how many holes in a pane of glass?

[cloakerpoked]

I'm thinking about drilling the back of a 60 cube (it's 2x2x2) that I'm going to be setting up. I'd been talking about it some, and so my wife ran out and bought me one on Friday:dance: :bounce3:

What I'm wondering is how many times can I safely drill holes to accomodate 1"-1.5" bulkheads in the back? It already has two holes for the overflow which is in the center of the back pane.

 

[acer]

nice size - where did you pick it up?

 

[cloakerpoked]

Seahorse had it. I get a nice discount there because my mom is an employee. It's a reef ready tank, and I'm really excited to pick it up (it's on order right now). I want to do a closed loop system with my Dart and go to an SPS/LPS tank, but not sure if I can safely drill as many holes as I want to.

 

[bnmir]

How thick's the glass?
Does it have any bracing at the top?

 

[acer]

Yep I looked at them - even without discount the prices were not too bad. I will eventually replace the acrylic 60 hex tank in my office with a tank like this.

 

[cloakerpoked]

There is a brace around the top, but no cross bracing (it's not rimless). Not sure how thick the glass is...I'm guessing 3/8ths, but I honestly have no clue.

 

[Starfiretank]

From my expierence (have done glass work for about 5 years now) there has to be twice the thickness of the glass between each hole. So for example if it is 3/8 thick you will need atleast 3/4 of an inch around each hole. So if you want it to look like swiss cheese you can do so. Just make sure you use a good steady stream of water while drilling. Drill slow the littlest bit of heat will crack the glass between the holes.