Adventures in tank drilling

Joe Rice

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I had already drilled a hole for a ¾" bulkhead in my new frag tank but decided I really wanted a 1" bulkhead. Figured I could just drill a bigger hole around the old one. All seemed good while I was drilling the larger hole and the hole itself came out nice and clean but, alas, when I removed the template I saw that the glass had cracked. I think it was because I had the tank on end and clamped to a backer board and table top and the backer board might have been uneven. Or it could have had something to do with the fact that I didn't let the tank acclimate to the cold outdoor temperatures before I started drilling. Or both.

Anyone have any experience with fixing a crack like this - short of replacing the pane? I was thinking I could maybe run a bead of silicone along the crack and then silicone a big piece of glass over the crack for structural support.


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you can get a new pain of glass/acrylic cut and silicone it from the inside to seal it if you don't mind the crack.
 
you can get a new pain of glass/acrylic cut and silicone it from the inside to seal it if you don't mind the crack.
Think that'll work even though the crack goes all the way to the edge?
 
I don't know much about drilling or fixing that crack, but a new tank is probably cheaper than whatever mess it might cause of it ends up leaking, in both livestock and your furniture. Not to mention peace of mind..
 
if u think about it, the seams of each piece of glass in an tank is a crack. I have siliconed glass over a crack. in this case i'd use a piece of glass big enough to cover the hole so u'd have to redrilll the hole in the new glass. keep in mind silicone will not hold to acrylic for very long.
 
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