Acrylic plumbing question

[Alex Bonanno]

Hi Everyone,

I hope someone can offer some advice here. I purchased an acrylic frag tank that already had one 1" drain hole drilled. I want to drill a second hole for an emergency drain. Initially I was going to drill another 1" hole but noticed that the holes would be very close together. The two bulkheads would pretty much be touching. Is this dangerous for acrylic? Should I drill a 3/4" or 1/2" emergency drain instead? The return is 1/2".

 

[this is me]

What’s the thickness? Still, I wouldn’t do it.

 

[Alex Bonanno]

The acrylic tank has 1/2" thick vertical walls and 1/4" thick bottom

 

[shrimpchips]

Drill your second drain out the back wall, otherwise holes are way too close, especially with the thickness of the bottom pane.

 

[Alex Bonanno]

Drill your second drain out the back wall, otherwise holes are way too close, especially with the thickness of the bottom pane.

That’s a good idea. Didn’t even think of that yet. Thank you!

 

[this is me]

The acrylic tank has 1/2" thick vertical walls and 1/4" thick bottom

This is strange. Why is the bottom pane thinner than the sides?

 

[Spaceman]

THIS IS ME Thats how acrylic tanks are made thinner bottoms and tops. I would not drill in that box and just set it up one drain and return in box keepnit clean and simple prob worked for many years with out a second drain...

 

[Alex Bonanno]

THIS IS ME Thats how acrylic tanks are made thinner bottoms and tops. I would not drill in that box and just set it up one drain and return in box keepnit clean and simple prob worked for many years with out a second drain...

Doesn’t that leave a huge risk of the tank overflowing in the case something clogs the drain?

 

[Spaceman]

So you gotta go threw thr teeth of the over flow then down a strainer or open drain to clog it... you honestly got better chances of winning PowerBar imo.. How long was it previously run?

 

[JohnK]

Doesn’t that leave a huge risk of the tank overflowing in the case something clogs the drain?

If you try to run it as a siphon drain, then yes a big risk. Run it with a duroso as (I assume) it was designed for and it should be quite reliable, just a little noisier and a lot slower.

 

[this is me]

THIS IS ME Thats how acrylic tanks are made thinner bottoms and tops.

I wouldn’t buy such tank. And no, it’s not normal for an acrylic tank to have thinner bottom than the sides. It’s shoddy work and cost cutting.
None of these tanks have a thinner bottom.

Display Tanks

From many years of experience, we've been able to perfect the quality of our products. We've put the icing on the cake by fully hand polishing the entire exterior of the tank, providing a museum quality appearance. But we didn't stop there. We also hand polish the inner bracing of the 2...

advancedacrylics.com

 

[this is me]

So you gotta go threw thr teeth of the over flow then down a strainer or open drain to clog it... you honestly got better chances of winning PowerBar imo.. How long was it previously run?

I’m willing to bet that you’ll get a better chance of water flowing onto the floor with that 1 drain than winning the powerball before your bank account runs out.

 

[Spaceman]

I wouldn’t buy such tank. And no, it’s not normal for an acrylic tank to have thinner bottom than the sides. It’s shoddy work and cost cutting.
None of these tanks have a thinner bottom.

Display Tanks

From many years of experience, we've been able to perfect the quality of our products. We've put the icing on the cake by fully hand polishing the entire exterior of the tank, providing a museum quality appearance. But we didn't stop there. We also hand polish the inner bracing of the 2...

advancedacrylics.com

I have tanks from John many don't have great things to say about him. I went with a hybrid tank this time and like them from him at advance acrylics. I just got 7 quotes for my new tank in acrylic. My bottom and top is 3/4 and sides 1inch. 5 out of the 7 wanted to do 3/4 entire tanks so I kinda see it as a step up and definitely different to me then glass. I understand your concer though with the single 1inch never in all my years reefing have I ever had a over flow clog. But have over flow box hang on style stop.

 

[Pat02026]

You could always run the 1/2” as your full siphon main, which would flow a surprising amount of water, and leave the 1” as your emergency. Relocate return either drilled someplace else, or over the top. Just an alternate option to explore

 

[this is me]

I have tanks from John many don't have great things to say about him. I went with a hybrid tank this time and like them from him at advance acrylics. I just got 7 quotes for my new tank in acrylic. My bottom and top is 3/4 and sides 1inch. 5 out of the 7 wanted to do 3/4 entire tanks so I kinda see it as a step up and definitely different to me then glass. I understand your concer though with the single 1inch never in all my years reefing have I ever had an over flow clog. But have over flow box hang on style stop.

Okay. On larger acrylic I can’t see why they want to strength the sides so that the plastic doesn’t bow and flex. But when we’re talking about 1/2” and 1/4” thickness on OP tank, the 1/4” sounds cheap to me and not rigid enough as a bottom.
I never said anything about the overflow box getting clogged. If the overflow box clogged, doesn’t matter how many holes you have as the drain. I’m more concerned about the single drain set up losing siphon and not having a fully opened pipe emergency can spell trouble.

 

[Alex Bonanno]

So you gotta go threw thr teeth of the over flow then down a strainer or open drain to clog it... you honestly got better chances of winning PowerBar imo.. How long was it previously run?

It hasn’t touched water yet.

 

[Alex Bonanno]

You could always run the 1/2” as your full siphon main, which would flow a surprising amount of water, and leave the 1” as your emergency. Relocate return either drilled someplace else, or over the top. Just an alternate option to explore

Thank you! There’s already a 1/2” hole in the back for the return. The flow rate may need to be kept low if the siphon is only 1/2” too.