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[Dryvnt]

I have tried going onto the wiki, but I didn't find the explanations very useful.

[Herbiie]

Build a pillar of soil over them by digging out all around it & let it drop into the Aquifer, a Dwarf might get hurt but it'll breach the Aquifer and you can then dig through it. When I did it the dwarf was ontop of it when ti dropped but he survived, just.

[Dragonchampion]

http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/DF2010:Aquifer

[Dryvnt]

I have already read the wiki. I tried experimenting with the cave in method, but it can't get it to work.

[Flying Carcass]

raws -> objects -> soil and mineral entries -> [AQUIFER] deleted

What? 

[Dryvnt]

raws -> objects -> soil and mineral entries -> [AQUIFER] deleted

What? 

That's not the right way!
No true dwarf would climb so low as to cheat!

[ChairmanPoo]

I have already read the wiki. I tried experimenting with the cave in method, but it can't get it to work.

It requires a wall of soil above the aquifer. Also, you need to respect the edges of the "soil" after it lodges itself on the ground. This method basically substitutes aquifer soil with non-aquifer soil.
Hint: if you want to avoid getting wounded dwarves (which is wise given how long it takes them to heal), embark along with you 3+ stones, make them into mechanism, and support the  soil layer you're going to collapse with a support. This way you can use that to bring it down from a safe distance

Some alternatives:
- Permafreeze maps: just dig out a big hole in the open, and channel through the ice
- Non-permafreeze: same, but wall out the edges of the hole, lest everything comes down on your head in summer.
- Pump method: use pumps to move water from your "prospecting" aquifer site (through which you intend to drill) to auxiliary aquifer holes, then build walls along the free, waterless edge. Use this array to progressively enlargen your "prospecting" aquifer. The idea is to eventually build a wall inside an aquifer pond, as the water only spawns from aquifer-tagged natural walls. This is easier to fix if digging through stone, as you can smooth it out to prevent water leakae, instead of building artificial walls.
-Legendary miner method: they can dig fast enough to channel down before the digging place gets full. Now, obviously, this doesn't really give you a realiable access beyond the aquifer, but if you tunnel into a cave, you can use this as part of an one-way transporting method into the underworld for some daring pioneers
- Volcanos are surrounded by non-aquifer tiles. You might be able to dig down through those

[Di]

The trick about cave-in method is that you should bring down stone not just pile of mud. So if no rocks above aquifier you should go for Moses effect, or expose aquifier to the sky if your map freezes in winter.

about pumping method:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Moses effect method is about pumping water faster than it pops in, and building walls down there:
777...
÷÷÷.,.
÷÷÷.,.
vvv,.,
.,.,.,.
pumps from south, v's are channels. Repeat, rotate, repeat until you wall off square, then channel out every tile in it and drain it.
Even one isolated damp pillar seems to produce unlimited amount of water. If there's more than one level then the square should be big enough to house next pack of pumps there.
Using this method my fortresses usually manage to get through aquifier shortly before being overrun by first ambush.

Also you probably should know that aquifier damp pillar produces water under it if unremoved, that's why level right beneath the aquifier should be skipped.

[LealNightrunner]

Be careful with the pumping, if you have multiple aquifer layers stacked that aren't stone.  You'll need adequate space to host the walls you'll be building each level AND the pumps you'll need to drain the aquifer in a much smaller space.  This was the doom with an old fortress of mine where I had 3 layers (two soil) to punch through and only made a 6x6 hole, which shrank to 4x4 for the next layer due to the walls and I couldn't get enough space to adequately run even one pump.

[ChairmanPoo]

Be careful with the pumping, if you have multiple aquifer layers stacked that aren't stone.  You'll need adequate space to host the walls you'll be building each level AND the pumps you'll need to drain the aquifer in a much smaller space.  This was the doom with an old fortress of mine where I had 3 layers (two soil) to punch through and only made a 6x6 hole, which shrank to 4x4 for the next layer due to the walls and I couldn't get enough space to adequately run even one pump.

you can always widen the original hole

I've found that it's a good idea to build your passaquifer rig in cells of 3x3 close to each other. That way you go faster, and you just have to remove the wall in the middle once you have done an adittional spot.

[Kogan Loloklam]

It occurs to me that when invaders can dig, aquifers will be loved.

[Flying Carcass]

It occurs to me that when invaders can dig, aquifers will be loved.

Unless, of course, you've got digging olm men...

[ChairmanPoo]

or unless the digging diggers manage to make it leak into your fortress. Which, if they dig fast enough, is not really unfeasible

[LealNightrunner]

you can always widen the original hole

Yeah I could have but failure is always an option.  That would have been a colossal pain in the ass given that I had absolutely zero stone or metal and I had already spent two in-game years trying to get through it.  Ended up abandoning after my last miner collapsed the sky on his head and died, entombing his pick.

[ChairmanPoo]

I had a simmilar fort once. Actually managed to break through it. (I believe I used a combination of pump and collapse, though. I didn't have enough collapsable levels for a full collapse, so I went with pumping out the first aquifer level, and collapsing onto the second.

Later on I fubared in some way I dont recall correctly, and flooded the fortress' entrance, stranding my dwarves underground. Or rather, above ground, since the ones underground had all the goodies and food. Luckily the ones aboveground managed to restart my abandoned surface farm plots, and using them I managed to break through the aquifer in another point, providing my underground base with surface access.