help with tank plumbers needed

[scuglass]

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i am contimplating wheater or not to get an acrylic or a glass tank at this moment. the dementions i am think is either 48 long x 24 wide x 19 high
or 48 long x 19 wide x 19 high.

what thisckness of glass will i need with these dimentions, will glass be ok to drill 6 holes into ?

my closed loops will lead to an internal manifold in order to reduce the amount of holes which need to be drilled. i plan on having 2 pumps running on timers rather than buying a motorized ball valve because it will be cheaper and if one pump fails one will still be working.

what type of pump should i be using on the closed loop?
how many outputs on each manifold?
should i just build a manifold using pvc and different heads of pvc and loclines?
what size piping should i use?
what size bulkheads?.

will this external over flow box fill up with water to the same level as in the coast to coast shown in the picture?

any help u can give or your own experiances, pics ect will be appreaceated thanks in advance.

 

[NaH2O]

Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!!

I'm a little confused by the second diagram. Are the closed loop intakes coming from the overflow boxes? Also, have you considered putting the returns from the sump over the top? This would cut down on the number of holes being drilled, or allow more holes to be drilled for the closed loop. One other thing I noticed, having the returns from the sump lower in the tank - I would be afraid of the sump overflowing in the event of a power outage. My luck, half the tank would drain out on the floor. I have a similarly dimensioned tank made out of acrylic (mine is a bit taller). There are 10 holes drilled in the back, and my overflows drilled on the bottom of the tank. I use an AMP 3000 for my closed loop. What types of corals are you planning for this tank, and will you have a substrate? Here is a link to the closed loop design for my tank: Some Plumbing for Nikki.