Drilling holes in the tank botoom -- Who?

M

merseyman

New member
... just received my custom made tank and, unfortunately, a couple of my "customizations" weren't done. I was supposed to have 4 CL outlets drilled in the the tank bottom and the tank arrived with 2. I need to get the missing 2 hoels drilled and I'm wondering who I can get to do this. Any suggestions? The manufacturer be paying for the extra work. I was thinking I'd contact some local tank builders and see if they would be willing to come to my place and drill the holes. The only one I know of is Kritter Tanks, but he deals w/ acrylic and I'm not sure if he would do glass work. Any others I could contact? Anyone else besides tank builders you would call? Any/all input is appreciated.

Cheers.
 
Double check with your custom builders that the bottom wasn't made of tempered glass (which is often the case with regular tanks).
 
It could be, but I doubt it is. You drill the holes, temper the glass, then you have a tempered glass with a hole in it. :) But an aquarium builder probably wouldn't go through that level, I guess they just forgot 2 holes out of 7?
 
how disappointing :( don't you just hate it when you special order something and it doesn't come out that way? i don't think krittertanks will mess with glass, but they might be able to recommend someone who works on glass.
 
I wouldn't drill any holes on the bottom beside the holes for the drain in the over flow box. I was going to do this but then little research shows that over time with the pressure from the aquascapes etc... it tend to crack :eek2:

That's why I came up with this idea but I think I'm going to dis it as well because I don't want too many holes in the tank. but hopefully it'll help you out.

Notice the pipes that goes from the back to the front then out? I assume your idea is similar is to have flows from the bottom up?
Plumbing%20layout.jpg
 
... yeah, I don't need any ideas on how to set-up the tank, I know what I want (just didn't quite get it!). I don't believe that holes in one part of the bottom would be more likely to crack than another (such as in the overflow) - unless you had a ridiculous amount of weight situated directly over one. There will be no rockwork atop these holes. Also, the tank will stand in the center of a room, there can be no holes, equipment, or tubes on the sides.
 
Holes size and glass thickness??
You can get some bits on ebay and drill it yourself. It's not hard at all. Even you have professional drill the hole for you, if the glass crack, they won't be responsible for it. I'm sure they will tell you up front about that.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7881305#post7881305 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by merseyman
... yeah, I don't need any ideas on how to set-up the tank, I know what I want (just didn't quite get it!). I don't believe that holes in one part of the bottom would be more likely to crack than another (such as in the overflow) - unless you had a ridiculous amount of weight situated directly over one. There will be no rockwork atop these holes. Also, the tank will stand in the center of a room, there can be no holes, equipment, or tubes on the sides.
Click to expand...

Your tank your taste, what ever floats your boat. Just wanted to give you some feedbacks on my research.

Here's an example,

And there are many many more. I'm not even going into technical details. But as you said, if you if you'r enot going to have much rocks then there's probably no problem.
 
... yeah, and if I crack the glass (having zero experience) trying to drill a hole that should have been drilled for me, who's going to cover that? That's what sucks. You pay, what for me, is a tremendous amount of money for a custom tank and you shouldn't have to deal with this crap. Believe me, if this isn't resolved to my satisfaction, I'm going on a major smear campaign! I'm kidding, I think.
 
dannieboiz, that is the most annoying avatar ever, I literally cannot read a page with that on it.

There is a glass place in San Carlos that used to build tanks. He's on Old County road right near "St James Place" I know that he quit because of liability but I'm sure he has the right equipment and expertise to help you out.

I'll look for the name next time I'm down that way if someone doesn't post it first.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7884945#post7884945 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dantodd
dannieboiz, that is the most annoying avatar ever, I literally cannot read a page with that on it.

There is a glass place in San Carlos that used to build tanks. He's on Old County road right near "St James Place" I know that he quit because of liability but I'm sure he has the right equipment and expertise to help you out.

I'll look for the name next time I'm down that way if someone doesn't post it first.
Click to expand...

Todd, they all say that :D

Isn't that place in SC called Kritters Korner or something like that? Don't they build acrylic tank only? It's been awhile since I've been in that area.
 
... well, I've come down to 2 unappealing options:

1) live with the 2 CL outlets, instead of the 4. This means changing my Oceans Motions equipment to something that alternates out of only 2 outlets. The downsides to this are that I will get less random flow, and the flow that does come out will be stonger and less more direct/less difused than with my planned set-up. The plus is that I don't have to screw with having the tank drilled.
2) The tank builder will pay for the missing 2 holes to be drilled, but the liability will be on me, unless the driller has some guarantee (not likely). Although I've heard that cracking the glass while drilling it is extremely rare (assuming you know what you're doing), it still makes me nervous. Advantage: I get what I want and what I paid a hefty sum for. Disadvantage: possibly ruining a very expensive tank.

What would you do?
 
I know that either is not really what you want.

1. Shouldn't the manfacturer take the tank back at their cost and drill the extra 2 holes if it was their mistake? If it wasn't their mistake, then that's a different story.

2. If you decide to live with Option #1, you can plug up 2 of the ports on your OM device. Or contact OM to see what you need in order to plug up the 2 ports, maybe need a new drum.

3. Instead of drilling the last 2 holes on the bottom, drill in on the back. Maybe a tankbuilder locally would be more likely do this for you instead of guarantying that 2 holes on the bottom would not crack & leak over time.

4. Sell the tank and reorder another, what is the dimensions of this tank?

Just my 2 cents. :) I know it's frustrating when you don't get exactly what you order on a custom tank.
 
... read the whole post. There is NO way to have holes on sides of tank or running up and over the top - the tank sits in the middle of a room, it is 3-4 feet from any wall. This is why everything runs up from the bottom.
Thanks for your sympathy UCanDoIt. Sending it back to Canada and back again would cost almost as much as the tank itself. I suppose I could demand that they accept it as a return and they would have to pay to have it shipped back to them, but then I doubt they'd want to pay to ship it back. They'd probably just want to refund my money. This would be fine, but then I'm looking at another few months to get a tank. What I really feel is the only fair thing for them to do is to allow me to have the tank drilled, by a professional, and for them to take responsibility for the risk of any damage. If I sent it back to them for a refund, it would cost them over $800 in shipping (1st here, then back) plus the cost of the tank that they would have to refund me. I'm doing them a favor, I feel.
 
I am assuming you paid for the tank on your credit card. Tell the builder you will not accept it and call the credit card company. That will get them working for you instead of with you. If you get someone else to drill the holes and the tank cracks later, each will blame the other and your screwed.
 
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