Which aquarium manufacturer for drilling???

[fkshiu]

You can drill either brand safely as long as it's NON-tempered glass.

I don't believe Seastar uses tempered and AGA only uses tempered bottoms for the non-reef-ready tanks (with a sticker indicating so).

As far as "beefiness" is concerned, all Seastars that I've come across are built like tanks with their big glass cross-braces and tend to have thicker beads on silicone than AGA. However, I do find the finishing and detail work on Seastars not as "clean" as with the big manufacturers.

The nice thing about Seastar being local is that you can get a custom tank ordered up through King Ed's or OA, for example, in a couple weeks. They also can pre-drill holes for you or even construct overflow boxes. Euro-bracing, bevelled edges and Starphire are all options as well.