125 tank drill

2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Well today turned out to be a good day. I got the holes for all three of my bulkheads done and I feel much relieved. Special thanks to Acrylic51 for sharing his method of cutting holes in glass with me.
I wanted to post a couple of pics of the method since it's different than traditional drilling. I might add that this perticular method did seem a little bit time consuming but I do have to say that after merely a few minutes into it that any fear that I had of cracking the glass went away once I saw how smooth everything was going.
So here's some pics...




 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
couple more pics...
I temporarily fit everything in there too see how it's going to look. I Still have to make or get some overflow covers for the bulkheads. I've considered making them because I know it's not hard to do...but Marc from Melevs Reef quoted me a really sweet price to make and ship them too me so I may go that rout and save myself some time.
You can see in the last pics that I've opted to use loc-line fittings for my return. The return water will come in on a 3/4" line and are split with a 3/4" x 1/2" reducing "Y" inside the tank. The nozzles on the ends will be pointed down helping to provide flow to the backside of the tank to help eliminate any dead zone. Then the side jet nozzles in the middle of each branch will be set at the surface of the water to help provide surface aggitation as well as function as an air break for when the return pump gets shut off...or at least that's my theory anyway. I picked up a variety of nozzles so I may have to try some different things to achieve what I'm after.




 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
Nice work!
I can certainly relate that nothing is as nerve wracking as drilling into an expensive tank. I drilled a $350 120g tank a few months ago when I switched it from a freshwater planted to reef, so I could eliminate the siphon overflow I had previously. I've drilled dozens of holes in glass before, but just the value of the tank made it a dramatic experience.
Nothing beats the rush of endorphins when you finally finish the last hole.
Looks like you used the sch. 80 bulkheads... nice. Spread some silicon on the bulkhead washers when you do the "final install" of the bulkheads. They'll never leak if you do that (yet are easily removed down the road), and you won't have to worry about cracking the glass from overtightening. Just a good snug down with your hand and you're good to go.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Very Nice Job 2Quills......I told you it was as easy as riding a bike....Marc is a good guy and good source of information....Congrats !!!!!!
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Thanks, guys.
That's a big 10/4 on the silicone. Went with the sch 80's because I checked out the 40's up at the lfs and thought that front flanges on them looked kind of weak to me. A few extra bucks was worth the peace of mind IMO.
I hadn't been nervous about it till the other night when I was cleaning up some of the leftover sand in the tank and noticed the tempered glass sticker on the bottom that was half torn so all it read was tempered and half of the word glass. One of my 55 galls has a tag that says "this bottom is made of tempered glass do not drill". So I started to wonder if the whole tank was tempered. I spent about 20 minutes tapping on all of the panels trying to notice any difference in the sound the glass made when I tapped on it and the bottom did sound a little different than the front and back panels so I figured...what the heck...and went for it. I rewarded myself with an ice cold beer when I was done...life is good now.
Appreciate all the tips.
 
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