Drilling bottom of 30g tank

[braddbdl]

Hello everybody! I'm new here, and new to the reef tank hobby. I have kept freshwater tanks off and on in the past and really enjoyed it, but always wanted to try a "real" marine aquarium. Well, after many trips to PetCo looking at all the cool saltwater fish, inverts, corals, etc, I finally decided to get started.

I picked up a 30gal tank for my first marine build, and started building a stand (I'm a woodworking hobbyist too) and then started really researching... After about a week, and while I'm finishing the stand, I have the hardware I need on the way; a sump/refugium, a protein skimmer, pumps, hoses, etc.

I have decided to drill the tank and put in bulkheads, standpipes and an internal acrylic overflow. This will all be at the center back of tank. I would like to drill the holes in the bottom, so that everything goes neatly down into the stand/sump with nothing external. I already know that my bottom is NOT tempered. I want to drill two 1 3/4" holes with 1" bulkheads for the primary drain and backup drain, and I would like to drill one or two 1 1/2" holes with 3/4" bulkheads for the return line/'s.

I'm not worried about drilling the glass, I'm very handy and have the required diamond bits on the way. My question is regarding spacing of the holes, and how many I can safely put in the bottom of the tank before structural failure is likely. I have read conflicting information everywhere, and have been siding toward the conservative, see if you agree:

• Edge of the hole should be 1.5 times further from the edge of glass than the diameter of the hole.
  • So, based on my 1 3/4" drain holes, the hole would need to start 2 5/8" from the back of the tank.
  • If you add the width of the hole to this measurement plus some slop to account for the bulkhead and room for the overflow, then my overflow area would need to be 4 3/4" deep (distance from back wall of aquarium to front of acrylic overflow).
  • Is this correct?
• Now the piece I'm missing is how far apart the holes need to be from each other? That way, I know how wide my overflow needs to be.
• I also need to know how many holes can safely be put into the bottom of the tank, using this method, without worrying about stresses cracking the tank?

Sorry for the long explanation! Thanks in advance for the help

[braddbdl]

Anyone have ANY experience with this?

[braddbdl]

Bump. Help please!

[tlo25]

Only experience I've had with drilling a 30 is when I took my tank to a place to get it drilled. They were reluctant to do it but tried anyway, I guess the glass on tanks that small are pretty weak. The good news was they actually drilled and gave me a new 30 gallon tank. The guy said he never would do a 30 again, so I'm thinking you may want to add a little more buffer to those numbers.

[braddbdl]

Originally Posted by tlo25

Only experience I've had with drilling a 30 is when I took my tank to a place to get it drilled. They were reluctant to do it but tried anyway, I guess the glass on tanks that small are pretty weak. The good news was they actually drilled and gave me a new 30 gallon tank. The guy said he never would do a 30 again, so I'm thinking you may want to add a little more buffer to those numbers.

Thanks! I'm thinking I will drill the back instead.

[jscrimshaw]

You need to be very careful with drilling the bottom of a tank.. Most tanks have a temperd glass bottom and if you use to much pressure, the whole bottom of the tank will shatter.. I would recommend drilling the back instead of the bottom to avoid the risk

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[ORayRay]

I've drilled the side of a 30 before, wasn't fun but I took my time and used alot of water

[sjm817]

According to this chart
http://www.marineland.com/sites/Mari...um%20Specs.pdf
Perfecto 30G is not tampered on any panel

Aqueon (AGA) also shows no tempered bottom for a 30G
http://www.aqueonproducts.com/assets/011/19107.pdf

That being said, proceed with caution. You never know.