5Gal Tank drillable?

[jh2pizza]

I want to have a 5/8" hole dilled into the side of a 5gal tank for water storage for my Kalk reactor. Does anyone know if they would be tempered?

 

[lakee911]

My guess would be not, but do you know the brand?

If its a standard 5Gal then it's probably not very expensive. You could buy a new one if it breaks. I thought I saw 10Gals for like $9.00 at Jack's.

Jason

 

[Easily Distracted]

The biggest problem is attaching something to the drilled glass. Because the glass is so thin, the slightest bump will torque the fitting and send a crack right down the glass. I had a 2.5 gal w/ a 5 gal resivior micro-nano that I made for fun to experiment with drilling thin glass. It had a stockman standpipe drilled into the bottom of the 2.5gal and a pvc return blumbed from the 5 gal through the back of the 2.5 gal. It was very cool for the day and a half that it was running until I bumped the pvc while adjusting a sponge on the resivior.

 

[lakee911]

Oh ya, never thought about that. Good point. Sorry about your luck w/ the 2.5.

 

[RokleM]

I would recommend a plastic container with a uniseal (savko) instead. The glass is way too weak to handle much stress.

 

[tye_c]

When I was planning on drilling a 75 as a sump I tested my drilling techniques out on a spare 10g. I couldn't get a hole finished with out cracking it. I was using a bit for a 1" bulkhead. Later I drilled 4 holes in the 75 and another hole in the 180 just fine. The glass on those smaller tanks is way to thin to be dilling and installing bulkheads.

 

[geo]

Thin glass is much harder to drill, it flexes too much.

 

[jh2pizza]

It just would have worked out perfect too. It perfect size. Back to the drawing board.

 

[thebrian]

Maybe go with a small acrylic tank, or custom build a small glass tank with thicker glass? Only problem is both of those options are more expensive...

 

[cfishrun]

I prefer to use a Dremel bit on smaller tanks. I've had success with the #7134 Diamond Wheel Point. Basically, I poke a hole in the glass then trace out the BH circle using an up/down "sawing" motion with the bit. Just remember to keep the bit and glass wet, and take your time. It's somewhat tedious, but I've yet to crack a tank with this method.