10g non-tempered in ABQ???

[Scooter12ga]

Hello everybody,

I'm desperately trying to find a 10g non-tempered tank to drill for my fuge. I thought I had found one last night - whirrr went the dremel, POP went the tempered glass . I'm trying to clean out the tracks in the frame to just replace the panel, but I'm starting to think it might just be easier to replace the tank. (the whole whopping $10 that they cost).

After last night I'm non trusting of any tank as I even checked it with polarized sunglasses and couldn't see any of the trademark 'checkerboard' that you typically see in tempered glass. Though I also checked my 55 which I know is tempered and couldn't see the pattern either (perhaps chemical temper vs. heat temper ??)

Does anybody know for sure of anywhere in ABQ where they sell a NON-TEMPERED 10g tank for cheap?

 

[asfullax]

Petsmart "10 gallons" are non tempered, I know that to be 100% true. Although, I had tried to use one for my sump, I was only able to get a hole cut on one out of three, and that didn't last long, just the weight of the water and pvc was enough to pop it. I would look around for a 10 gallon acrylic, much easier to cut and much, much stronger.

My soclution was to move to a 20 gallon from petsmart and pay a shop on lomas (glassworks, I think) to drill the holes. They charged $5 a hole and a $7.50 setup fee if I remember correctly.

(leave me alone, its early and i'm tired. )

 

[skyfireblaze]

Where did you get your tempered tank from?

The tanks available from Petco (AGA) or Petsmart (TopFin) should be regular, non-tempered. I'd go with the AGA tank from Petco if you're going to try to drill it. I'm thinking that the AGA glass may be just a bit thicker than the Top Fin brand. Of course you might want to measure yourself to make sure, but I've always had good luck with AGA.

Of course, if you can, I'd also suggest going up in tank size if you're going to drill. There are so many threads, especially in the nano forum, of drilled 10g's breaking. It doesn't take much when the glass is that thin. I'd definitely think about getting at least a 15g (I've seen them for sale at the San Mateo Petco), but then your looking at close to $30+ instead of the $10 10g's.

Hope this helps ...

(it's the middle of the day and I'm tired )

 

[Scooter12ga]

Thanks guys,

I think I'll look at a 15 at petco (assuming it will fit on my rack). $30 isn't that big of a deal, considering that I'm up to at least $20 now anyway for a 10g, and the peace of mind will be nice.

~Mike

(p.s. I'm tired too but any other advice is welcomed)

 

[moonpower]

I have a couple of spare sumps acrylic if you are interested.

 

[israelnajar]

Well if you are going to replace the panel that broke, replace it with a piece of pre drilled acrylic of the same thickness. Call Plastic Supply, they have decent prices on cut acrylic, somthing like 4 dollars a sheet cut to the dims you want, they will probably drill it also.

 

[skyfireblaze]

I personally wouldn't recommend using acrylic to replace the broken glass panel. You won't get near the adhesive strength from siliconing the acrylic as you would from a new piece of glass. Acrylic works good for baffles and such, but there's no way I'd trust the tank wall to it (as part of a glass tank).

Now if you wanted to make an entire tank out of acrylic ... That'd be cool.