Glass/Acrylic Thickness Calculations

[Ocean Railroader]

Would this be a good price for a two inch thick piece of Acrylic?


A & C Plastics, Inc gave me a quite for around $1300 dollars for a two inch thick eight by four foot tall sheet of Clear Acrylic but they said anything bigger and thicker need to be custom made.

 

[Pharaoh]

That doesn't sound too bad. Keep shopping just in case someone can get it cheaper.

 

[essamabdawi]

Thank you for the good information

 

[pshtex]

height is what matter!! so water pressure is basically the weight of the water per unit area so lets take lbs/in^2. well so a 4"x4"x4" cube of water weighs roughly 2lbs. and is exerting this force on a 4"x4" area (the foot print) or 16in^2 area. so the pressure is 2lbs/16in^2 = .125 lb/in^2. ok now lets double the length 8x4x4 (doubling one side wil double the weight of water) so now the weight is 4lbs but on an area of 8x4= 32in^2 so 4lbs/32in^2=.125 lb/in^2 pressure is the same. ok now lets double the height so 4x4x8 the water weight will double so 4lbs but the area the pressure is on is only the original 4x4 or 16in^2 so now 4/16=.25 lb/in^2 so the pressure has gone up. so now that is the y the height matters and not the foot print man i am glad i just realized this cause now i can buil my 270 gal. these are the calculations that prove y height is what matters in determining glass thickness not the size of the foot print. the tank will still need to be braced to prevent bowing on the long tanks.

 

[Pharaoh]

Yes, the height is the big factor. Length will affect it somewhat, but it we mostly pertain to the height.

 

[Huladad]

I'm thinking about doing a 96"x36"x25" glass aquarium with 1/2" glass. The euro-bracing on the top would be one piece of glass with 3 cutouts on a CNC for access to the tank, I would leave about 10 inches of glass between each cutout. Do you think 1/2" glass would suffice for this type of tank with the planned bracing? Thanks in advance....

 

[bflymigrate]

yes thank you so much for the info!

 

[Ocean Railroader]

I was able to find a place that sold a sheet of clear acrylic that was six feet tall and eight feet wide and three inches thick for under $6000. Would three inches be enough to hold back six feet of water on a six foot high sheet that is eight feet long?

 

[DFishFox]

Here's a link to my thread about my train of thought on what I want to get serious about. Mainly about acrylic... I'm very curious as to what I should plan for with regards to fitting the window in. Bracing design, materials....

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?438064-Help-with-Acrylic-window-for-DIY-tank

 

[James0816]

Curious if this piece of glass would be useful:

108" x 42" x 3/4"