Rovik

Oh yes ! Only clear float glass can be drilled.

Hey all, recently I had to drill a couple of holes in my aquariums for my fish room, in this thread I will explain how I drilled my tanks. 



So why drill holes ? 



Well for drainage, canister filter plumbing, over flows for sumps ect 



Drilling holes in your aquarium can make plumbing very neat and give you different options for filtration and drainage. 



The reason for me drilling holes in my aquariums was to join 2 smaller tanks and use them as a sump. Rather than buying a new single sump, I was able to use two, 2ft tanks joined together to achieve my desired outcome. 





What you will need: 



A drill 

Desired glass hole saw (generally diamond tipped) 

A drilling template 

Tape measure 

Marker pen 

Tape

A water hose 
 




1. Start by marking out in your aquarium where you want the hole. Positioning is important. Holes in the middle of larger aquariums are never a good idea, should be ideally near the sides (reduces stresses) 
 

 
 
2. Place your template on the glass and tape in position. The tape will help keep it there so you can get a nice clean start. My template is made of cheap inexpensive plastic (corflute). 

 

 
3. Turn on your hose, position it over the template. Lubrication when drilling glass is extremely important, it cools the workpiece and the tool (hole saw). The hose doesn't need to be a torrent, but ample enough To do its job. 
 


4. Now that your water is running, begin drilling. Start off SLOW, really slow, allow the hole saw to grind away a shallow depth of cut and seat properly into the glass before increasing cutting speed. Be sure to pull the drill out of the cut frequently and directly flush out the resulting milky liquid (Resulting from "ground up" glass) 
Avoid exerting excessive vertical force on the hole saw, let it do it's job. To much force may result in panel breakage.
You are not so much "sawing" or drilling as your are grinding the glass away with an abrasive tool. 

Going at a slow and steady pace will result in a better result, especially when starting and finishing. 
This was the end result.
 


 
 
 
Disclaimer:
 
Glass is a brittle Amorphous solid, it can break easily. By drilling holes you always run the risk of breakage if the incorrect method is used and or introducing, essentially, a defect which creates a structural weakness.  
 
My main tip to avoid breakage, especially on drilling thicker material is to Take your time ! Use a slow cutting speed and keep the tool and cutting site well lubricated. Other than that, drilling glass is really easy and something most people could manage.
 
If there is anything iv'e missed or you wish to add your own experiences drilling glass, please do 

Obviously Dosing CO2 will always be the, be all, end all for dosing exactly that, CO2.

Check out the Barr report, there is some discussion about this topic

http://www.barrrepor...dehyde-give-you

Metro (Metronidazole) can be fairly hard to get hold of, DMZ (Dimetridazole) is more commonly available and does the same thing.

 

 

I believe this works quite effectively for HITH disease and a cheaper alternative to seeing your Vet ($$$):

A lot of discus keepers keep it on hand.

 

http://www.aquariumo...mita-clear-50g/

Hey guys, just to bump this up...

 

If anyone has library books from PCS but is unable to return them at a meeting for whatever reason, I am happy to collect (Free of charge) and return on your behalf. Just message me !!

Our library books are an important part of the clubs legacy !

 

Cheers.

Here are some of my photos from my visit last week, was thoroughly impressed with the displays, defiantly worth a look. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for Sharing Graeme, Nice build.

I see you have an LP-100 air pump, does that do all of your tank ? How many outlets are you running ?

 

I've got one for my project but unsure of it's practical performance. 

Any PCS Members wishing to enter an ADULT cichlid or catfish (no juveniles or fry thanks)
for the Show Table:

Please PM Me no later than the evening before and
if you will be bringing your own tank to show him/her in
or you require PCS to provide one
(we only have a limited number unless you let me know beforehand).

ALL entries win a prize
$50 Gift voucher for the winner
$20 Gift voucher for the runner up
$10 gift voucher for all other entries

Potassium based KH buffers are best for planted aquaria, limits the amount of sodium you add and also adds Potassium; a useful element need for plant growth.

 

http://www.aquariumo...lm-kh-genk-1kg/

 

It's an increase in pH due to increased KH is usually unavoidable. To what extent the pH increase is depends on the specific aquarium.

My females can be quite aggressive with each other, keeping them well fed and plenty of objects to break line of sight is important.

 

There called 'Kill(each other)-i-fish" for a reason hahahah  .

Either that or they jump out of the tank, need a perfect set of lids for most killis.

 

 

Here's a picture of my male taken today Jas: Bastards the hardest fish to shoot....Constantly moving and flips away at the sign of a flash,

He's accompanied by 5 females and soon to be moved into a tank of his own with the girls for breeding purposes. (Have bred for me before)

Should have a couple of males I can give you in a couple of weeks   ...If they don't all find the 1mm gap between the lids and jump out...."Bloody Houdini's"

 

 

The Perth Cichlid Society Inc welcomes it's newest local store sponsor:

 

 

 

 

Aquarium Gallery Perth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Located in Wangara, Aquarium Gallery Perth (AGP, Previously operating as Perth aquarium and display center) boasts an impressive showroom with many stunning displays of both a freshwater and marine nature. AGP caters for all aquarium keepers with goldfish, various coldwater species, natives, tropical's and a selection of marine fish and corals. It doesn’t matter if you have a 2 liter Siamese fighter bowl or a 6,000 liter marine reef aquarium at AGP everyone is welcome and everyone is catered for.  With over 50 years combined experience in the field of custom aquarium work the AGP team can help you with everything you need if you are looking at having an aquarium installed in your home or place of business. The team can help you with everything from planning and design to set up and ongoing maintenance services. Specializing in custom aquariums, AGP can design and install an aquarium to any specifications and your only limits are your imagination.

