Petco tanks ARE drillable pics

[jetchris]

I bought a 20g from petco. I am putting it in my daughters room. The tanks are drillable. After i took these pics i installed the bulkheads. Not thinking i pushed a piece of pvc into the bulkhead and i did not back up the bulkhead with pressure and CRACK. So be very careful when jacking around with the bulkheads after you drill the hole. Also drilling glass is so easy. All the hype about drilling glass is a bunch of mumbo jumbo. You dont need a special guide, you dont need anti-freeze, you dont need plumbers putty to make a little dam, and it does not take 10 mins to drill a hole. Just put a water hose on the back of the tank and have a steady stream of water flowing over where your gonna drill. Then angle the bit at a 45 degree angle so it doesnt ice skate. Once you got a good groove you can straighten out the drill. Just use the weight of the drill and dont push. Use a moderate speed. Not to fast and not to slow. Once you get almost through you wanna lighten up pressure on the drill. Put a sponge on the inside of the tank to catch the piece of glass.

 

[jetchris]

pics of drilled tank
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[jetchris]

also , i learned about how to drill from "justonemoretank" he has a nice thread about drilling glass on TRT or RC - i forget which one.

 

[jetchris]

Now that this tank is cracked, due to me torquing the bulkhead, I have a practice tank to drill if anyone wants to come and try their luck at drilling glass. <-- yes i know run on sentence

 

[showtime305]

Huh. It crack well after you drilled it?

 

[etoh_is_good]

what direction was the crack? were you too close to the sidewalls?

 

[jetchris]

the crack did not happen from drilling but from excessive force within the bulkhead. I pushed the pvc into the bulkhead way to hard and it cracked. The crack went directly up.

 

[linda lee]

Bleedingthought;72918 wrote: Yeah, All-Glass tanks only have the bottom tempered.

Maybe not a good idea to make that statement. Some glass tanks like TopFin (PetSmart) have ALL panels tempered. Our 55-gal has a sticker that says "all panels are tempered glass ~ do not drill."</em> If we had gotten that tank second-hand and someone had removed that sticker, we might have assumed the tank was drillable on the sides just because it's glass.

What's funny is that when we bought the tank for FW use way-back-when, we saw the sticker and were like "huh? why on earth would anyone want to <u>drill</u> a tank????"

Ah, the days of innocence ... B.S.W.A. (Before Salt Water Addiction)

 

[roundman]

Good job Chris. I did the same thing on my 10 gal fuge but it was after it was set up and running. I was trying to fix a small leak and pushed a little to hard and snap. Should have posted my goof and maybe saved you.

 

[george]

Are the Petco tanks All-Glass or a knockoff brand?

 

[george]

Never mind. I see the All-Glass stickers in the adds.

 

[etoh_is_good]

listing of AGA tanks and tempered bottoms

 

[jetchris]

Thiago , thanks for posting that link - hopefully some people will read it. Its great knowledge.

 

[strongr]

chrisjet,

how much will you charge to drill a hole in a 29 gallon?

 

[pfritzbelly]

Where did you purchase your drill bits and have you found any preferences on brands/composition?

 

[justonemoretank]

Solid job. :thumbs:

 

[jetchris]

yes i did get them off ebay lau*** <-- sellers name they come out to about $12 per bit w/ shipping. Strongr come over and ill drill it for free.