I drilled my tank myself and it turned out good. I got a dimond tipped hole saw off ebay for around $10. I watched alot of videos on youtube first then bit the bullet and gave it a go. The most important thing is to make sure your glass isnt tempered. If it is it cant be drilled and will shatter if you try. There are good videos on youtube about how to cheak if its tempered. I used my iphone and a pair of polarised glasses.
I would recomend drilling the back as theres not quite so much stress as the bottem but it really depends on how you want to run your drains. You need to consider if you want to use a weir/overflow or not and if you do will it be a corner style or rear overflow box style. Corner overflows usually run a stand pipe sutup with the bottem drilled. Im using a overflow box on the rear panel so have drilled the back.
Another thing to consider is noise. Sumps can be quite loud of not done properly. so if its in a bedroom or lounge it will get very annoying. The best way around the noise issue is to use a 'beanAnimal' style overflow setup. Im using this type of drain system on my 6 footer and its super silent.
As for the sump itself, I wouldnt buy a new tank for this as it wil probably be hidden anyway. I picked up a seconed hand 3 footer for $50 and its mint.
If you want to do a sump properly it will be quite expencive. By the time you add up the pump, plumbing, glass for baffles, media and sump Itself im probably up around the $600 mark
cheak out my post in the journal section if you wanna see some pics
Cheers
Rich
- malawiman85 likes this