Why Not Drill a Tank?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
People like flexibility you can't really undue a hole in the tank.

I run a single super sump with a pond pump on 11 aquariums and being able to move around the intakes and returns is awesome.
 
Ive drilled two holes before.

Set it up to where you have water pushing across the hole you are cutting, go slow, set your clutch to the lowest point so it will so it will slip if it tries to hang while drilling, and let the weight of the drill do the work.

And if its tempered, dont bother. There is a video of a guy on youtube drilling a tank that I guess he didnt know was tempered, and as soon as he finally starts to score the front of the glass, it pops. Entertaining to say the least.
 
I would say for people that have not drilled a hole in glass before it is intimidating and the thinking is, one mistake and there goes your tank (which is another misunderstanding as it could be fixed but will cost $) on the other hand they can buy an overflow box at there LFS or make one cheap.

I have drilled glass many times and much prefer that rout but I do have a tank with an overflow box, as it was setup before I put a sump on it and I did not want to drain the tank and redo the whole thing just to drill a hole. So that is one reason why experienced people might use an overflow box.

If you are setting up a new tank there is not rational reason I can think of for using an overflow box over drilling a whole and using a bulkhead, unless the class is tempered or you are not sure if it is tempered.
 
Cake. Drilled these this past weekend for an algae scrubber install.

Just make sure you use a drill with a clutch and go slow. These took 15 minutes each.

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