Broken Glass Shield on my coralife 2x 250 watt fixture.

[Cade]

Hello, I made the mistake (hopefully 1st and last time) of splashing the one of the glass shields on my Coralife aqualight pro 2x250 (upgraded from 150).
Oh boy have I learned allot about glass in the last 24 hours. First I read somewhere that specific UV glass was needed... Then after some research I learned that all glass has UV filtering properties. So I went and got a piece of regular 5mil plate glass knowing I would probably need to get tempered. Tested and failed. Back to the glass shop.... Luckily my buddy works there and would do almost anything for beer money. Then I learned that tempered glass had to be ordered from a specific factory who by the way usually only does pieces larger then 12".. (I needed one 9.25 x 5.5 ") we managed to find a company who would "attempt" a piece my size so we ordered it and it should arrive in about a week... BUT this doesn't solve my immediate issue.....

Now, my buddy suggested pyro ceramic usually very expensive... like $0.50 a square inch. ouch I know.. But he cut me a piece to "try"

So i took some home and installed it however here is my question.....

If its not glass is it letting through the UV rays? And am I hurting my fish/corals and not to mention my own eyes by using this stuff? Or does it maybe have an even better UV filtering rating then regular glass? I cant seem to find much info on the net regarding pyro ceramic glass and its UV properties. I believe I found a site that said something about how it was a very good UV filter but that site also went into details about the different types of UV rays... So this is where I got lost and turned to you my fellow REEFERS, hopefully someone has an idea of what Im talking about lol.

Thanks Cade.

[sphelps]

What you need is tempered low E glass (low emissivity).

Not using a proper UV shield with DE halides can cause damage to corals very quickly.

[Cade]

Can the tempered glass that I ordered be made into low E? Its a coating that is applied to the glass is it not?

Ill call the glass company tomorrow... lol

[sphelps]

Yes Low e can be tempered, I've ordered it several times, pretty sure it's some kind of coating but not 100% certain on all the details.

[Cade]

Well thank you very much, I will update when I talk to the glass shop tomorrow.