holes in glass?

[Leprichon]

Im thinking about drilling ooverflow holes in my glass aquarium...the only catch is that my tank is established (with an eshopps overflow unit-big box) and i dont care to remove everything from the tank...Im curious - have any of you successfully done somthing like this (or at least heard of it being done)...all the examples Ive seen have the tank on its side (so full effect of gravity on drill bit) and use flowing water (to wash away the dust)...I dont plan to attempt withought good knowledge that its worth doing...

 

[HN1]

I wouldn't attempt it personally, nor have I read of anyone drilling a filled tank. I would expect the weight load would increase the liklihood of a small torque which would result in an empty tank sans one pane of glass.

 

[BigJim]

I wouldn't try it either. Drilling with all the pressure on the glass is just asking for a disaster.

 

[Leprichon]

ok...sounds like good advice...thanks...

 

[Smitty]

+100 Also you would have little tiny shards of glass that could very well end up inside the tank even if drilling from the outside. Who knows if any fish would eat it and do very bad things (or anything else eat it).

 

[Mark Hewitt]

I wouldn't even want to do this while the tank is empty, as you'll have created a point of weakness in the glass so when it's refilled the whole thing may fail.

 

[HN1]

I wouldn't even want to do this while the tank is empty, as you'll have created a point of weakness in the glass so when it's refilled the whole thing may fail.

Ummmm.... not exactly the way physics work. People drill tanks all the time without issue. Several of ours are and have been fine for years.

The act of drilling is where the risk is, once it's done you are good. Doing it filled is asking for catastrophe though (IMO).

 

[BigJim]

Technically he's right about weakening the glass. You've increased the pressure on the glass by reducing the area. Fortunately, an aquarium is built with enough factor of safety to handle the increased pressure without issue.

 

[Andrewz00]

doesn't the type of glass also determine if it can actually be drilled or not?

 

[BigJim]

Yes. Tempered glass can't be drilled. It shatters into nice little cubes. Unfortunately, I don't know of any way to tell that glass is tempered other than to break it.

 

[HN1]

Technically he's right about weakening the glass. You've increased the pressure on the glass by reducing the area. Fortunately, an aquarium is built with enough factor of safety to handle the increased pressure without issue.

The pressure is actually then placed upon your bulk head and first piece of overflow. The area hasn't decreased (it actually increases), the substance that the pressure is placed on is changed.