SCA 50gal cube drill help

[George Villasenor]

New to having a tank this size, 20g aio to a 50g, never plumbed a tank before, bought it from someone quitting the hobby. It's a durso overflow, thinking about drilling another hole and making it a herbie perhaps, is there enough space to do the conversion and is it too much of a risk to drill near the edge? The overflow dimensions are (7.5''L x 4.35''W x 18.75''T) the return is 1/2'', and the drain is 1''. Thanks for all and any future info!

 

[rendosreef]

Just use the larger hole as the main drain with a gate valve on it to control flow and the smaller hole as a backup drain. Make the pipes in the box different heights. The main drain would be about 4" lower than the backup. Adjust the valve so that there are no more bubbles coming through. Then plumb your return over the back of the tank.

 

[rendosreef]

Here's mine on the under side

 

[George Villasenor]

Here's mine on the under side

I'm beating myself up for not thinking about plumbing like this! Have pics of the return to the display? Thanks.

 

[rendosreef]

That's the best I can get of the return

 

[Mr Dream Weaver]

Sorry to revive a dead thread, but i have the exact same tank as OP and was wondering if anyone has ever drilled the back panel for return/maybe emergency overflow?. I'd prefer not to run anything over the back. Work harder not smarter y'know

How did yall end up liking the tank?