HOB VS. Sump ?

Ok so I have my 75g tank and I am starting to order/get my supplies. I already a 30g long I keep my Bearded Dragon in well I decided to give him to a friend of mine who plans on breeding him anyway I had planed on making it into my sump well I got my tank and stand at petsmart on sale so to save 60$ I got a stand that I can't fit anything under so I can either do a little extra plumping and put it by the side of tank in maybe another smaller stand IDK OR do a HOB set up and I thought about buying a pre built sump they are a bit smaller so it may not take up as much space as the one I would build I got lights  and my RO/DI unit ordered so far just need to make up my mind on this /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/crazy.gif
Here is a picture so you can kinda see what I mean with the stand.

 

Maybe close the rest of the front in and open up the back so u can utilize the area under it better?

 

If having a sump is an option, that's the way you want to go...
However, if you are going to have a sump, I'd recommend drilling your tank and adding an internal overflow.   External overflows are prone to failure.

 

I figured the sump was the way to go but I just wanted to view all of my options and with the tank there is two pieces of wood the go from top to bottom for the doors that open on the sides I thought I could built it without them but it is a major support for the stand even thought about cutting the two pieces but it still would have weaken the stand. may just have to do the sump to the side in another stand or something out of view.

 

I don't have a drill not the bits I would need and to be honest I don't trust my self to drill my tank lol I'm some what prone to failure with drills. and when you say that the external overflows are prone to failure is that something that will happen no matter what ? or is there any steps I could take to make sure they were no failures ?

 

there is a center brace in the top of your stand, you can remove that and drop your sump in from there. thats what i did. i will say though your probably better off using a 20long, the 30 wont give you enough room underneath for extra equipment an its a pain to remove the skimmer collection cup to empty. I know this because I used a 30 long.

As far as going HoB IMO the biggest issue is having the equipment showing and you do lose some water volume. other then that it can be very successful. My first tank was a 55 sumpless and I was able to grow some really nice stuff in it with very minimal issues.

 

There are steps you can take to make it less likely, but eventually it will happen causing your sump to run dry and most likely your tank to overflow.   External overflows depend on a siphon (which can and will break).   Internal overflows work on good old gravity (which I haven't seen fail yet... /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/hehe.gif)