Drilling Tanks

[vipjd39]

Does anyone have any experience drilling tanks. I have a 10gal that i bought from Pet Supply Plus and really need a hole drilled in the bottom. Has anyone done this before? If i went out and bought the diamond drill bit, is it easy and safe enough for me to do it myself?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you very much.

[gsusfreak]

i did one, it was my practice tank since ive never drilled before......the drilling was a piece of cake.....but, i broke it when i installed the bulkhead.....so make sure that you dont overtighten....if you break it, the $$ doesnt really hurt that bad anyways on a 10gal

[AquaVolGP]

with a ten gallon it is pretty simple....just put it across a sink and fill with some water....enough to coat the bottom of tank....it makes it alot easier...start drilling and do not push too hard....let the weight of the drill be your force... also make sure you are not too close to the sides. I have drilled different types of ten gallons....some brands break like the top fin ones at petsmart. I have had great success with all-glass tanks. do not over tighten the bulkhead either....let me know how it works.

[Mr James]

Are you sure the glass is NOT tempered?? Are you sure it can be drilled?? I was always under the belief that companies such as AGA make all of thier "smaller" tanks tempered. Smaller = less than 20g.

[NeveSSL]

Most likely that glass on bottom is tempered and will shatter if you attempt to drill it. If you wanted one thats not tempered, you could pick one up from glasscages.com at the MTRC frag swap perhaps.

If you need supplies, glass-holes.com is a great place to get your diamond hole saws, bulkheads, locline, etc.

Brandon

[Fishboy42]

The "temperedness" seems to vary with the manufacturer and tank size. I drilled a bunch of 10g's from Wal-Mart for my first clown system. One tank was sacrificed to learn which ones were tempered/plate (by drilling a hole in each). The bottom wasn't tempered, so they were plumbed with a bulkhead through the bottom glass:



AGA told me on the phone that all of the panes on all of their tanks were tempered, but I think it was to discourage drilling, since it is certainly possible to put bulkheads in them successfully. (Right Jeff!?)

vipjd39, as Aquavol says, go slow and use plenty of water (and probably safety glasses )

Matt

[NeveSSL]

Cool!

If you try it vipjd39, let us know.

Brandon

[superedge88]

Here's a link to a good drilling demo video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=0