Drilled my first tank

[NYBen]

Well, as it says... I drilled my first tank. I drilled a 10 gal with my dremmel and it worked great. I had heard that the glass was very thin and 10's were had to drill, but I figured why not, if it cracks I can just shoot into Petco and grab another for $10. I went really slow, maybe slower than I needed to as it took about 45 min to an hour to do, but as I said it turned out great.

I kept the bit wet by taping half a plastic cup to the tank and adding about 1/4" of water (as seen in several DIY threads). I made my own bulkhead with 1" grey electrical conduit (threads aren't tapered) and a sink gasket. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

I drilled it more or less for practice, but it worked so well I think I'm going to use it as a small refugium. A 55 gal. will be my next attempt. Wish me luck.

Ben

 

[fat-tony]

just did my 20 long this week as well. destroyed a 10 gallon practicing, but the 2 on the 20 went perfect


1 3/4" hole saw for 1" uniseals

 

[NYBen]

I will be looking for a diamond bit hole saw, the dremmel worked well and made a nice clean hole, but took forever and my hand still feels like it's shaking.

Where have you all found good deals on hole saws? Someone once said ebay and I guess they're shipped from China or something (from this one seller anyway)? I hears it takes like a month to get them though...any experiences?

 

[fat-tony]

the one i got listed china (ebay)....got it in like 3 days....lol

 

[NYBen]

Cool, I think I read the month timeframe inthe DIY forum, maybe that guy was just unlucky. I work for UPS and I know sometimes our international volume will sit in our customs cage for a week before customs decides they want to inspect it, and then it will sit for another couple of days before they will allow a release on it. Then we (UPS) looks like the bad guy for delivering it so late, when in reality it the US governments fault.

I guess I'll look into the ebay guys then, thanks.

 

[Stephany]

Hey Ben, Fedex has similar problems.

 

[cracker]

DIY driling isn't so tough , used a diamond hole saw 3 holes in 5/8 plate and several 20 gl tanks. the grey conduit with sink drain or O ring for a gasket works very well.

 

[NYBen]

For anyone who hasn't used that grey electrical conduit for this purpose, it's great stuff. The threads don't taper so it doesn't get harder to turn as you twist it into place like with PVC. This way it's less likely to crack the glass. Also, it has the same diameters at traditional PVC so it can easily be added to exisitng plumbing. Total 1" bulkhead cost about $2. About $0.50 for the male adapter, $0.50 more for the female, and $0.97 for the 1" sink gasket. Like I said I'll post some pics this evening.

 

[Jamie2337]

Can't wait for the pics! WHat kind of bit did you use on your dremel?

 

[bigkev76]

I recently ordered hole saws through a fairly recent list someone posted here and recieved them within a week to 10 days. Not too bad for a China shipment. Nice hole cutters too.

 

[bigkev76]

http://www.richontools.com/catalog/c8_p1.html

This is where i ordered from.

 

[captain7359]

here were a few times in the DIY that richon was mentioned for having bent or warped bits. for the most part they were fine, but a few occasions. I just ordered mine on ebay from lau***. everyone has had good luck and the one that was bent that i read about was replaced immediately.
lau***
$42 for 30mm, 38mm, 45mm, & 60mm and i even got 2 each of the 30 & 38 saws.

 

[NYBen]

Well here are some pics, sorry about the quality, I took them quickly:

Drilled hole (pretty round for a dremel):

Bulkhead seen from above:

Bulkhead seen from side:

Rotary tool and bits:

Picture of bits:

Another bit pic:

Quick overflow I built:

 

[sailfinreef]

I personally wouldnt trust pvc conduit for this use. it dosent seal very well, you have to use pvc cleaner and glue in order to make it seal and even then its not a sure shot. also what schedule is it, sch. 40 is not sunlight resistant sch 80 is. also I dont know if that would leach anything into the water since it is not designed to supply water.

I personally would have gotten pvc water pipe and a pvc bulkhead. it is cheap, you can go to sears and buy a bulkhead for under $10 and atleast you know its the right parts.
JMO though, I could be wrong
not trying to trash what you did just thinking you may want to rethink the electrical conduit.

 

[fat-tony]

or uniseals....even easier yet

 

[NYBen]

I got the electrical conduit idea from the DIY forum, and no one reported any problems with it. That doesn't necessarily mean it "tried and true", but for the cost why not give it a shot. As far as the sch #, i'm not sure. It will however never be exposed to sunlight and won't even be under halides, so I don't see that being a problem. As far as the seal, prior to purchasing it I brought the fittings over to the PVC isle and it has a VERY snug fit, I don't see it being a problem with some glue, especially given that the will be next to no pressure in this application. Think of it this way, I'll be a test case and can report back. I guess my only real concern is it leaching into the tank, an as I mentioned above, I haven't read of any ill effects. Anyone else have an oppinion?

I was really drawn to the electrical conduit due to the ease of threading the fittings together. Traditional PVC gets harder to turn the farther you thread it on, and with the glass being so thin on a 10 gal tank, I thought it would be easier not wresteling with it and risk cracking. For thicker tanks I would probably use traditional PVC and eliminate any guessing.

 

[bigkev76]

if worse comes to worse, just run a bead of aquarium silicone around it. That shouldn't leak.

 

[Willy315]

http://stores.ebay.com/Treasure-HK-Ltd_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm

3 bits shipped door to door in under a week. email the guy if u cant find what you need he usually responds very quickly to emails

 

[sailfinreef]

you dont have to buy threaded pvc water pipe, the make regular couplings for it.
unfortunatly its not necessarily the sun itself that breaks the conduit down. it is the ultra violet light that tears it up. I would have to think that there is a little bit of that going on in a reef tank.
like I said dont want to ruin it for you.

 

[NYBen]

You're not ruining anything. At this point it could be easily switched out. I am a computer guy and not a plumber by any stretch of the imagination, what types of PVC fittings aren't tapered so that they get harder to tighten the farther you twist them? I spend an hour in the plumbing isle at Lowes looking at them and found they were all like that? As I mentioned, the grey was mentioned in another thread, and it alleviated that problem, but if it leads to others Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m not against switching it out, we're only talking about $1 worth of fittings. I'm still not convinced that the UV is going to be an issue. The tank in question was only a 10 gal and is going to be a small refugium in my basement with a flood style light on it. What specifically are the effects on the material with limited exposure to lighting?

Thanks,
Ben