Question: How to attach drain to drilled hole

[deeishealthy]

Actually, that's exactly my question. I have a glazier coming to drill a hole for me in my tank next month. Yay!

Now what?

[Sunshine]

This is a question for Deranged Chipmunk!

[Mentat]

First thing to do is to get yourself a "bulkhead" type fitting commonly found in hardware stores, aquarium shops that cater to saltwater set-ups; or at vivariums shops. If you search "bulkhead" at forum some results will show up. Also, here is a good discussion with pics: Reef Addicts - Plumbing Primer - How to purchase & install bulkheads and a video too: How to: Aquarium bulkhead - Plumbing components for a saltwater aquarium series: Episode 4 - YouTube.

After you get your bulkhead; then have (or do it yourself) the hole made for it's size. Make sure your habitat bottom is not tempered glass! Once installed you can get the hose or proper tubing for your drain. Good luck !

[That Guy]

If you need to test for tempered glass, you can use polarized sunglasses and a digital display (laptop, etc.). Put the display behind the glass and look at it with your polarized sunglasses. If it's tempered, you'll see distinct lines in the glass.

[deranged chipmunk]

This is a question for Deranged Chipmunk!

i know the procedure, but i have never done it. i have a psychological issue that prevents me from drilling a hole in a perfectly good tank. i believe it is the same issue that prevents me from jumping out of a perfectly good airplane....lol

[deranged chipmunk]

i thought i remembered there being a thread on exactly this:
http://www.frogforum.net/vivarium-te...all-drain.html

[BonnieLorraine]

I use the airline tubing bulkheads you can find on aquatic supply sites, much smaller hole to drill (only 1/2"), and it hooks up to the flexible airline tubing you can find at any fish store. I drill the holes myself with a diamond drill bit I picked up at Home Depot, but I can see why that scares people.

[J Teezy]

I typically install 1/2" bulkheads (i used threaded instead of slip) in the bottom of a tank for draining which requires a 1 1/8" hole. I buy my bulkheads from glass-holes.com . I plumb it via PVC to a bucket that sits under the tank in my bakers rack. If you use PVC to make the plumbing make sure to use PVC cement to seal the connections. I use a ball valve so that I'm able to close the drain off when removing the bucket to dump waste water or to also control how much water is in my drainage layer for humidity purposes. So basic plumbing in my setups are

Bulkhead > screw in adapter > 1/2" PVC > ball valve > 1/2" PVC > bucket

If i were going to put a drain hole in the side or back of the tank i would use a smaller one such as the bulkheads used for mistking reservoir buckets. Key when using this is to make sure that no debri can get into it as it's a much smaller hole and more prone to clogging