Betafish305ca

Hello,
I'm thinking of trying a open bottom fish tank, and I was planning to use a few glass stacks, but as I've been doing my research, you need to have a hole in the top part for the air to get sucked out...... so

Is it possible to drill a hole in glass? Without it shattering.... Its probably as think as a regular fish tank glass is.... ??


Thx,
-R

mathas

It is possible, but as I understand it, you need a special drill bit. I've also read that it's a good idea to buy a few pieces of scrap glass to practice on before you go for a tank.

Glass-Holes.com has a link to a decent video/walkthrough on the process: http://reefercentral.com/drilling_video.html

gmen4life

u need a diamond tipped drill bit

Annadvn

You need to look carefully to see if the tank glass is tempered or not, if its tempered you CANNOT drill it.

I have just drilled one of my tanks and yes you need a diamond tip drill piece and have the drill on very low torque.

You should also keep the drill bit wet, i built a putty wall around where i was drilling and filled the space with water, so i could use 2 hands to keep the drill steady as it was slowly eating away at the glass.

I would also recommend placing some styrofoam or other absorbing material under where you are drilling, so when the glass falls it does not crash through the other side of the tank!

Anna

EDIT: Mathas gave you a good website we ordered through them to get the glass bit and the overflow system we were putting in.

Betafish305ca

really, diamond tip?

thanks for that website link, its great, thx u

aspects

you could also just use a hose to keep water running over the area youre drilling.

aquarist48

Hello Bettafish and Welcome to Fish Lore. If you'll go to the top right hand side of this screen and do a search for "drilling tanks" or "drilling glass" you may find some helpful information there in addition to what is mentioned in the above threads.
Best of luck and enjoy the site.
Ken

Betafish305ca

thanks everyone for the advice

Amanda

100% agree with Anna. It's best just to buy a pre-drilled reef ready tank.

navyscuba

Betafish305ca How big is the tank that you are trying to drill? Most regular tanks are not tempered glass but some wide tanks require to have tempered to make the bottom stronger and those are the ones that are impossible to drill. Do you know what brand is your tank? Aqueon has a list of their tanks that you can drill the bottom or not.
Here is the link. http://www.aqueonproducts.com/assets/011/19784.pdf