My Reef Tank - Part I

[Nelson]

... I've already told Nelson that a year from now he might hate me for starting him off with green-star polyps but he was having trouble coping with the adjustment to the browns of a new SW reef :lol:. He's converting from his beautifully planted FW tank which was solid green...

Completly agree! As I also migrated from planted FW tank, GSP was the first thing I put into SW tank...

I love the stuff....I'll deal with future problems when they occur I guess.

[gator]

My most agravating experience thus far has been the overflow I'm forced to use since my tank isn't drilled.  Continually having to fiddle to balance the input/output to and from my sump.  There's got to be a better way of doing this (tearing the tank down, removing it from the wall and turning it on its side then restoring is not an option - at this point)

Nelson, it is possible to drill a full tank, by lowering the water level past where you are going to put the bulkheads.   But it is risky: if the tank cracks you have to have a back-up plan on where to put all of your stuff.

If I could do that I wouldn't hesitate for a minute, but I've had two guys who do this work say that it must be on its side so the water used to cool the diamond drill will be effective.  Wish you we're right.

Well...you're not talking to the right guys...check aquariumpros.ca ...there are examples of people who HAVE drilled full tanks.  It is doable, just requires extra caution and slightly different methods...ie a "drip" style water cooling method