Is the Pacific Coast 15.5 Nano tempered glass?

[Rick]

Does anyone know if the back wall of a Pacific Coast 15.5 gallon nano tank is made with tempered glass? I'm thinking about drilling mine to add an external sump/fuge that is mounted right on the back wall. Doing this I could eliminate the plastic one that drops into the back of the tank both to make more room and to give me more options for sump filtration.

[drunkreefer]

I thought the back half was plastic?

[CA2OR]

I don't know, what I do know is the 12.5g I had used the back plastic wall as support. If you damage it too much you may not be too thrilled with the out come. Different manufacturer though so maybe yours is different. Can you post pic?

[Rick]

No, it's definately glass. The sump is actually a separate box that just drops into the rear of the tank so it isn't providing any support at all. To remove the box all I would need to do is wait for the RBTA to crawl back out of the frag grating and then pull it out leaving just a plain glass tank. (The RBTA attached itself to the wall behind the grate and is sticking through it right now) IMO the current sump is doing little more than provide a small amount of circulation and a few more pieces of LR in the tank itself would likely do more to filter the tank than it does. To me this seems like wasted space. I may have to find the link for the camera lense trick to check for tempered glass.

[CA2OR]

I see....hmm. I don't know if you would have a problem then. I do agree that the additional LR would most likely be more beneficial than that section.

[grassi]

Drill an hole and you will know ;-)

There is some reference about looking at it with a pair of polarized sunglasses. You should see a "rainbow". Or go to a glass shop, they usually can tell at sight.

[Rick]

Drill an hole and you will know ;-)

.....

 

Been there, done that, don't want to do it again. I had a 55 gallon tank that was supposed to be regular glass that I started to drill for a return line. When I did the whole side shattered. Sounded like a gun went off when it did.

[defigart]

CONTACT PACIFIC COAST

 

Mailing Address:

Pacific Coast Imports, Inc.

P.O. Box 378

Woodburn, OR 97071-0378

 

Phone: (503) 982-6700

Fax: (503) 982-0760

 

Email: info@pacificcoastimports.com

[reef165]

ya, look at it with polarized sunglasses and there will be a dot patern, look at your car window to get the patern then look at the tank, ya should move it arround a bit just to make sure but it dose work.

[COReefer]

I was gonna suggest the polarized sunglasses also. works pretty well

[Rick]

Doesn't matter now. (Good for future reference though) I sold the Nano Sunday both to make room for and to get the funds for a complete 40 gallon setup. IMO it was a much better option than trying to make an external sump. Now the sump itself is almost as big as the Nano was.