in my short time as an aquarium hobbiest i have noticed that most tanks are constructed out of plain old annealed [plate glass]. why not use tempered or even heat strengthed glass. tempered glass is 5 to 7 times stronger than plate and i believe that heat strengthened is about 3 times stronger. tempered and heat strengthened cannot be drilled after it is tempered, and is a little more expensive. other than those two reasons does anybody know why. i dont think there is a fish in the world that could break through a piece of 1/2 or 5/8 temp glass. with all these monster fish why not use stronger glass.....
tempered glass v.s annealed glass for fish tank.
- Thread starter scottchristian
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Price. Everybody probably would choose tempered glass, but if not absolutely necessary then I would not pay the difference for no reason...
Normal plate glass is cheaper, easier to work with and does the job fine, using tempered glass would add extra cost when its not really required unless your having problems with your tanks exploding? I've never had a problem with normal plate glass tanks. You could make a car out of titanium too but why would you?
Having said that, one of my tanks has 10mm laminated glass end plates
Having said that, one of my tanks has 10mm laminated glass end plates
im planning on building a pretty big tank, maybe 96"x33"x30". i want to stock it with a lot of big aggresive fish, and that seems like a lot of water pressure. tempering is about $2 per sq. ft wholesale. another thing that terrifies me is some punk kids breaking in my home and trying to smash something through the glass. after some of the vandalization ive seen on some jobsites around town i feel that anything is possible. i think it will be worth my piece of mind. the difference in strength is unbelievable. i know firsthand, even got scars to prove it 
Doesnt tempered glass shatter when its broken? You migh be best with laminated glass? That way if it cracks or somehow breaks, its not going to be a catastrophic failure of the whole sheet. It should still hold together long enough to save some fish?
Even if the glass cracks it's still bad, it changes the surface tension and would probably blow out in short order. I'm thinking big tanks though.
Tempered glass definately shatters as opposed to cracking, but you have to ask yourself if that's even a concern. If the tank is somewhere that being hit and shattering is a concern, should you really put a tank there in the first place?
I use tempered glass, but that's just a preference. Plus if you ever drop a tempered tank, chances are it may not hurt it at all, it'll just bounce when it hits the floor. It's cool to watch, from a distance.
Tempered glass definately shatters as opposed to cracking, but you have to ask yourself if that's even a concern. If the tank is somewhere that being hit and shattering is a concern, should you really put a tank there in the first place?
I use tempered glass, but that's just a preference. Plus if you ever drop a tempered tank, chances are it may not hurt it at all, it'll just bounce when it hits the floor. It's cool to watch, from a distance.
the only reason that is a concern of mine is becouse i always try and imagine what the worst possible thing that could happen would be if someone doesnt believe that could ever happen must have grew up in disneyland
