Can I Drill These AiO Chambers for an Ext. Sump?

[MotherofAnimals]

Hi Everyone!

 

I just received this 30-gallon AiO tank for free. I have no idea what I’m going to do with the tank because I already have an 11-gallon tank with a little sump that I’ve been enjoying. I’ve thought  about upgrading to something bigger in the past, but never found the right time to do. This tank kind of came at the perfect time. I’m just not sure about the whole AiO thing. I don’t hate the idea of the Aio, but I definitely prefer the sump since none of the equipment is visible and I’ve become quite fond of my vectra s2, lol.

 

Is it easy to drill the AiO chambers? I think I would drill the bottom of the middle chamber for the overflow with 3/4in drains to my little sump and plumb the last chamber from the pump to the tank. The back is all glass and the partition between the internal sump and the tank is acrylic. I have extra fittings and what not as well. This project should be pretty easy right or are there other concerns I should consider?

[seabass]

You might be able to drill it as long as there is room and it's not tempered.   You can check if it's tempered by viewing the glass in sunlight using polarized glasses. If the glass is tempered, spots or dark shady lines will be visible.  On a standard aquarium, the sides are usually not tempered (the bottom of larger aquariums often are tempered).  I've seen others drill their AIO tanks, but it seems like it's a bit of a waste.

 

Personally I'd use it as an AIO.  I believe that you could hide the essential equipment (like the heater) in the back chambers.

• If you remove the sponge, the first chamber can be used for filter floss and optional chemical media (like activated carbon).  There are media baskets which hold this filter media.  What model of tank is this?
• For the second chamber, I'd remove that bio-media.  Then you can place your heater in that section (or even a protein skimmer).
• The last section is for the return pump (and optional automatic top off sensors/switches).

 

[joshthebox]

Why not remove the AIO portion and just drill the tank with a regular herbie/bean animal overflow? That's what I would do personally.