Should I Order My Tank With Tempered Bottom?

[JaySchulz]

The last couple of weeks I've been getting everything in order and making sure I haven't overlooked anything before I order my tank. Last night I started thinking about wheather I should have the bottom glass tempered. I have read some pros and cons of tempered vs regular plate glass but they were older threads and maybe there is a big difference of opinion now. So let's hear what everyone thinks.

-Builder is Customaquariums.com
-72"L x 48"W x 27"T Peninsula on a wood stand
-Tank will have Aluminum bracing
-Glass will be 3/4" low iron on 3 viewing sides and 3/4" regular clarity on panel. against wall

I was going to order tank with 3/4" glass non tempered bottom but now I'm wondering if I should have it tempered.

Thanks ahead of time.

 

[JaySchulz]

No one?

 

[FirstContact]

Never really knew that non tempered would be an option for the bottom pane. But it's a custom tank; so, I am guessing your not going to turn the bottom into Swiss cheese by drilling it yourself for closed loop applications. If that's the case, I would temper the bottom. Not sure at what thickness the option to not temper would make sense.

 

[JaySchulz]

Never really knew that non tempered would be an option for the bottom pane. But it's a custom tank; so, I am guessing your not going to turn the bottom into Swiss cheese by drilling it yourself for closed loop applications. If that's the case, I would temper the bottom. Not sure at what thickness the option to not temper would make sense.

I didn't really think about it much till I saw it as an option. The standard tank thickness they offer for this size tank is 1/2" glass. That seemed a little thin so I'm upgrading to 3/4" for the whole tank. I'm not going closed loop and there will be no holes on the bottom pane.

From what I've read the main reason tank builders go tempered bottom (aside from the obvious that it is much stronger) is because of rock slides falling on bottom glass. I'm planning on having my rock work completely secure with acrylic rods and Jurassic Glue. The cons to tempered are IF it breaks it completely breaks into millions of pieces instead of cracking and creating time to remove water before a massive flood. Also I've read that tempered easily breaks if you hit the edges just right.

I'm leaning towards regular plate glass but wanted to see if everyone thought I would be making a big mistake.

 

[ca1ore]

Plenty of tanks have non-tempered bottoms. Ask the tank builder what he recommends. He'll know the tank better than any of us speculating on an Internet forum. BTW, tempering is usually a way for the manufacturer to get away with using thinner glass; thus not inherently stronger than regular plate glass.

 

[Boggs]

I thought all the larger ones had tempered glass

 

[ca1ore]

My 265 is not. 12 mm glass on all sides; 19 mm on bottom.

 

[d2mini]

My 200 was a hybrid bottom. PVC | glass | ABS.

 

[JaySchulz]

Thanks to all you guys for the responses. I found a glass thickness calculator that determines the "safety factor" and after I plugged all my future tank deminsions in my results were

Bottom Glass - 4.2
Side Glass - 5.8

From what I've read anything over a 3.8 rating should be safe.