fish tank glass type
photo you can see the sanded/ground edges of the 1/4" plateThis is not a bad idea, and it may cost a little bit more to have done, but it's very easy to cut your fingers with as much as you will be handing the glass. #2 is the GE Window and Door silicone that I used, and photo #3 shows how I laid all 5 pieces of glass out to get them ready to assemble and had strips of masking tape ready for use (see below Order of Assembly - The order of construction should start with the bottom pane, then put the front pane on, then the 2 side panes,Doesn't sound so easy does it? I promise once you get started, it won't seem so bad. The side pieces will need to be shorter so they can be sandwiched between the front and back pieces. tank, the front, back and bottom pieces were all 14" x 14". But the 2 side pieces were 14" x 13 1/2". If you use a different thickness of glass, you'll have to compensate in your measurements of Installation - If you're not used to a caulk gun, you might want
to practice making even lines on something other than your glass, likeYou'll need the silicone line to be straight and about 3mm in thickness. When you cut the top of your silicone tube, make sure it's got about a 3mm opening. If you have all your pieces laid out before hand, it will be a lot easier. I put the aquarium together by myself, but if you have someone to help that makes it a little easier, especially for larger aquariums. 1 - With all your glass laid out (double check that the shorter pieces are your side pieces) clean all of the edges with acetone orThen cut strips of masking tape and stick half of each strip to the underside of the bottom pane and leave the other half of the strip laying on the table (seeAs you install each side, you'll pull the tape up and stick it to the glass. You won't want to have to lift the aquarium up after you've started siliconing the sides - that would get messy! cut 16 strips of tape and place them nearby, within easy reach.
doesn't, or if you are afraid you might bump it, you can prop a container (filled with water), or other heavy object, up next to the upright pane of glass for additional support. I thought I would need this, but in the end I really didn't. But it's good to have this on hand just in here for a silicone diagram (PDF format). The pink lines represent where the lines of silicone are placed, and the pink #'s are the order in which I describe in the installation process. Do not build an aquarium in humid or cold conditions. not stick well if it's humid, and both humidity and the cold slows down the silicone curing process. 2 - Run another thin line of silicone along the bottom pane, 2mm from the edge, for the side panel. And also a line of silicone (3mm wide, 2mm from the edge) along the inside edge of the front pane youPress the side panel into place, making sure to press down firmly, but gently. Try to get this piece in place the first try
- get help if you need it. If you press the glass onto the silicone and then pull it off or re-align it, you could create bubbles in the silicone, which can create a faulty seal later on. The front and side panel should form a tight corner that is properly aligned (see photos 3 - Run another thin line of silicone along the bottom pane, 2mm from the edge, for the second side panel. And also a line of silicone (3mm wide, 2mm from the edge) along the inside edge of the front pane. Press the second side panel into place, making sure to press down firmly, 4 - You will need to run the last 3 thin lines of silicone... along the bottom pane, and 2 along the inside edges of the back panel. press the back panel into place, making sure to press down firmly, but The Differences Between and the Debate About Glass Aquariums and Acrylic Aquariums Most aquariums are made of either glass orHowever, many people don't know what the difference is -
except that the acrylic tank is usually much more expensive. this results in the impression that the acrylic tank is better, thoughThis is not necessarily true. acrylic tanks have their benefits and their drawbacks. Glass is very difficult to scratch. Scratching glass usually requires a relatively hard material and a considerably amount of pressure. can scratch glass if you take a piece of uncoated aquarium gravel or a rock and rub it against the glass, or if you take a piece of metal and deliberately scratch the glass. However this is unlikely. Acrylic is highly scratchable. Often, despite the best efforts of manufacturers and shippers, the packing materials used to pack acrylic tanks will scratch the tank!. The tank can be scratched by a person brushing it with their clothing, jewelry, purse, back pack, or bag when casually walking past it in the store, and the tank can very easily be scratched when people are moving, loading, or unloading
The inhabitants of an acrylic aquarium can even scratch the tank themselves, if they have any sharp claws, teeth, or shells... acrylic is so easily scratched, it is very important that you only use acrylic safe algae scrubbers when cleaning your acrylic tank, and that you make sure you do not accidentally pick up any pieces of aquarium gravel in the scrub pad when you are using it. Of course, acrylic is also easier to repair when it isAcrylic polishing kits are available in many places, and these can be used to remove scratches on the outside of theThese polishes should not be used on the inside of the aquarium, as they may leave a toxic residue that could make the tank Glass is denser and therefore heavier than acrylic. A glass tank will often weigh 4-10 times as much as an acrylic tank of the same volume. Acrylic tanks are lighter than glass tanks. This means that if you have to move an acrylic tank for some reason, it will be much easier
