I just sent this question to the customer support e-mail address for Hagen, who made my Fluval tank.



But I recieved this reply:






Needless to say I won't be drilling the bottom of the tank. But seriously, why would an aquarium manufacturer recomend drilling tempered glass? I replied back, maybe it's just a typo or something.

Just thoguht I'd share this head scratcher.

Has to be a typo or a confused rep. What kind of tank is it? They usually have the info on their site or you could try the polarized sunglasses trick.

Your email was replied by a CSR that possibly keyed in a typo.

It would have to be a typo... or a confused new hire I guess.

And it's a 54 gal Fluval corner tank.

Hmm...

Just got this reply back:



I guess I'll go for it then.

Don't. I don't know of any company that tempers the sides but not the bottom. He's just confused.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

I was thinking that they must have cast it with the 2 holes in the bottom pane.

What is this polarized sunglasses trick that you mentioned nanoty?

I would have to wonder if you did drill it, found out it was tempered, and showed them this email if they would replace it. I personally wouldn't risk it without KNOWING but you may have a case if it does break.

I thought of that too. I know the owner of a LFS near me was telling me that he had e-mailed AGA about this same issue and they told him it was not tempered. but when he went to drill it it shattered because it was tempered.

In this case they replaced the tank for him. But this guy/gal told me 2 times that there is no warranty on a tank that I even attempt to drill.

The problem is that I can only fit a 3/4" bulkhead in the existing holes. But If I don't run any plumbing in one of the bulkheads and flip the fitting upsidedown I can just let it drain through the 1" opening (meant to take 3/4" plumbing) and run a larger pipe/hose off of the threading that was meant to be inside the tank. This would effectivly give me a 1" opening, but I just wouldn't be able to run any plumbing inside the tank. It would just have to drain straight off of the bottom of the tank.

But I think I'm OK with that. It'll just give me more room in case of a back up.

Tempered glass looks spotty under polarized sunglasses. Kind of screwy when you drive down the road, everyone's rear glass windows have spots all over them. Look up at my moon roof and I see brown spots....

There is a "bug" on tempered glass. Meaning it is actually stamped on the glass that it is safety tempered. Look very closely and in one of the corners it will say if it's tempered.
My 37 gallon AGA corner tank has a tempered bottom, not sides......bottom. I am drilling the mofo Wednesday with my Gl**sholes.com overflow kit.

This

A better way to tell for sure is to use two polarized filters, one on each side of the glass. You can't always see the effect by simply looking at the glass with polarized glass. As you move them simultaneously across the glass you'll be able to see light and dark areas in tempered. Untempered wll not show variations. Test the effect on the side window of a car, the side, and rear windows are always tempered, front winshields are not. The easiest way I've found to test tank glass is outside using a clear blue sky as the background. This method has worked 100% for me.
Tim