drilling an oceanic brick

[moneytank]

does anyone know if i can drill a 180 gallon oceanic brick for a close loop?
tank is 3/4" glass that is reef ready with dual over flows. I need to drill for two closed loop intakes, the returns i can bring over the top (even though I want to drill them also). Im sure it will take forever to drill the thicker glass.
unless anyone else has any suggestions (no powerheads in the tank and I already have the two dart pumps and super squirts)

[captexas]

I drilled many holes in the Oceanic 240g that I had, holes in the bottom and on the ends. I didn't want any power heads either so I drilled lots of holes for drains/returns for a closed loop. The bottom was 3/4in as well, with paitence and a good diamond hole saw, it's not hard. You can either do it yourself or pay someone to come do it for you if you are nervous about it. I purchased the hole saws online and then made a jig out of a 2x4 (to hold drill bit in place) with a small water line run to it. Worked pretty well.

[Bill S]

I had Ross drill my 215 Oceanic Brick. But, PLEASE DO THIS:

Call or email Oceanic and give them your serial number (www.oceanicsystems.com (http://www.oceanicsystems.com)). They will look it up, and then tell you what panels have been tempered. They temper the panels after drilling their holes in them. I found that mine had a tempered bottom. DON'T DRILL A TEMPERED PANEL.

[erikharrison]

Drilling a tempered panel = BOOM.... Glass everywhere.

[crossxfire2]

how can you tell if glass is tampered anyway?

[erikharrison]

I "heard" yet not have tried this, so I am clueless if it really works or not. I heard that you can take polarized sunglasses and look at your tank to tell if the glass is tempered or not. I remember in my car, my glasses would display a pattern on my windshield from the tempered glass. I lost them when we went tubing, can someone try it?

[Bill S]

Drill it. If it shatters...

Seriously, there's no way to tell. The tempering process is absolutely transparent.

[captexas]

Yeah, always find out first. Usually they will put a sticker on the bottom panel saying not to drill it if it is tempered, but stickers do fall off so better safe than sorry. My Oceanic 240g reef-ready tank was ok. Not sure if they do anything different on the "brick" style tanks. Also as Oceanic was taken over by another company not long ago, they could have changed the glass they are using.

[moneytank]

i drilled my last tank myself and it wasnt that hard, but it was only 1/2" glass. I guess ill have to order some new diamond hole saw bits to make sure they are sharp

[99taws6]

would my tank need to be completely empty to drill it, or can you drill it with a small water level and sand?

[moneytank]

ok, I have sent three different emails through oceanic's website and have not gotten any type of returns as to glass being tempered or not. Does anyone have any suggestions (besides just drill it and test)?

[Bill S]

I certainly would NOT drill the bottom - my 215 Oceanic Brick has a tempered bottom. Drilled the ends just fine.