issues with tempered glass for aquariums?

fullmonti

fullmonti

now is the time
I know tempered glass can not be cut or drilled. I know it is stronger too. If your building a tank that normally would use 1/2" glass, would tempered glass be enough stronger to use 3/8" instead? The reason I ask tempered glass would be cheaper & lighter & was wondering if there was any other down side to using it?

Thanks
Jim
 
I'm no expert on glass but I would think that tempered glass would be more susceptible to shattering from lower impacts over traditional glass. I'd think that traditional glass would be stronger and would reduce the possibility of breakage should a rock fall or something bump the tank just right.
 
tempered glass polarizes light that goes through it, when you look inside the tank at an angle, you will get a headache after a while
 
Guess that explains why tanks aren't normally made with tempered glass. thought there must be a/some reason why.

Thanks
Jim
 
I've seen pick head axes bounce off of tempered glass with several strikes. Tempered will be much tougher than plate if a rock falls, or some other minor incident happens that might crack regular plate glass.

Visually, unless you are wearing polarized glasses you will notice no difference... not sure where the headache idea comes from, think about it, all the glass in your car except the windshield is tempered... by law, does looking out the windows of your car give you a headache?

I'm not sure tempered will be less expensive, but it will certainly be lighter as you suspect. If you can get the sizes you need, there should be nothing wrong with using it for a tank build, BTW - 55 gallon tanks used to be 1/2" plate, with tempered glass they're 1/4" or 3/8" I don't have one to measure so I don't know what number is correct, I do know they're much lighter than they used to be!
 
go talk to a local glass shop they can drill the holes you need in plate glass and then using whatever method they use they can then make the glass tempered i'm no expert on the process but i have seen that mentioned in RC somewhere
 
Kdawg_69 said:
go talk to a local glass shop they can drill the holes you need in plate glass and then using whatever method they use they can then make the glass tempered i'm no expert on the process but i have seen that mentioned in RC somewhere
Click to expand...

I doubt that's a very economical way to build a tank... I see dollar signs attached to custom pieces of tempered glass!
 
It is cheaper because of the thinner glass & cheaper cost of edge work. Even with the cost of tempering. I did order non tempered glass though.
 
I'm resurrecting this thread.

I'm planning on an open top very large tank 144" x 96" x 27" using 3/4" starphire in a peninsula.

So.. looking into having three sides 12' x 27" + 12' x 27" + 8' x 27" tempered.

The idea is 3/4" tempered will be strong enough with minimal eurobracing.

Any impact that would break tempered would likely smash a normal pane anyway.

Polarized light change is only visible if you wear polarized glasses.

Any other concerns?
 
Last edited:
karimwassef said:
...
Any impact that would break tempered would likely smash a normal pane anyway....
Click to expand...

This is true of blunt force, but it is not true in general.

If you can force a tiny crack through the thin outer stress layer in any spot,
then the entire pane shatters instantly.
So a remarkably small force from a sharp diamond spike will break it, where
that would only put a tiny ding in normal glass.
But in reality, limestone is soft, as is pretty much everything else in your tank.
So no major worries.

My only concerns would be:
1) You are relying on the tempered strength, but unless you know the exact
manufacturing procedure, do you really know the enhanced strength?
2) You can never change your mind and drill it later.
3) Be careful of the corners.
 
good feedback. I'm having the edges chamfered, and polished (top and outside ends). This will be prettier but also less prone to single point stresses.

I'm not actually relying on the tempered glass strength itself. I designed it at 27" with a double 3/4" eurobrace. It also has a second horizontal glass pane 18" down which acts as a second brace. Then the bottom is double eurobraced again.

These are the 3 view sides of the tanks - no holes needed. The back pane will remain regular glass in case of future changes.
 
karimwassef said:
good feedback. I'm having the edges chamfered, and polished (top and outside ends). This will be prettier but also less prone to single point stresses.

I'm not actually relying on the tempered glass strength itself. I designed it at 27" with a double 3/4" eurobrace. It also has a second horizontal glass pane 18" down which acts as a second brace. Then the bottom is double eurobraced again.

These are the 3 view sides of the tanks - no holes needed. The back pane will remain regular glass in case of future changes.
Click to expand...

Hey curious if you built your peninsula with tempered glass, and if so how is it doing? Any glass explosions? I have 4 panels of 1/2" tempered that I plan to use for back/front and sides of a 41" cube thatd 19" high.
 
davidgnome said:
Hey curious if you built your peninsula with tempered glass, and if so how is it doing? Any glass explosions? I have 4 panels of 1/2" tempered that I plan to use for back/front and sides of a 41" cube thatd 19" high.
Click to expand...
Although temp glass can sometimes shatter for no reason it is not likely. Tempered is stronger if it is hit on the face of it. If you hit the edge or corner then it will blow. I work at a glass shop and I've taken a sledge hammer to a piece of 1/2 temp and it took 2 or 3 good blows to blow up.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
MarAquatic said:
Although temp glass can sometimes shatter for no reason it is not likely. Tempered is stronger if it is hit on the face of it. If you hit the edge or corner then it will blow. I work at a glass shop and I've taken a sledge hammer to a piece of 1/2 temp and it took 2 or 3 good blows to blow up.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


So getting protection for the corners on the outside might be a good added safety meaaure. Do you have a link of the glass triangles you were talking about?
 
Ah that would be added bracing internally i think. Mine would be external so the edges dont get bumped into and cause a breakage.
 
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