drill tank

ok i have been thinkin bout drillin my tank so would like to know some of the pro's and cons to makin my tank reef ready and drillin it i plan on usin a sump any way

 

glass or acrylic?

 

If its acrylic I say drill drill drill. Just take it slow and easy otherwise you may melt the acrylic or crack it if the hole saw hangs up. I drilled mine because it is acrylic, wasnt too bad.

 

I think that it glass

 

drill it.. its easy

 

here are the minimum requirements in regards to distance for drilling
x = 1.5 t
y = 4 t
t = glass thickness

measurements are taken from the outer most edge of the hole closest to the edge of the glass.

single hole along side: x from edge
single hole near corner: x from first edge, y from second edge
holes next to each other: x from edge, 4t apart
holes next to each other next to edge: x from first edge, 4t apart, y from second edge

do not attempt to drill tempered glass

 

that concerns me acrylic looks like plastic IMO glass is well glass like old coke bottle. telling us that little bit of info can help you in the long run. Did you buy the tank NEW or Used and do you know who made the tank? as you will want to make sure it is not Tempered because you will not be able to drill tempered glass .

 

you think it's glass??? oh man. I say don't drill.

 

I got the tank used off craigslist n it think its glass cause when I moved it was very heavy plus I'm goin to have a friend drill it cause he works at my lfs

 

As long as the glass isn't tempered the only con IMO is that there's a very slight chance that the hole will get screwed up and crack the tank. Other than that it's a much safer and more reliable system of getting water to the sump than a siphon box.

It means you don't have to do maintenance (cleaning etc) on the siphon overflow, you don't have to worry about the siphon getting interrupted when your return pump is off.

Getting the tank drilled also gives you the option of easily doing the "herbie method" with a siphoning primary drain and emergency backup drain in case the first one clogs up. This is a great silent and failsafe method of doing an overflow.