Drilling a small aquarium

[red devil]

I am hoping that I responded soon enough for a freebie off of craigslist. It is a 20 gallon tall that has been set up to be a sump - room for all kinds of balls The tank I want to set up is only a 29 gallon - not much bigger than the 20 but since it was free I am thinking about using it as the filtering system.

I would really like to have an overflow of water from the top 29 to the bottom 20 without the risks of draining the top one, or loosing the vacuum in the tube that would drain it.

i have thought of two ways of doing this. The first is to drill a hole in the top of the tank very close/adjacent to the edge. I am concerned that I will crack the glass doing this. If it were in the middle of the piece of glass I think it would be less risky. The second option is to buy some 1/2" acrylic and build a wall around the top of the tank to form a vertical extension of the tank, seating it in the groove where the hood would normally rest. This would be about 2" tall and I could drill all the holes in the back that my little heart desired without fear of cracking the glass I could even use glass for the front and sides, with acrylic only on the back.

And...if I really wanted to...I could put an acrylic bottom to this extension and drill lots of holes in it...and keep a turtle up top...kind of a tank within a tank. The bottom of the top extension would be hidden by the top frame of the tank.

What do you think? I am sure that I could buy a canister filter and other accessories for what it will cost me for the tank extension but I am really curious about how to use a sump and would like to try it out...also I am curious about how well the turtle would make out up in the penthouse.

Any feedback? Am I being too hole-y?

 

[kingearwig]

I think you might be getting ahead of yourself. I think the suggestion of a tank extension for the implementation of overflow is genius enough... If I had though of that I would just go cheap. It could be cheap plastic and could be totally hidden by a hood.

I don't think that a turtle would like the situation much. not without making land and such which would block the light.

 

[1oooop]

I suggest making a DIY one and painting it with krylon fusion... no holes and it's quite cheap... the only problem is the fumes

 

[Notophthalmus]

I think the more traditional overflow box/siphon combo is more practical when dealing with a glass tank. Your extension idea is interesting, but it may be difficult to create a watertight bond between the acrylic and glass. Of course, if you are willing to go through with the experiment, I'm sure many of us here will be interested to see what you find out.

I certainly would not go with the turtle idea; no turtle is small enough that that space would be adequate for it.

 

[1oooop]

well, I guess you can also use a large piece of ABS drain pipe u bend... just take a airline and prime it