Some Aquarium Glass Questions

[blank]

I've seriously considering a 5' x 3' x 3' tank for freshwater tropicals.
It's beautiful, beautiful. But........

my current tank is a 4' chinese item with curved corners, and the glass
scratches very easily, very easily. Nice tank, but I've buggered it up with
the scratches. Mrs blank blames me. Me !!!

So before leaping into a new one (metaphorically) I thought it might be wise
to consult the oracle---that's you folks. Tell me a few things about glass
please. For example:

What thickness would I expect to find on a tank of that dimensions?

Does glass have hardness ratings, and if so is there any way of detecting
them from the glass itself?

What sort of price difference is there between normal aquarium glass and
good quality scratch-resistant glass?

[blue sky]

You would probably be looking at 12mm thinckness of glass for this tank....

Rounded corners for a tank that large???Um...i think you actually may have
an acrylic tank...glass doesnt usually scratch that easy...

Use plain sheet glass, not the tempered stuff-you see if the tank breaks and
it is made of normal glass, it will crack first....tempered glass just
shatters in a gazillion peices. I would also avoid laminated glass (2 pieces
of glass stuck together to become 1 thicker peice). THis glass is not that
strong...especially for a tank the size you are considering...
HTH
"blank" > wrote in message
...
> I've seriously considering a 5' x 3' x 3' tank for freshwater tropicals.
> It's beautiful, beautiful. But........
>
> my current tank is a 4' chinese item with curved corners, and the glass
> scratches very easily, very easily. Nice tank, but I've buggered it up
> with
> the scratches. Mrs blank blames me. Me !!!
>
> So before leaping into a new one (metaphorically) I thought it might be
> wise
> to consult the oracle---that's you folks. Tell me a few things about
> glass
> please. For example:
>
> What thickness would I expect to find on a tank of that dimensions?
>
> Does glass have hardness ratings, and if so is there any way of detecting
> them from the glass itself?
>
> What sort of price difference is there between normal aquarium glass and
> good quality scratch-resistant glass?
>
>

[blank]

"blue sky" > wrote in message
...
> You would probably be looking at 12mm thinckness of glass for this
tank....
>
> Rounded corners for a tank that large???Um...i think you actually may have
> an acrylic tank...glass doesnt usually scratch that easy...

>
> Use plain sheet glass, not the tempered stuff-you see if the tank breaks
and
> it is made of normal glass, it will crack first....tempered glass just
> shatters in a gazillion peices. I would also avoid laminated glass (2
pieces
> of glass stuck together to become 1 thicker peice). THis glass is not that
> strong...especially for a tank the size you are considering...
> HTH

OK, thanks And yes, it is glass, not acrylic Glass tanks that size and
larger are common in Australia.

[Angrie.Woman]

"blank" > wrote in message
...
>
> "blue sky" > wrote in message
> ...
>> You would probably be looking at 12mm thinckness of glass for this
> tank....
>>
>> Rounded corners for a tank that large???Um...i think you actually may
>> have
>> an acrylic tank...glass doesnt usually scratch that easy...
>
>>
>> Use plain sheet glass, not the tempered stuff-you see if the tank breaks
> and
>> it is made of normal glass, it will crack first....tempered glass just
>> shatters in a gazillion peices. I would also avoid laminated glass (2
> pieces
>> of glass stuck together to become 1 thicker peice). THis glass is not
>> that
>> strong...especially for a tank the size you are considering...
>> HTH
>
> OK, thanks And yes, it is glass, not acrylic Glass tanks that size
> and
> larger are common in Australia.

I'm kind of surprised to hear that too. It just seems to be
contra-indicative of the properties of glass.

A

[[email protected]]

Avoid using a metal blade to clean acrylic and still even avoid using a
metal blade to clean glass as it can scratch even glass according to my
experience. I quit using a penn-plax metal bladed glass scraper as it
scratched the tank I used it to clean with and bought a mag-float meant
to be used for acrylic tanks and I use it with glass tanks now - no
more scratches.