Brand spankin' new previously owned tank

Does that title make any sense? My ultimate goal is to end up with a full blown reef, but first it's gonna be fish only. The tank is completely empty right now so I would like to set it up in a reef type manner so that when we are ready to tackle corals and inverts it won't require a whole lot of changes. My first question is are there any disadvantages in doing this?

Here's what I have, a 55gal octagonal acrylic tank that we picked up second hand. It is drilled on the bottom, one right in the middle of the tank and one near the rear. There is minimal, almost none, plumbing currently rigged up. The drain is the hole in the middle, which currently has about a 3 inch pipe and a strainer head on it, and a return hose that comes up into the rear hole. It seems obvious to me that this setup is not going to cut it. My second question is this, with the absence of any overflows, would a standpipe that reaches the surface of the water be suitable for a drain in a reef aquarium? Also, would it be better functionally in the middle of the tank or in the rear?

I'm anxious to hear your thoughts.

 

Well, the reason for it being in the middle was probably because it wasn't pushed up against a wall. If you have enough flow through the sump it doesn't really matter where the overflow is IMO as long as the return doesnt flow right back into the overflow. If you simply put a standpipe in the bulkhead in the centre of the tank, then you're going to have quite a bit of noise.

 

I would cap the middle and use the rear for esthetic reasons. As stated above if you simply install a pipe up to the surface its going to be noisy !! A pipe that goes up and then uses two 90 degree elbows would be better. But installing an overflow would be the best approach.

 

Thanks for the input. Initially I was hoping to install a 'factory' type overflow, the entire height of the tank. Having trouble finding anything like that, and since it's see through on all sides I wanted something that wouldn't look horrible. Any suggestions?

 

Another thought, if the center hole with the strainer is set low in the tank, it was likely used for a closed loop recirculation system. This would benefit you by removing power heads from inside the tank and reducing the heat input to the tank that you may have to manage with a chiller.

Certainly adding an internal overflow and return line to work with a sump will provide many benefits.