Glass thickness?

[Bert2oo1]

Hey guys I'm getting the funds together to build my own aquarium. I'm just wondering how thick the glass will have to be? It will be a rimless with no bracing.

Dimensions will be 900x600x450h
Will 10mm toughened be fine?

Any help would be great! Thanks 🙂



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[ahjoe0digi]

I build my own rimless tank 90*45*45 with 8mm normal soda lime glass panel with no problem. Bottom panel should be thicker. If you plan to use softer low iron glass or Sapphire etc better use 10mm

Just remember to leave some space for silicone. Silicon should not be too thin, mine around 0.5-1 mm. If too thin it will not flexible enough and may have risk of failure.

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[Bert2oo1]

I build my own rimless tank 90*45*45 with 8mm normal soda lime glass panel with no problem. Bottom panel should be thicker. If you plan to use softer low iron glass or Sapphire etc better use 10mm

Just remember to leave some space for silicone. Silicon should not be too thin, mine around 0.5-1 mm. If too thin it will not flexible enough and may have risk of failure.

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Thanks for the reply 🙂 so basically if I go 10mm it should be fine and a little bit stronger. Thanks for the heads up with the silicon, I'm a builder by trade so I'm thinking it all should be pretty basic for me. Just need to source some glass now 🙂


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[zozo]

It's the height of the tank creating the pressure inside, in the formula to calculate the thickness only the largest panel in Height and lenght is required.
All smaller panels used to complete the tank should be same thickness unless you have plans to hang heavy equipment to it.. Including bottom if not self supporting.. Self supporting bottoms are rarely used, standard tanks are meant to stand on a sufficient supporting cabinet.

Here is a nice read about what to take into consideration, the formulas used and a calculator.. 🙂
http://www.aquarium-glass.co.uk/

According the calculator depending on the cut you have 2 options in safety factor. If edges are fully polished factor 5 and 8mm thickness is sufficient.
Non polished edges factor 6.8 you would be beter off with 10mm thickness.

So yes with 10mm you are in the save zone.. 🙂

 

[Bert2oo1]

It's the height of the tank creating the pressure inside, in the formula to calculate the thickness only the largest panel in Height and lenght is required.
All smaller panels used to complete the tank should be same thickness unless you have plans to hang heavy equipment to it.. Including bottom if not self supporting.. Self supporting bottoms are rarely used, standard tanks are meant to stand on a sufficient supporting cabinet.

Here is a nice read about what to take into consideration, the formulas used and a calculator.. 🙂
http://www.aquarium-glass.co.uk/

According the calculator depending on the cut you have 2 options in safety factor. If edges are fully polished factor 5 and 8mm thickness is sufficient.
Non polished edges factor 6.8 you would be beter off with 10mm thickness.

So yes with 10mm you are in the save zone.. 🙂

Thanks for the info, that's a very helpful tool right there. I'm waiting to hear back from some glass company's now. Hopefully get it all underway before the new year


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[ahjoe0digi]

I prefer thicker bottom because it provide larger area of Silicon to give better strength, not because thick glass provide structural support. Since bottom panel lies on flat surface it do not give structural support at all accept when you want to move your aquarium without clearing all hardscape inside. Normally these parts are prone to structural failure.



Just remember to trim the edge of glass panel. (uniform silicone seam)


My 2nd DIY tank
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[zozo]

I prefer thicker bottom because it provide larger area of Silicon to give better strength

It probably would, something to think about indeed, only if the bottom panel is placed inside the side panels.. Which is the strongest construction method. But still some builders prefer the side panels on the bottom panel, in this case the silicone area is bond to the sidepanel thinkness. Matter of preference i guess.. Me to i went for the bottom panel inside method.. 🙂

 

[Adam Chambers]

So for some background information

The defining factor for selecting the correct panel thickness is the largest panel size as this will produce the highest load factor. Also worth noting is that once you get to a certain width then only the height really needs to be considered (this is complicated overall but has to do with gravity, distribution of loads and such things).

