tank drilling

[Corey]

Has anyone ever drilled a used tank before, is it a wise move or does the glass become more brittle and thus more vulnerable to cracking? Also does anyone know if Hagen uses tempered glass on the bottom of their tanks?

[Richer]

I emailed Hagen asking about tempered bottoms and they told me that their tanks do not have them.

I had an old 30 gallon tank drilled and it turned out just fine.

-Rich

[Corey]

thanks for the info anybody else have experience?

[mr_alberta]

The glass I used on my current tank is about 15 years old. I've drilled 8 holes in various places on this glass (including a large 3" one) with no ill affects *knock on wood*.

[Corey]

sounds good enough for me I will give it a shot, any place in the lower mainland people trust more than others to drill a tank?

[Rikko]

I trust myself. I don't think I've ever trust handing my tank over to a glass shop without them signing off that they guarantee they won't screw it up.
With a Dremel and a $15 diamond tipped bit from Home Depot you can drill for all eternity. albeit your first hole always takes too long.

I've done a total of 7 holes in 10 gallon tanks and never had a problem - it's really, really easy. Just time consuming. A hole with about a 2" diameter took a good 10-15 mins on a 10 gallon tank. Thicker glass? I can only imagine.

[Corey]

thats great but without the tools its cheaper to have it done by a glass shop unless someone else wants to help

[Chin_Lee]

Originally Posted by Rikko

I trust myself. I don't think I've ever trust handing my tank over to a glass shop without them signing off that they guarantee they won't screw it up.
With a Dremel and a $15 diamond tipped bit from Home Depot you can drill for all eternity. albeit your first hole always takes too long.

I've done a total of 7 holes in 10 gallon tanks and never had a problem - it's really, really easy. Just time consuming. A hole with about a 2" diameter took a good 10-15 mins on a 10 gallon tank. Thicker glass? I can only imagine.

I've yet to find a glass store that will guarantee tank drilling. None will and all of them will tell you its at your own risk. The profit margin for drilling a hole is nothing compared to the replacement value of a big fish tank and nobody in the right mind would honor such a guarantee.
What you can do is inspect the diamond hole saw that they will be using and see how much encrusted diamonds are still on the blade. The more used, the less diamonds, and the longer it will take to drill through which may results in higher chance of something going wrong. But I have had 8-10 holes drilled in my previous tanks and none had ever cracked regardless. I believe the thicker the glass, the better the chance it has not to break.
Just a suggestion - as they set up to drill, LOOK to see where that glass piece will be falling. Depending on how the tank's positioned, it that drilled circular glass piece is going to fall on the opposite pane of glass, make sure they put some towels/cardboard to catch that piece. Most experienced glass drillers will know to do this, but their apprentices or rookies might not. I would imagine such a mistake would fall on the shop's liability but you never know the hassle and inconvenience if the worse case scenario occurs.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Rikko

With a Dremel and a $15 diamond tipped bit from Home Depot you can drill for all eternity. albeit your first hole always takes too long.

which bit did you use? I am looking to enlarge a hole.

Steve