Drilling Exo-Terra Glass Terrarium

[jasonrsus]

Have any of you drilled an Exo-Terra Glass Terrarium to fit a BH? I'm wanting to insert a hose to accomodate and external ultrasonic humidifier near the ground level of my substrate. However, I am way too nervous to drill my tank after the $$$ I had to shell out for it...

I contacted Hagen and their customer support advised that "It is a tempered glass. You can drill holes in it". Their statement seems contradictory.

I would feel a whole lot better hearing from someone that has actually done this to their Exo-Terra Tank.

BTW, mines the 36" x 18" x 18" version. I can't wait to get this build completed!

[froggsong]

Hmmmmm, that IS very contradictory... You CAN drill holes in tempered glass, but of course, you'll probably end up with a hole the size of the pane you were drilling! (lol, jk!!!) Here is something I found on drilling tempered glass:

"Drilling Tempered Glass - Not Recommended

Tempered glass can be drilled, however, breakage may run as high as 80% to 90% depending upon the degree of temper in the glass. We do not recommend trying to drill tempered glass.

The manufacturing process of making tempered glass results in the glass having a large amount of stress between various portions of the glass. The stress points might look much like a piece of wood containing lots of "knots", however, there is no outward appearance to indicate the hidden stress. Highly tempered glass will often crack at the stress points near the hole. Since the amount of hidden stress increases with the degree of temper, the success rate of drilling tempered glass reduces with the increase in glass temper.

There is no way to know the amount of temper in a piece of tempered glass, so there is no way to evaluate the amount of risk involved in trying to drill it. Therefore, we DO NOT RECOMMEND attempting to drill tempered glass."

So, if it is tempered, I'd say no... Maybe call back and ask to speak to a supervisor and tell them that you got very contradictory information, and you'd hate them to be liable for your tank breaking because you drilled it on the advise of one of their customer support "specialists". A supervisor should be able to at least tell you whether it is tempered or not.

[Tiamat]

imo, with a specificatly design mesh for drilling glass you could. If the mesh is good, and the drilling done correctly, there is no reason to generate stress around the cut itself. I would tend to say it would have been wrong 10 years ago. But with all the technological advancements, drills and cuting tools are seriously upgraded.

The only problem i see? i hope you are ready to pay the big bucks for this mesh!!!

[islandvivs]

Originally Posted by Tiamat

imo, with a specificatly design mesh for drilling glass you could. If the mesh is good, and the drilling done correctly, there is no reason to generate stress around the cut itself. I would tend to say it would have been wrong 10 years ago. But with all the technological advancements, drills and cuting tools are seriously upgraded.

The only problem i see? i hope you are ready to pay the big bucks for this mesh!!!

I concur.....you might wanna ask the local glass shop guy if he can help you out.

[jasonrsus]

Thanks for the input. I'm going to err on the side of caution and not risk it. Ideally I wanted this to pipe in fog at the land level. I'll do it from the screen and have the fog fall from above. Not as aesthetically pleasing but better than a broken tank.

[sinflspeed]

It has been done, and I do not think the exo's are tempered glass. I believe there was a post on Dendro. Not sure if I can post the link, but if you search "exoterra" dated 8/3/2008

[sinflspeed]

Sorry 8/24/2008

[jasonrsus]

After following up with Hagen's Customer Support to clarify the discrepancy it has been confirmed that Exo-Terra Glass Terrariums do NOT use Tempered Glass. So it is safe to drill but it will, obviously, void the warranty.

I also saw a post on Dendroboard where one had been setup and was drying (on stairs, at an angle), slipped and broke. Ouch$$$! Looking at the way the glass broke I would agree that it is not tempered. At any rate, I think I have abandoned the "fog from above" idea for now. Just ordered a Mist King setup...It will install nicely in the screen top and accomplish what I need.

Will someone please turn off the leaf blower in my back pocket that's blowing all my cash away...

[sinflspeed]

So are you going to drill your Exo?

[jasonrsus]

Not at this time. If my misting system gives me the desired effect then I'll have no need to drill the tank for an ultrasonic fogger.