to do so once the water is all out of it than it will be for its glassThis also means that an acrylic tank will be less strain on the structure that is supporting it than a glass tankHowever, remember that the majority of the weight of a complete tank is the water and decorations, not the tank itself, so you will not save a lot of weight by using an acrylic tank rather than a glass one. A sharp impact will crack - or in extreme cases, shatter - a glass tank, or at least one of its sides. This will leave you with a mess, no home for your fish, and possibly some significant damage to the area the tank was occupying. However, this is not an every dayThe force required to break a glass tank is still significant, and is almost always the result of otherwise Though a VERY sharp impact will crack or shatter a piece of acrylic, the amount of force needed for this damage is far greater than it is with a glass tank. On the other hand, almost any impact to
an acrylic tank will leave a scratch or mark, even those that would not have marked a glass tank. Glass is relatively rigid and brittle. Because of this, it is difficult to make fish tanks from glass that are not rectangular inAlso, when glass is curved, it has a tendency to bend light, making things on the other side of the curved glass appear larger or smaller than they really are. However, some glass tanks with curved sides are available now. Acrylic is easily molded and formed into almost any shape that can be described - and some that can't. Acrylic also has less of a tendency to distort things that are behind a curve. Because of these two factors, acrylic aquariums are available in a very large number of shapes - not just rectangular. Glass can support considerably more than its own weight overBecause of this, glass aquariums can be kept on stands with an open or incomplete top with little or no risk. However, the aquarium stand still needs to
be level and the stand still needs to be strong enough to support the weight of the tank. Also, because of this rigidity, glass tanks require less structural support at the top to keep the tank from flexing or splitting its seams under the weight of the water. Though some bowing of a tank is normal, excessive bowing can lead to split seams or fractured glass. Acrylic tanks require a stand that will support the entire bottom of the tank, or else the bottom of the tank may pull away from the seams under the weight of theThis is not true in acrylic tanks that have a substantially thicker bottom than would appear necessary. Also, acrylic tanks require much more support across the top of the tank to keep the acrylic from bowing apart and either splitting seams The materials required to build a glass tank will be thicker than those required to build an acrylic tank. Though tempered glass does not need to be as thick as non-tempered glass for the same size of
tank, the tempered glass will still be thicker than the acrylic necessarily would be for the same tank size. cannot be drilled to accommodate any filter system designed to use an overflow. Acrylic does not need to be as thick to support the same water volume as glass does, and any acrylic tank can be drilled to accommodate an Glass has a different index of refraction than water. as light passes through the air, then the glass, then the water to bounce off a fish and get reflected back through the water, then the glass, then the air, the light is bent four times. Each time the light is bent, the image is distorted. Colors are not quite true, position is not quite accurate, size can be distorted slightly. glass is, the more pronounced these errors become. This means that in tanks with particularly thick walls, the fish can be significantlyHowever, most home and office aquariums, even large ones, are not large enough for this to make a significant difference.
Acrylic has nearly the same index of refraction as water. that when you see a fish in an acrylic tank, the light has only be bent once or twice. Because of this, the only distortion you are likely to see is that the fish is slightly misplaced, but the size and Glass maintains its clarity over time. The glass in a new tank will match that in an old tank, and if you have to replace a pane of glass in a used aquarium, the correction you will notice is that there are fewer scratches in the new glass. Many types of acrylic will yellow with age, particularly if they are kept under a full spectrum light or are exposed to directThis is a normal chemical reaction in the materials that the acrylic is made from. Though this is getting much better, this isAlso, because the acrylic is so fragile, it is very likely that you will be viewing your fish through a haze of scratches that will only get worse over time. Glass is easier to ship and requires fewer specialized tools to work
with, so glass tanks tend to be less expensive than acrylic tanks. Acrylic tanks tend to be more expensive than glass tanks. necessarily because the acrylic is better than the glass, though in some ways it is (and in others it is not), but more often is due toIn many cases it will cost less to make the acrylic tank, but after the first three or four have been too severely scratched in shipping to be sellable the cost to the aquarium owner is much higher than the glass tank. Personally, I prefer glass tanks over acrylic tanks. you are setting up a very large tank - 500 gallons or more - you will probably want to consider acrylic. Also, if you are interested in a tank that is not rectangular in shape, you would probably be best advised to investigate acrylic tanks. However, there are some good glass tanks on the market now that have curved faces and are very appealing, and have all the advantages of glass tanks. Some plastic tanks are available.