Aqueon/AGA Custom Drilling

appleton71 · Aug 26, 2018

Has anyone had any experience with Aqueon custom drilling a tank for them? Were the holes drilled where you specified? The thing that kinda scares me is that their custom drilled tank order form says "All dimensional tolerances are ± 1/2". That's HUGE! I'm used to dealing with ± .015" at work. My overflow box has two bulkheads so the holes have to be the correct distance apart and the correct distance from the top of the tank. A half inch off isn't acceptable.

CC13 · Aug 26, 2018

appleton71 said:
Has anyone had any experience with Aqueon custom drilling a tank for them? Were the holes drilled where you specified? The thing that kinda scares me is that their custom drilled tank order form says "All dimensional tolerances are ± 1/2". That's HUGE! I'm used to dealing with ± .015" at work. My overflow box has two bulkheads so the holes have to be the correct distance apart and the correct distance from the top of the tank. A half inch off isn't acceptable.

Ya, ±1/2" is not really acceptable in my opinion either. To be OC ± that much is not even an acceptable tolerance when your framing a house.

Very honestly, why not just cut the holes yourself? It is not difficult to do, and I find custom tank manufactures charge a ton of money to do cut. If your used to working with tight tolerances, I would estimate your more then capable of cutting the holes yourself and you local fish store would most likely have the diamond hole saw sizes you need.

If their tolerances are that large, God only knows how well built their tanks are.

appleton71 · Aug 26, 2018

I'd prefer to have them do it for multiple reasons:
1) I've never done it before. I've seen plenty of videos and it looks easy but I don't really want to take the chance on a 210 gallon tank.
2) Buying 2 diamond bits that I'll use once in my life.
3) Them drilling it maintains the lifetime warranty. <--the most important reason to me

A custom builder near me charges a reasonable $25 per hole...but that's on their own tanks. My local glass company charges $80 per hole...and it voids the warranty...plus it's at my own risk.

CC13 · Aug 26, 2018

appleton71 said:
I'd prefer to have them do it for multiple reasons:
1) I've never done it before. I've seen plenty of videos and it looks easy but I don't really want to take the chance on a 210 gallon tank.
2) Buying 2 diamond bits that I'll use once in my life.
3) Them drilling it maintains the lifetime warranty. <--the most important reason to me

A custom builder near me charges a reasonable $25 per hole...but that's on their own tanks. My local glass company charges $80 per hole...and it voids the warranty...plus it's at my own risk.

Fair enough.

I mean call them and ask about their tolerances then. Explain you need them to be bang on and see what they say.