Upgrades?

[Majorsmiffy]

Ok so the story so far I have a juwel rio 180 that iv had for about 5+ years now and I have ordered a new stand that is lover so I can place it under my tv in the living room to make it more of a feature in the room instead of it being stuck in a corner behind the couch.

To do this however I need somewhere to keep my fish as I want to install some 3D foam background's because they look amazing and for that the tank needs to be empty, so 2 birds with 1 stone really i cant move the tank full. A family friend has given me an old 2ft tank that needs resealed before I can use it just waiting on the sealer coming then to wait on the stand to move things about.

I'm possibly thinking of going for a sump aswell this 2ft tank will fit nicely under my new stand iv got loads of questions the videos online are mostly salt water reef set ups I'm not interested in that but I do want to give my fishes the best life I can.

So first of is the outlet, do I go for the bulkhead witch means drilling the glass that iv never done and don't have to tools for I know I could get them mind you. Is there some professional you can hire to come out and cut them for me? is that a thing if not it probably should be haha. What size of hole do I drill what size of tubes will it take there is no kit as such its just a seemingly endless amount of different pipes and sizes and twists and turns, valves and junctions I'm lost honestly.

If not a bulkhead then its a overflow but they are known for syphon breaks witch can lead to some overflowing and water damage they look quite bulky aswell to sit behind the tank might just be in the pictures though.

I would also need to get glass panels cut at 300x300mm for baffles inside the sump for water control not sure where people buy there glass from that's never been a thing before.

the media is fine I understand the setup and the ruff reasons why things go where, what about the heater? currently a 200w but then I would be adding another 50+ litre's of water so would I need to get another heater or would the 200w be enough,

Finally onto the sump return pump I'm looking at a 1500l/h pump adjustable for the return back but again with the pipes iv heard people doing a tee that you can switch so you can run the filter through itself with out it going back up into the tank if you have just cleaned it and have disturbed something don't want it back into the main tank again no idea might just be talking crap but it sounds good

Current set up below needing a good overhaul.

# Forgot to mention i also have no idea what kind of substrates would be needed for more plants I have some substrate under my black sand but it was a horrible move after a while the substrate was on top of the sand and it looked horrible. some advice on how I could control that or avoid that would be nice i like the black on white look, was thinking a sand front and then down the middle to be sand then the sides to be planted with something connecting the 2 over the sand but i cant see anything to divide the different substrates to keep them apart as such.

[TropicalFishForums]