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View Full Version : Drilling a 30 gallon for gravity fed refugium

marduc
02/04/2004, 02:18 PM
I am wanting to get a 30 gallon aquarium drilled for use as a refugium. I have a place that is willing to drill it for me, however, they are cautioning me that it may effect the structural integrity of the glass, and that it may break under the pressure of the water. I am drilling it as close to the top of the tank as possible, and will install a bulkhead for gravity feed plumbing.

The question I have is: Has anyone had experience drilling a glass aquarium of this size, or heard of anyone that has encountered any problems by doing so? I thought that this was a fairly common practice, and that it would not be any problem to do this to the tank. Should I ditch the idea, or go ahead and get it drilled?
headhawg7
02/04/2004, 02:48 PM
I just had mine drilled. I just installed a 29g natures view tank with stand as a refugium. I had it drilled in the upper left hand corner about 2" from the top. Make sure it is plate glass and not tempered. Put a bulkhead on it and you will be fine. Mine seems to be working great.
pbs911
02/04/2004, 05:40 PM
I had a 30 gal tall drilled for my fuge. The hole was drilled in the back, about 2" from the top, in the center. IMO it's too week to drill in that location. Mine craked at the bulkhead when I was messing with the PVC connection at the overflow. There went $70! If you drill a 30 gal tall, drill on the sides.


EDIT: The crake sent horizontal. from side to side. Has anyone repaired such a crack with success? I was thinking of siliconing a piece of acrylic over the entire section that cracked. Appearance is not that important since the fuge will be in the garage.
headhawg7
02/05/2004, 01:34 PM
Yeah, mine is drilled on the side about 2" X 2" from the top and from the back. HTH
marduc
02/05/2004, 05:26 PM
Well, I went ahead and got it drilled yesterday, it was a free tank and $20 to drill the hole, so I figured no big loss to test it out. The hole is in the back pane of glass in the upper corner of the tank, I filled it with water and let it set in my tub last night, seemed to hold up fine.

I am going to still keep a close eye on it to see if any hairline fractures appear or not after I get it up and running, but I think it should hold up fine. Now to just finish up the stand I'm building for it and do some plumbing this weekend, and I'll be good to go.