 

 

Check out Aquarium Gallery's impressive facebook page and Newletter sign-up in the links below:

 

 

Facebook

 

Newsletter

 

Unit 9/48 Prindiville Drive, Wangara  6065

Phone Number:  (08) 9409 1144 Fax Number:  (08) 9409 1911

Operating hours: Seven Days: 10.00am to 5.00pm

Email: info@perthaquarium.com.au

Before I answer, Are you running CO2 injection ? Try taking a sample of water, leaving it in a cup overnight and measuring the pH again. Does it change ????

 

_____________________

 

 

I wouldn't be worried about it to much, in fact 6.8 is the Ideal pH for most aquatic plants as it offers the most balanced pH for nutrient uptake....

 

pH decreasing is a fairly common phenomenon in heavily planted tanks, there are a few causes, but without going into too much detail:

1. Acidic substrates such as aquasoils will reduce pH
2. So will, Fish/Bacteria (Most living things) as they produce acidic wastes...
3. Plants will consume KH as a source of carbon (In the absents of adequate CO2) and by effect, decrease you pH

 

The solution is easy, add more KH.... Increase your KH to  5/6'dKH ( >100 ppm) and this should make a difference.

Raising you KH will generally bring your pH up and stabilize it there.

 

See below for more details about this relationship:

 

[CLICK HERE]

 

For planted aquariums, I suggest using a Potassium based KH buffer as opposed to the traditional sodium based bicarbs. 

The potassium based buffers increase you KH and Potassium (Beneficial for the plants) simultaneously.

 

 

In rare cases where raising the KH does little to the pH, especially in older established aquariums with pH controlled, CO2 injection. Addition of a strong base, usually KOH (Potassium Hydroxide - Strong, instant pH up) is used to neutralise built up organic acids in the tank and restore pH without adding excessive amounts of KH. This is more of a specialist case and would required a few pages worth for a full explanation. Note that KOH in "shelf" concentrations must be handled with care and dosed carefully as it can induce potentially fatal jumps in pH if used incorrectly.

 

 

In conclusion, add a couple teaspoons of KH generator and that will bring you pH up.

For most planted tanks, aim for 5 to 6 degrees KH = 107ppm

 

Hope this Helps,

Rovik.

Saw this tank on gumtree a while back, good buy.

 

The plumbing should not to too hard to implement yourself with some planning and the right selection of parts.

Personally, I would avoid using substandard Bunnings/retic style PVC setups, seen tanks done like this before and are rarely a close to professional job.

 

For me personally, buying initially cheap and nasty fittings is false economy. A plumbing failure on a larger aquarium can mean potentially thousands of dollars in damage when weighted against a few dollars extra on a fitting.

 

I generally stick to the better quality injection moulded fittings, most of which are self-sealing such as HANSEN.

 

Also on the note of valves, I strongly suggest avoiding the traditional PVC 'red Tap' valves. The rubber seals on these values/taps offer appalling long term performance, usually getting stuck.I would opt for better quality Philmac (have a better quality O-Ring/mechanism of action) or better yet, just use large 'green top' mechanical valves. They offer much better value and always work smoothly.

 

Plumbing of a tank this size will be not cheap given the holes are 32mm. This means they will house a 32mm flange. To give an idea of cost, a Hansen 30mm flange is roughly $40. Just to put flanges on the tank would be 5x $40 = $200.

 

I think a ball park of $300 to $400 worth quality fitting will see it all plumbed up nicely.Tank plumbing is one of those things, do it right, do it once, it's an absolute PITA to do it again.

 

That have being said, the design of your plumbing depends on many variables.

 

What kind of filter will you be using (Sump/canister)?

 

If sump, How big?

 

What kind of pump, how many litres per hour?

 

How many outlets would you like?

 

Where do you want those outlets positioned?

 

What do you plan to keep?

 

What other equipment are you using ?  (Inline heaters ? CO2 injection?)

 

Just consider that once you factor in all the extra plumbing for a sump + Building the sump + Filter media + Return pump, you are pretty much at the same price point (If not greater) than employing 2 larger canister filters. If it’s just for freshwater application, 2 large canisters would perform well. This means you can block off that silly overflow box and not have to purchase 5 extra flanges…. For canisters, just 2 inlets, 2 outlets for 2 filters. A dolphin 2400 canister would be ideal.

 

Aquotix has a single Dophin on there 8x30x30 Cichlid, a similar size in volume to your 1270L tank. 

Unlike some social media and Facebook groups, this is actually a constituted/registered club....The forum is simply an online extension of the physical club.

 

We have monthly meetings, auctions, International speakers, regular competitions, Sponsorship from LFS's..ect

 

Yes, things have slowed down, but proportionally to a decrease in the amount of hobbyists in Perth. 

Hey guys just thought I would share my small nano aquarium I have just step up...

 

It's a heavily modified KW aquarium from Aquotix (All in one job). The aim of the tank was just to grow rare and demanding stem plants that require high light and nutrients. 

 

Volume: 42 liters

Filter: Partitioned (Large black sponge and fine black pad) 500L/hr pump ? 

Light: 13w PL tube ----->  Stripped and gutted, Modified to a DIY 54w 120' LED unit. (Yes I like my plants fried) (Fan Modded into hood)

CO2: pH controlled 9L Milwaukee SMS122 with ISTA diffuser (Approx 40ppm)

Ferts:  90% water change weekly, Daily addition of trace, weekly addition of KH, N03

Fish: Nil (That's the way a planted tank should be  )

 

Just some pictures to get the ball rollings, Will add some more later.

 

 

 

2 days After setup (Today):