wrong. If you have it set up like that and let's say the pump stopped and so the water just keeps sihoning and eventually stops, O.K. But, let's say the pump starts back up again, or if somone (or thing) turns it back on it won't start siphoning again so the tank will then over-flow. I didn't see this problem either but then I tested it out and I saw the flaw.

Anyway, when you said that you drilled your did you drill it when it was all set-up? And what tool did you use? thanks alot for all your help:D

thanks,
alays learning.