Glass types and considerations

Annealed Glass, this is just normal float glass that most aquariums are made from. This is the type of glass in the formula below. Annealed glass varies quite widely from manufacture to manufacture and thus again you need to be careful when selecting this base material. Testing samples have seen tensile strength between 19.3 to 28.4MPa.

For this reason 19.2MPa is used for the formula for the tensile strength. However if you are buying it and want to be more accurate you could ask the supplier for their test/sample data for their tensile strength

Toughen Glass basically don't use this. It requires you to bond standard annealed panels due to the edging issues so although you get overall greater tensile strength the likelihood of a failure is greater.

Overall this makes toughened glass a pretty poor choice so avoid any aquarium made from such or making one from this yourself.

Annealed Glass, this is normal float/clear glass that most aquariums are currently made from although the trend is changing.

Annealed glass varies quite widely from manufacture to manufacture and thus again you need to be careful when selecting this base material and may well be worth asking for the manufacture that you are purchasing your glass from to provide their test/sample data accordinlgy.

Testing samples have seen tensile strength between 19 to 29MPa.

Low-Iron, Common product names for low iron glass are Starphire, Opti-white, Diamonte and Ultra white. With less iron, the glass’s light transparency goes from 92-93%, to around 98-99%

People have this myth as above comments have shown that it is actually not as strong as standard Annealed glass. This is not true, the structural properties in terms of tensile strength is the same. If you phone a manufacture and ask this would be confirmed.

It is purely more cost effective to produce Annealed glass compared to low-iron.

Factor Of Safety

I see the above link has suggested for braced tanks a factor of 3.8 should be used and if the edges are polished then this can be reduced to 2. I would suggest that 2 is rather low and would advice 2.5 as a minimum just based on working in the construction industry. Things such as leaning on the glass whilst doing maintenance or dropping a rock or branch into the glass are all things we should avoid but inevitably do.

As mentioned though an unbraced tank requires high factors of course. I would suggest that you double the figures to 7.6 for non polished and 5 for polished edges.

Bottom Panel

I see no reason for it to be thicker in most cases with aquariums. The panel should be supported on the cabinet. However as stated overhung bases which are therefore self supporting are shown with calculation there. I would suggest however that the factor of safety is 5 rather than 3.8, this is due to the fact that an over sailing tank is move likely to be knocked accidentally by someone or something compared to one that is on a fully supporting stand. So this is more a pre-preemptive move to alleviate as many issues as possible after you have spent all this time building said tank.

Conclusion
The calculations on the link above though as stated are pretty spot on. I would suggest always using polished edges for panels as they look more aesthetically pleasing and if budget allows to use low iron panels to all but the base (unless self-supporting).

With all that 8mm is your minimum for your braceless tank. What isn't discussed and cannot be is the amount of deflection that panel will show. For that reason 10mm is often chosen so there is no visible deflection in the panel.

The EA 900 tank for instance is 900x500mm (WxH) main panel and uses a 10mm glass pane to keep deflection to a minimum.

Another note I would just state in regards to your size aquarium that isn't related to the glass thickness is the height means that leaning in to prune plants etc will be more of a task compared to a 500/550mm aquarium so that should be something to consider.

Regards,

Adam

 

[ahjoe0digi]

Yup in most case, I just want to be secure and I always need to move my aquarium without disturb my scape inside. If aquarium stay in one place then same thickness should be OK.

I always glue my front panel on side of my bottom panel for aesthetic purpose, similar to ADA.

Since you build for trade you should invest some on this very useful tools. Forget the name but it hold 2 glass panel in 90 degree

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[Adam Chambers]

I will also state that the weight/load of water will be far greater on the front panel than the hardscape/substrate of an empty tank when moving so you should also never need to have a panel thicker to allow for this either.

 

[ahjoe0digi]

Please do not use tempered glass.
Tempered glass explode in case of failure .

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[ahjoe0digi]

I will also state that the weight/load of water will be far greater on the front panel than the hardscape/substrate of an empty tank when moving so you should also never need to have a panel thicker to allow for this either.

