Drilling 20yr old 100 gal

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enwelz

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 25, 2009
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Woodinville, Wa`
Ok so I think I have decided to drill my old 100gal I payed 100 bones for. It is 20 years old, and I don't know anything about who made it. What do you all think the chances that the back side of the tank is tempered? And if it is and it shatters, how hard would it be (do you think) to get one panel replaced that is 1/4" thick, 24" x 60"?

any advice on drilling?
 
Man, I don't think it's worth the risk. If it does shatter, it wouldn't be all that hard or expensive to replace the back...but I don't think it's worth all that work for a used $100 tank. If you truly want it drilled, sell it and use the money to buy something already drilled.

Your call of course, but I would hate to see you lose a decent sized tank!
 
CLDarnell;4778655; said:
Man, I don't think it's worth the risk. If it does shatter, it wouldn't be all that hard or expensive to replace the back...but I don't think it's worth all that work for a used $100 tank. If you truly want it drilled, sell it and use the money to buy something already drilled.

Your call of course, but I would hate to see you lose a decent sized tank!
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Yea thats what I should do, but I really can't justify what I would have to spend on a drilled tank this big, I have worked construction on very High end homes from the ground up to finish work. I am very good with a drill, but i've never aimed one at glass. If its not tempered, then I am confident that I can, With my dad (Expert carpenter) get through it. I guess I am just wondering if anyone has a guess at the likelyhood that this things side walls are temperd? Hopefully an educated guess, but any guess are helpful
 
enwelz;4778703; said:
I guess I am just wondering if anyone has a guess at the likelyhood that this things side walls are temperd? Hopefully an educated guess, but any guess are helpful
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I guess that if it shatters, it "was" tempered :)

I have no doubt you can do it. I tried to help you out and see if there is anything useful to look for. About the best I could come up with is that most older tanks had tempered bottoms, but standard glass sides. So, that's a good thing. But...I couldn't find any actual timeline that would give you a hint. Maybe if you posted up a photo, one of the experts may recognize the trim style and give you a lead on who the manufacturer was?
 
CLDarnell;4778712; said:
I guess that if it shatters, it "was" tempered :)

I have no doubt you can do it. I tried to help you out and see if there is anything useful to look for. About the best I could come up with is that most older tanks had tempered bottoms, but standard glass sides. So, that's a good thing. But...I couldn't find any actual timeline that would give you a hint. Maybe if you posted up a photo, one of the experts may recognize the trim style and give you a lead on who the manufacturer was?
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Ya thats what i'm finding too, thanks for looking! (Helps to get more eyes on it!) I will put a picture up, but its in a horse stall, and the frame was painted black by the last owner, it was poop brown so I don't blame him. I will try and flip it over if I can do it safely and see if I can find some thing that will tell me who made it.
 
why take the chance? why not get a HOB overflow and HOB return instead? it would be cheaper that way instead of replacing shattered glass.
 
I have found a few places saying that viewing the glass with polarized lensed sunglasses you will see the stress patterns in the glass, if the bottom appears different than the sides then you are golden(if this is correct).

I want to risk it because I don't trust an overflow box, and the Calfo overflow basically silent if set up properly. Hopefully, this tank will be in the main entertaining room of my place, and will have a "room" with my 55gallon running like an L, where the 3 pipes are draining out of the 100. I hope to be nearing the 1200 to 1500 gph eventually, and I haven't found an overflow that I feel that I can realistically use, I would need several overflow boxes to achieve this, and with HOB boxes its a good idea to have redundancy in case one fails for whatever reason, which would mean I would need a few, where ass a Calfo system has a 1 inch FULL syphon, plus a 1 inch normal overflow, and an emergency drain, all will full syphon in a catastrophic situation where the water level rises to much for whatever reason(something plugs the main pipe). They also skim the very top of the water where the oily film is in a marine environment. It IMO is the best overflow, and its what I would like, but it may not be realistic....

Calfo/beananimal overflow
http://beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx
 
Aren't there supposed to be Tempered Glass Logos somewhere on all Tempered glass? Or is that just for windows?

I saw a 150gallon in CL for 200 that was drilled already. I spoke with the owner a few times and then didn't here from him for about 2 weeks. The he calls me out of nowhere and says that if i really want it, it's mine for $100! I should have picked up!

Anyway, I say drill it. If it's fine then great! If it shatters, then get a replacement piece of StarFire Glass for it and make that the Front of the tank! :)
 
Mastiffman;4781121; said:
Aren't there supposed to be Tempered Glass Logos somewhere on all Tempered glass? Or is that just for windows?

I saw a 150gallon in CL for 200 that was drilled already. I spoke with the owner a few times and then didn't here from him for about 2 weeks. The he calls me out of nowhere and says that if i really want it, it's mine for $100! I should have picked up!

Anyway, I say drill it. If it's fine then great! If it shatters, then get a replacement piece of StarFire Glass for it and make that the Front of the tank! :)
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I talked to my dads buddy that does mirrors for his homes and he said that it typically does have a logo on it, but you can get it without it. I am going to get it drilled I think, and your suggestion of starfire glass is fantastic! Now i need to decide if I should have it done or do it myself (Leaning towards pros at this point)
 
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