formula for glass thickness in homemade aquariums?

Question

is there a formula or rule for thickness in glass according to depth? for instance..if aquarium is 4ft deep does it require 3/4 inch 1inch..greater?? what is thickness with 5ft..so on..?? any help would be appreciated

mm, i will admit..i havent done much research was hoping for maybe shortcut here..i also know that a long piece of glass would need to be thicker than shorter piece for same depth.. just looking for an outline maybe. thanks to all so far

Answer 1

I have looked for just the same thing myself several times to no avail. I finally gave up and measured the thickness of the glass on a similar sized tank at the pet store. I did find out however that it's the longest single dimension that primarily determines the thickness, not just the depth. Shot or calling the R&D department at a glass manufacturing co. I have no other ideas.

MM

Answer 2

It would depend on the type of glass,my old Oceanic tanks have very thick untempered glass,whereas my new tanks have much thinner tempered glass. The thicker (softer)tanks can be drilled (for overflows and the like),the tempered ones not. Somewhere I have a book called "Aquatic Systems Engineering:Devices and How They Function." by P.R. Escobal,that may help. You might be able to find it at your local library. This book would help you calculate the load on the glass and the supplier of the glass should be able to take it from there.Good hunting and good luck.-----PeeTee

Answer 3

here is the formula for calculating how much gallons your tank is,
width x length x height devide by 131, now you have the gallons you can determine how thick of glass to use.