Err, actually I will drain all water out before moving my aquarium. So all the weight will bare by bottom panel. That is why I need thicker bottom to support the weight. However in normal usage bottom panel will not affect much, thickness only affect joint area between front and bottom panel.


Sorry for my drawing. This is the case of tank on cabinet

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[Adam Chambers]

No no, sorry you are miss understanding what I mean.

The weight of the water when in-situ exerts far greater loads on the front & rear panels at all times during it's life than the weight of your substrate and hardscape will exert on your base panel when drained and being moved. Thus the same panel thickness for the base would be fine to hold the weight of said materials.

In fact as the base panel is held by 4 sides rather than 3 like a rimless/braceless tank you should certainly have no issues as the load is spread between more surface area.

 

[Adam Chambers]

Please do not use tempered glass.
Tempered glass explode in case of failure .

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That was what was stated. Larger aquariums (public ones for instances) have sometimes used them in a laminated form as you can then increase the tensile strength to much greater levels by doing so compared to just low-iron/annealed panels.

 

[ahjoe0digi]

No no, sorry you are miss understanding what I mean.

The weight of the water when in-situ exerts far greater loads on the front & rear panels at all times during it's life than the weight of your substrate and hardscape will exert on your base panel when drained and being moved. Thus the same panel thickness for the base would be fine to hold the weight of said materials.

In fact as the base panel is held by 4 sides rather than 3 like a rimless/braceless tank you should certainly have no issues as the load is spread between more surface area.

You are right, just did some calculation. Numbers are more accurate than feeling.
Pressure =depth X density X gravitational acceleration.

Pressure exerted on side panel are always bigger than hardscape. Unless hardscape weight more than full tank of water.

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[Adam Chambers]

Exactly 🙂 glad we at agreement. And yes of course rule of thumb applies but I would question anyone who has a hardscape that weighs more than 50% of water in the tank. Maybe on heavy all stone hardscapes in smaller aquariums (not nano cause minimum glass thickness would already be enough) but as things are scaled up this is likely to be less of an issue as well.

 

[ahjoe0digi]

Exactly 🙂 glad we at agreement. And yes of course rule of thumb applies but I would question anyone who has a hardscape that weighs more than 50% of water in the tank. Maybe on heavy all stone hardscapes in smaller aquariums (not nano cause minimum glass thickness would already be enough) but as things are scaled up this is likely to be less of an issue as well.

planning on build my third tank, this time should be 120*40*40 or 150*50*50. I like to build my own tank to save money and I can get any size and shape I want.



Do you know what is this?? May invest some money to get this in case I need to build bigger tank

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[Adam Chambers]

Good shout and bigger the better 😉 so my vote for the 150x50x50. I will say that 150x60x50 works nicely because timber boards come in 8x4ft lengths for instance so you can cut one in half to get your 60cm/2ft width you need (will loose 2mm from cutting and cleaning edges but not anything to worry about.

So with that would often advice going with multiples in ft because of boards you can buy from hardware just to reduce cutting and often increase the usable board count. Although I am tempted by a 150x90x60 in future out of 15mm superwhite glass.

That glass can be brought US$5 per m2 and although you have to buy 100m2 minimum that's only US$500. sheets come in 1600x2400mm sizes so you basically would be ordering 26 sheets at that size. (although you can of course order custom sizing as needed)

Imagine how many aquariums you could build with that. You just need some more of those clamps (to hold all corners in place so you can build quicker, an industrial glass cuter and edge polish machine and you could start knocking out some aquariums to order 😉

 

[ahjoe0digi]

Actually I'm not the author of this thread. Feel like hijack his thread. But that big tank just for my own use. My current diy tank in use only 90*25*25. I use it to practice my skill in creating depth and sense of scale. Now I want to get a bigger tank for next aquascape.

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[Adam Chambers]

Yeah sorry OP. Just thought all info was interesting to know for people building own aquarium tanks.