Glass Aquariums

Glass Aquariums are cool looking transparent aquariums which are a pleasure to watch, keep in your drawing room. Glass Aquariums are buyer's first choice not only for look but since they are so handy when it comes to water life of the aquarium. In glass aquariums sunlight is in abundance. This sunlight or whatever light is very useful for fishes (almost all) and water plants in executing their life cycles and daily demands. But the major concern lies over glass quality, perseverance of delicate glass, etc.

The basic nuts and bolts of building a glass aquarium for either salt or fresh water use are pretty straightforward: Plan ahead, measure accurately, prepare the glass, use the right adhesive, apply the adhesive and install the glass so as to have continuous, bubble-free seams which will not fail under use. The only difference in building a larger tank compared to a smaller one, of 55 gallons or less in size, is that the bonding process must be near perfect, and the glass thickness must be sufficient to withstand the added water pressure with a margin of error for the unexpected (Little Johnny winging his new Tonka truck at the Queen Angel in your tank in a fit of rage). You can find instructions and building hints in any "Glass Aquarium Plans" provided by sellers. Once the basics of construction are mastered, the biggest concern most people have with building their own custom aquarium is determining the right glass thickness.

About Glass quality, Characteristics & Thickness:
The quality of glass is determined by the individual manufacturer's methods and techniques of producing the glass. Testing samples of uniform manufacture has indicated that the tensile strength runs from 19. 3 to 28. 4MPa.

Due to limitations of the manufacturing process, the strength of glass can vary, which means a suitable safety factor must be used when calculating glass thickness. The commonly used factor is 3. 8. This is not an absolute guarantee; however it will essentially remove all risk of glass failure other than that created by damaged or very poor quality glass. Scratches and chips in the glass will be the main cause of failure at this point.
You can use any good Custom Aquarium Glass Thickness Calculator to get a quick idea of which glass thickness will be required for your tank, and if you want to vary the glass thickness and Safety Factor for your specific design, you can download any Glass Thickness Calculator. Many providers think that the 3. 8 Safety Factor is a bit of an overkill for their particular tank and location situation (i.e. low traffic in a protected area), and therefore feel comfortable with a lower factor.