Glass/Acrylic Thickness Calculations

[Pharaoh]

This is a bit of a research compilation for building your own glass or acrylic tank.

Please feel free to post up another great site or thread that discusses the same topic. The more we have listed, the better we can compare all of them and come up with some solid guidelines.

Thanks

 

[Pharaoh]

amehelo's -- Glass Thickness Guide

Salt Aquariums -- Glass Thickness Chart

AquaTools.com -- Glass Thickness Calculator


Reference materials:

http://www.austinglass.com.au/aquariums.html

 

[Pharaoh]

Acrylic Thickness:

SD Plastics Acrylic Calculator

 

[gunthar]

Pharaoh, I just went to the acrylic thickness calculator. for a 60x30 tank it says I need just shy of an inch sheet with a closed top. Have you ever worked with Lexan, has anyone worked with it? And how thick would I need?

 

[Pharaoh]

Pharaoh, I just went to the acrylic thickness calculator. for a 60x30 tank it says I need just shy of an inch sheet with a closed top. Have you ever worked with Lexan, has anyone worked with it? And how thick would I need?

The height is what is causing the thickness to go up for acrylic. This is a very good calculator for estimating as it has a higher safety factor for those that are unfamiliar in working with acrylic. Keep in mind, you would want to use cell-cast acrylic in your build.

Are you wanting to build a completely acrylic tank or are you thinking of building a plywood tank.

 

[gunthar]

I was thinking of doing an all acrylic tank. But I not sure if I want to test my skill in woodworking to working with acrylic. I wanted the tank to be see through on all sides. Any additional help would be great.

 

[dogbert4pres]

I have a hard time believing that a 96"L x 18" high tank needs .9" of acrylic. I have 3 of these tanks and they are all closer to 1/8" thick. Is there another calculator out there?

 

[Rivermud]

post picturses, if you have an 1/8 inch thick acrylic aquarium using those measurements them i'll bring everything down

 

[Pharaoh]

I have a hard time believing that a 96"L x 18" high tank needs .9" of acrylic. I have 3 of these tanks and they are all closer to 1/8" thick. Is there another calculator out there?

Please post the rest of your numbers. I cannot seem to recreate the 0.9" that you are getting. The only way I can get the thickness you state to come up, it to either go with the unsupported sides on Rivermud's and to leave the top open on the sdplastics.com calculator.

 

[Rivermud]

I've run the numbers on both calculators and can't find where in the world someone comes up with .9. The closest I can come is with using the calculator from San Diego Plastics which points out that the next size up in standard measurement is .944. However his calculator and mine use the same formula and both show .541 and .771 for the recommendations. Before someone says that they have an acrylic tank that's 20+ inches tall with half inch acrylic and it works just fine let me point out that the calculators fudge for safety sake since not all acrylic is the same in quality and not everyone is a master builder..