Drilling rimless 1/2 inch tank

dfee

dfee

Premium member
Anybody have any good info on drilling tanks and how close to the edge is too close?
I drilled my rimless 1/2 inch thick glass Deep Blue maybe to close to the top edge. I know of the 1-1.5 of hole diameter rule, but at the last second i decided to move the internal overflow box to raise my water level. So i have two, 2 3/8ths holes about 1.75 from the top edge. Hope i didnt ruin this tank. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
 
I found this on another reef site but can't find anywhere he would have gotten this info.

here are the minimum requirements in regards to distance for drilling glass
x = 1.5 t
y = 4 t
t = glass thickness

measurements are taken from the outer most edge of the hole closest to the edge of the glass.

single hole along side: x from edge
single hole near corner: x from first edge, y from second edge
holes next to each other: x from edge, 4t apart
holes next to each other next to edge: x from first edge, 4t apart, y from second edge
 
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Good luck. I have a 105 with 3 holes that high, but the company tempered the glass afterwards due to the hole locations.
 
dfee said:
Ugh... That doesnt make me feel good


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By no means do I know anything about the structural load properties of glass. There may be one or two on the forum who could look up the tables. My tank is overbuilt (miralces) so I can't guess at how much of a safety factor they needed when they decided to temper it. I'd test fill it with water for a bit to test it out, maybe even create larger than expected waves to ensure it'll handle any foreseeable abuse. I abused mine similarly after putting it on wheels to make sure it'd hold.
 
Most tanks I have drilled are atleast 2" from any edge. I have drilled 2.5" bulkheads 2" from the edge before with no problems whatsoever. When Reef Savvy built my cube he did the returns 1/2" because he did not feel comfortable with how close the 3/4" bulkhead holes would be to the edge of the glass, that was with the glass being 1/2" thick.
 
r33fswagg3r said:
Most tanks I have drilled are atleast 2" from any edge. I have drilled 2.5" bulkheads 2" from the edge before with no problems whatsoever. When Reef Savvy built my cube he did the returns 1/2" because he did not feel comfortable with how close the 3/4" bulkhead holes would be to the edge of the glass, that was with the glass being 1/2" thick.
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What size holes are they for 2.5 inch bulkheads?


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Anybody else have a similar situation and your tank didn't blow? Or I guess if it did blow that'd help me out too. Obviously I will do a water fill test, but I'm worried something may happen down the road



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I am looking as closely as I can, and it looks like there is very little deflection in the drilling so I believe you to be safe. What are the measurements and rated capacity of this tank?
 
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Pfisherman said:
I am looking as closely as I can, and it looks like there is very little deflection in the drilling so I believe you to be safe. What are the measurements and rated capacity of this tank?
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The holes are on the 48" pane of glass, 1.75 inches from the top edge. It's a 75 gal. 1/2 thick glass


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jrpark22000 said:
By no means do I know anything about the structural load properties of glass. There may be one or two on the forum who could look up the tables. My tank is overbuilt (miralces) so I can't guess at how much of a safety factor they needed when they decided to temper it. I'd test fill it with water for a bit to test it out, maybe even create larger than expected waves to ensure it'll handle any foreseeable abuse. I abused mine similarly after putting it on wheels to make sure it'd hold.
Click to expand...
In most circumstances I wouldn't consider wavemaking to be the worst enemy, in a long tank waves are usually longitudinal not transverse, so unless this is a cube I would be most concerned about the deflection of drilling, and the overall deflection of the glass in a fully loaded aquarium. Fill this tank with straight tap water to the maximum water level and get a straight edge. If at the upper most center of your tank you have more than an 1/8th" bow per four feet you will be looking for an accelerated failure.

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dfee said:
The holes are on the 48" pane of glass, 1.75 inches from the top edge. It's a 75 gal. 1/2 thick glass


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Can we get a close-up of the holes?
 
Pfisherman said:
In most circumstances I wouldn't consider wavemaking to be the worst enemy, in a long tank waves are usually longitudinal not transverse, so unless this is a cube I would be most concerned about the deflection of drilling, and the overall deflection of the glass in a fully loaded aquarium. Fill this tank with straight tap water to the maximum water level and get a straight edge. If at the upper most center of your tank you have more than an 1/8th" bow per four feet you will be looking for an accelerated failure.

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Can we get a close-up of the holes?
Click to expand...

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Those are pretty nice holes, if you polish them up with a piece of emery cloth you should be a-okay. There isn't to much pressure on the top of a 75, especially with half inch glass. Don't worry, your in the clear.

If your still worried you can always euro brace it.
 
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Sounds good. Thanks for the help. I'll post here after I test with water.


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