To drill or not to drill, that is the question!

F

fishhawk123

New member
The title is the thing. I have a 110 tall 48L x 18W x 28 H . Fist let me say, it would be a huge impositam justn to having it drilled. I live 40+ miles from the nearest major city ( corpus christi), tx) not sure but may only be 1 place to get it done too. Not sure of the tank brand but I think it is an Oceanic. In the past, I used a dual hob overflow. So... I want to know just the pros to drilling...and the cons... If my tank shatters, I fear I could never recover from it. Spiritually or financially. Maybe I am just looking for consolation lol
 
Even though the chances are low, if breaking the tank would devastate you spiritually and financially, then don't do it. It's easy enough to do yourself, however, and the benefits are substantial. Lots of threads here on RC detailing how to do it.
 
I was nervous as hell drilling my first hole LOL but Ca1ore is right..".if breaking the tank would devastate you spiritually and financially, then don't do it."

If you do want to do it it is easy. Just let the drill do the work, go slow. I took about 5 minutes give or take to drill each hole.
 
I remember reading way back when that tempered and untempered glass has different properties and that one or the other was unsuitable for drilling or bye impossible. Is that true, if so which is it? Next would be If I decide to do it myself, where to drill it, how many holes? How big a hole? What bits to use, drill type etc. Time is a precious commodity I seem to have so little of. If possible, just to help me along a bit, could someone link me a good diy thread?
 
fishhawk123 said:
I remember reading way back when that tempered and untempered glass has different properties and that one or the other was unsuitable for drilling or bye impossible. Is that true, if so which is it? Next would be If I decide to do it myself, where to drill it, how many holes? How big a hole? What bits to use, drill type etc. Time is a precious commodity I seem to have so little of. If possible, just to help me along a bit, could someone link me a good diy thread?
Click to expand...

Tempered glass will shatter if you attempt to drill it. Check with the tank manufacturer to be sure. There are some methods claimed to able to determine one way or another but I've never used them so I can't say myself.

The hole size depends on the bulkheads. Purchase those FIRST and purchase the corresponding hole saw at the same time. BulkReefSupply lists which hole saw you would need for a given bulkhead as well as selling said hole saws. I used theirs with no problems. I recommend you go no smaller than a bulkhead for a 1" pipe (which is not the same as a 1" hole btw). You will need to space the holes far enough apart so that once the hole is cut, there is one hole diameter worth of glass left over on all sides.

Search Youtube for drilling instruction videos. There are a bunch out there showing the techniques. Research is your friend in this case.

Good luck,
 
Take a look at Glass-holes.com. I've used 2 of there overflows with great success. I to was really afraid to drill glass, but turned out to be a lot easier then i thought. Good Luck
 
Well I believe..and I say that with sadness that I believe my tank is an oceanic and the glass I do believe is tempered. I bought it new years and years ago tho. Is there an easy way to tell if its tempered or not? Or would I have to take it to someone to find out?
 
I also have an oceanic tank 75 Gals though and only the bottom is tempered again like mentioned above double and triple check but i believe oceanic usually only tempers the bottom and not the back and side glass and unless you plan on having it flush to the wall you can drill the back pane and run your plumbing to the bottom which is what i did.
 
Awesome news there. Would a local glass shop be able to tell if a glass is tempered or not? Its a hassle, but there are two glass shops in my little town of Rockport, tx.
AND... I am planning on building a wall in my mancave (converted workshop) and mounting it cleanly in a cutout of the wall. So in essence, I will have a dedicated room for equipment behind the DT, with its own a/c unit. I am still sorting out ideas on a refugium also showing in same wall as DT, and maybe a 29 gal tall as a seahorse tank. Or wait and just add another large tank maybe a 125 gal further down the road. So many possibilities as its about a 10 foot wall. In a nutshell, the dedicated room will b around 9 feet by 6 feet.
 
Modular Marine is great quality. They use CNC. I ordered a custom box based on that 18" size, and they did a great job. I had the outer box deeper, and smaller bulkheads sizes. They also offer lids.
 
May I ask why u went with a deeper outer box? And how much did the changes make pricewise? I am guessing smaller bulkhead sizes because of a smaller tank?
 
Yeah smaller tank. I wanted to make sure the drain ran quite. I wanted the full siphon deep toward the bottom using a 90 only, away from the trickle, and enough left over the dry emergency. Just wanted to error on the side of caution and go 1" deeper.
 
To tell if glass is tempered all you need is a laptop and some polarized sunglasses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijoly1Gy55A

However if you don't want to drill I think HOB overflows still have their place. I used a Lifereef for years and it was 100% reliable. It never failed to restart, never lost a siphon, and I was very lazy in keeping it cleaned and maintained.
 
If the tank breaking would be the end of being in the hobby, I wouldn't risk it. Every setup has its own limitations and opportunities. So trouble shoot a way for this to work for you non drilled. Most people swear by a drilled setup, with good reason. But, non drilled can work too. I guess I would rather have a non drilled tank than none at all, if it came down to it.
 
I was nervous but it went fine. I was drilling a 20g which is fairly thin to what you're looking at. Why not get a 20g or some glass panes and practice drilling? The hard part is getting started without the bit wandering. But a cutout guide helps a lot (even with that, still a bit exciting). But in the end, it was fairly mundane -- cool/flush with water and let the diamond bit do the work (so don't press too hard). But really the videos are the way to and just practice on something before hand.

The alternative to not risking it is potentially having other massive problems with the siphon approach. So my viewpoint is take the risk and drill.
 
After watching all the YouTube videos on drilling, and thinking on how nice a drilled tank would be, I really want to drill it. Lol , I was reading the stickys in new to hobby and realized that the tank sat in an uncontrolled environment in a Texas open garage for 8 years, I realized the tank had not been filled since stored so I dragged it out of the mancave yesterday morning and filled it up to make sure it didn't burst or leak. I looked at it thru polarized glasses but will double check it now that its out in sunlight again today. I also got to thinking that if the tank broke while drilling, I knew in my heart that I would buy another tank somehow, someway, and it would be larger. The only thing is that it would take even longer b4 it would all come together.Now I believe the hardest part is prying the $200.00 out of my pockets lol I want to thank every one of you for your help and support in this.
 
You need to look thru the glass with a laptop screen behind, using the polarized sunglasses. It helps to compare to known tempered glass. Things like a glass shelf, car windows, etc. The stress lines are what really sticks out in tempered glass. I used a glass shelf in my refrigerator to compare to the tank.
 
Got an interesting question. I have an acrylic hob dual overflow box that broke where it hangs on. Was wondering if there is any reason I couldn't use it as drilled tank overflow if I bought the holesaws and bulkheads, gaskets, etc. Would save me some cash to use elsewhere. Seems like I could drill the back of the overflow box and the outside box and use it in the same manner...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
If tank is already drilled then its not tempered?
Replies
4
Views
798
griss
griss
D
I am brand new to Saltwater, buying a 180 that is currently running.
Replies
14
Views
1K
thegrun
T
Cousin Vinny
When is it a good idea to add new inhabitants?
Replies
3
Views
833
Cousin Vinny
Cousin Vinny
T
How NOT to start a marine aquarium
Replies
4
Views
2K
HONESTINJUN
H
bobafet1
Slowly coming back to the hobby
2 3
Replies
58
Views
5K
AZBigJohn
AZBigJohn
Back
Top