Safe to drill?

[1979fishgeek]

how can you tell if a tank is safe to drill?

I have seen a small tank which would be ideal for a frag tank and want to run it off my DS sump. It's only 24x8x8 and a clearseal tank?

 

[1979fishgeek]

Or this sort of thing?

 

[Diesel]

Use polarized sunglasses, or your smartphone, you'll see rainbow coloration.

 

[redfishbluefish]

As I was typing, @Diesel got it. A pair of polarized sun glasses with a computer/phone/tablet. Place the electronic device into the tank, and with the sun glasses on, turn the electronic device (ideally with a white screen) until it goes black. If it's total black, it's good to drill. If you see streaks of gray/white within the black, it's not good to drill....it's tempered and CAN NOT BE DRILLED.

 

[tcarter1936]

Fwiw,I have done this method many times and It works great but I've found it easier to not wear the glasses but peer though them a foot or me away from eyes.

 

[1979fishgeek]

I got a email back from Clear seal, the tanks are made with float glass which has not been toughened.

I have not ordered them yet, so can't do the test but is float glass safe or does it still need testing?

Thank you!

 

[tcarter1936]

it never hurts to check although I've never heard of float glass and to the best of my knowledge anything but tempered should be able to be drilled

 

[redfishbluefish]

Float glass is simply the method of manufacture and produces an ordinary annealed glass....."normal" glass. For it to be tempered, you would then take this ordinary glass and further process it. So specifically, float glass can be cut and drilled without issue.

 

[1979fishgeek]

Thanks guys, new little frag tank project will be starting soon!