Living in glass houses: do you pay attention to the thickness of the aquarium walls?

[Peace River]

Living in glass houses: do you pay attention to the thickness of the aquarium walls?

So often we are focused on the beautiful fish, coral, and aquascape inside our aquarium that we don’t see the glass. I mean, that is the purpose of glass, right? We want to look through the glass and admire all of the stuff in the aquarium. While we often don’t think of the glass, and especially the thickness of the glass, after we purchase the tank (and maybe not even at that time), it is helpful to know the thickness of your glass. Additionally, it is a good idea to occasionally look at the glass (and not just through it) where you are specifically looking for chips, scratch, seams, and any other related aspects. Please let us know - do you pay attention to the thickness of the aquarium?

Pro tip: In addition to the structural integrity of the tank, the thickness of the glass is also important when you are deciding which magnetic frag rack, magnetic powerhead, or other piece of equipment that attaches to the glass with magnets. It is helpful to know the thickness of the glass of your aquarium, so you are ready for those spur-of-the-moment purchases of equipment where glass thickness is a factor.

Photo by @Tenji

If you want to explore more information on glass thickness, please consider reading a related R2R article on choosing your display aquarium:
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/equipment-choosing-your-display-aquarium.481/


This QOTD is sponsored by: www.tckcorals.com

 

[albano]

Fortunately, I don’t need to worry about glass thickness… I have acrylic tanks!
But yes, I do check the seams for any problems.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I've checked the seams on mine every now and then, but it isn't something I think about regularly

 

[vetteguy53081]

I really dont as I run large tanks which already have thick glass.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

1/2" thick on the side panes. In layman's terms, too thick for the expensive Mp10 powerhead I bought. Ugh.

 

[Zero_Cool]

.75 makes choosing frag racks, feeding clips, wavemakers and other magnetic hold items a challenge.

 

[Koh23]

I build my tanks, so i know.....

Really not sure is it possible NOT to know or care about glass thickness....

Buildt tanks, bought tanks..... Dimension, volume and glass thickness is holly trinity, and something one should know.....

 

[o2manyfish]

My 750g is made out of 1.5" Acrylic. The seams are massive, and while they are museum quality (transparent no bubbles) it's impossible to dismiss the panel thickness.

Dave B

 

[cwerner]

I care more about the construction method than the thickness of glass. Seems like Euro-braced or framed designs seem to hold up better. I hear less horror stories about the cheap Marineland and Aqueon tanks than I do about the low-iron glass rimless fancy ones like RS and Waterbox.

Next tank I get will either be framed or euro-braced....or acrylic. Not saying nobody makes really nice rimless, just that I have kids that are getting larger and more and more capable of putting large amounts of force behind thrown objects or themselves.

 

[LPS Bum]

1/2 inch thick glass on my old 240 FOWLR (which now seems too thin for the size IMO) and 3/4 inch thick glass on my Gen 2 625 XXL reef (which seems about right).

Honestly, with all the Gen 1 Red Sea seam fails, I'm more worried about that. But I'm hoping the upgrades they made for Gen 2 (thicker glass, armored seams, and maybe most importantly the brace in the middle of the tank) have solved the problem.

 

[Aspect]

Glass tank very rarely fail due to glass, the majority of the time it's due to the silicone failing. My tank is 500 gallons and I regularly check the silicone seals.

 

[shakacuz]

i occasionally check the seams of my 40B. living in an apartment it's very important to me that i do not damage the property. although i am not TOO concerned about the tank failing, it is something that does circulate in my mind once in a while.

 

[zoomonster]

My 200 is 5/8 which is plenty thick especially being it's a rimmed tank. I said I would never buy a rimless tank w/o good glass and bracing but did buy a used Fiji 32 INT. Glass is plenty thick at 10mm and its only 32g. Looks like for the AIO's and external overflows they went to 8mm on that size.

 

[Drewe]

1/2" thick on the side panes. In layman's terms, too thick for the expensive Mp10 powerhead I bought. Ugh.

Mine has held without issues on 1/2" glass, if you haven't tried it yet.

 

[Flame2hawk]

When you have 2-3/4 inch glass Red Sea aquariums, you live in a constant state of paranoidia and thus always checking stand and seem integrity….never again.

My custom 1 inch glass 625g gives me no worries….

 

[His Coral Highness]

1/2” glass on my 75 gallon. I sure notice how thick it is when I have to move it. Even empty it’s a monster to carry

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Mine has held without issues on 1/2" glass, if you haven't tried it yet.

I tried it, it does sort of stay on, but the force isn't enough to keep the dry side from falling off. Did you take the protective pad on the dry side off? Thanks!

 

[Suesea]

I worry about all of it all the time, seams, little shiny hair line surface cracks here and there that I didn't notice when I bought this tank. I think it's Marineland, it's rimmed 125g 6ft. Glass is qlass is 3/8 thick. I bought it new at LFS about 4yrs ago now to replace 75g.

 

[Duane Fagan]

My 750g is made out of 1.5" Acrylic. The seams are massive, and while they are museum quality (transparent no bubbles) it's impossible to dismiss the panel thickness.

Dave B

Whats the height of your tank for the 1.5 thickness?

 

[o2manyfish]

Whats the height of your tank for the 1.5 thickness?

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