Reef Sanctuary - View Single Post

rDr4g0n · 03-03-2007, 04:39 PM

ok guys... ive tried to drill holes for an overflow into a 10 gallon tank... well 3 10 gallon tanks.

i bought a diamond coated 1/2 inch spade bit. couldnt find any diamond core bits. anyways i read all over teh net, watched supermans glass vid etc. got my 10 gallon and successfully drilled one hole! i attempted the 2nd hole, and cracked teh tank. dangit.

i swapped out the cracked tank with a perfectly good 10 gallon that i had a snake in. i dont think the snake minds the crack

so i started drilling the tank that was formerly a snakes tank. BOOM! glass explosion. mustve been tempered glass. I stare at the pane of glass, watching the little cracks spread (its really cool looking lol).

i went to the lfs and bought another 10 gallon. Theyre $10 each so its not a HUGE loss... still adds up though. This one cracked after about 15 minutes of drilling. At this point im at wits end. Ive spend $40 on drill bits and tanks... I slouched down on my couch and thunk long and hard.

heres waht i came up with.

i took the tempered glass tank and ripped out the pane of glass that exploded. it was one of the smaller end pieces. my idea was to use that part as the TOP of the tank. IE a 10 gallon TALL. I bought a piece of thick acrylic, measured, cut, and glued it onto what was teh top of the 10 gallon tank. Since its acrylic, i dont have to deal with cracking glass trying to cut holes. I was easily able to make 2 holes for my overflow.

So now i have this 10 gallon tall tank. The last thing i considered is that the tank was not designed to support its weight in this way. To compensate for this, i glued a piece of 1/8th thick acrylic onto the bottom glass.

This gives teh tank additional support, which i hope will be enough to keep it from breaking or leaking. i also put a ton of sealant on it lol

im planning to, if this thing works, put a powerhead in there that will circulate water straight down to be sure that the bottom of teh tank gets good flow. ill fill it with LR and put my cardinals and clows in there so that my lions can live in my 30g (which will also be a reef tank eventually).

as always, what do you guys think1?! there must be a reason i havent seen this done before....

03-03-2007, 04:39 PM	#1 (permalink)
rDr4g0n Elegance coral Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: south texas Posts: 1,169 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	a crazy mans aquarium mod... ok guys... ive tried to drill holes for an overflow into a 10 gallon tank... well 3 10 gallon tanks. i bought a diamond coated 1/2 inch spade bit. couldnt find any diamond core bits. anyways i read all over teh net, watched supermans glass vid etc. got my 10 gallon and successfully drilled one hole! i attempted the 2nd hole, and cracked teh tank. dangit. i swapped out the cracked tank with a perfectly good 10 gallon that i had a snake in. i dont think the snake minds the crack so i started drilling the tank that was formerly a snakes tank. BOOM! glass explosion. mustve been tempered glass. I stare at the pane of glass, watching the little cracks spread (its really cool looking lol). i went to the lfs and bought another 10 gallon. Theyre $10 each so its not a HUGE loss... still adds up though. This one cracked after about 15 minutes of drilling. At this point im at wits end. Ive spend $40 on drill bits and tanks... I slouched down on my couch and thunk long and hard. heres waht i came up with. i took the tempered glass tank and ripped out the pane of glass that exploded. it was one of the smaller end pieces. my idea was to use that part as the TOP of the tank. IE a 10 gallon TALL. I bought a piece of thick acrylic, measured, cut, and glued it onto what was teh top of the 10 gallon tank. Since its acrylic, i dont have to deal with cracking glass trying to cut holes. I was easily able to make 2 holes for my overflow. So now i have this 10 gallon tall tank. The last thing i considered is that the tank was not designed to support its weight in this way. To compensate for this, i glued a piece of 1/8th thick acrylic onto the bottom glass. This gives teh tank additional support, which i hope will be enough to keep it from breaking or leaking. i also put a ton of sealant on it lol im planning to, if this thing works, put a powerhead in there that will circulate water straight down to be sure that the bottom of teh tank gets good flow. ill fill it with LR and put my cardinals and clows in there so that my lions can live in my 30g (which will also be a reef tank eventually). as always, what do you guys think1?! there must be a reason i havent seen this done before.... __________________ I know there are quite a few typos in this post. It's not that I'm stupid... it's more like... I'm lazy. - John My 29 Gallon tank of AWESOME My DIY Projects: My $50, 150watt lighting • 10 gallon tall tank • Hood for my 10gal. tall my r0xx0r DIY protein skimmer • 2 cheap strip lights into 1 • Grow cyano!?