Glass, Acrylic, or........ Quartz ???

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Desdinova

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 1, 2010
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Kentucky
From what I've seen glass is very heavy and costly, not to mention dangerous when broken. Acrylic is expensive and expands and contracts when used in an aquarium environment and has a tendency to warp, especially if it's not thick enough.

What about Quartz? From what I gather, it's an abundant mineral that is very hard. I don't know if it will warp, but I kinda think of that problem as belonging to synthetic materials. I'm getting serious about trying this out. Does anyone have any information or thoughts that could be useful here? I want to use it as a window for a tank. Maybe it could make an entire tank.... dunno.
 
I'm working on the cost issue now. I think I've found ample competition to get the price down to something manageable. Everything I read says quartz is at least as clear as glass. If it has ample strength and cost, I'm thinking this might be a superior option for tank building than glass or acrylic. Although, I have never tried to cut acrylic... I assume the usual carbide instruments will do the job.
 
what kind of pricing are you finding? what are the properties of quartz plate as compared to glass.. ie impact resistance, pressure resistance etc...?
 
I'm waiting for quotes, but I think it will be compatible. Check out this link for hardess. I read somewhere that quartz supposedly can handle more pressure than acrylic. If that's true, then this is going to be an essential test. I'm thinking miracle material, but I think it would be dumb to get my hopes up that much, until I see it with my own eyes. You never know until you try and run some tests.
 
Well simply looking at Mohs scale it would seem comparable to glass in hardness. that said however it doesn't really say much to it's overall strength under pressure or from an impact. Iron Pyrite is listed on the same line as glass but i can personally attest to having it fall apart in my hands (flake away at any rate). I would assume though that since it is used for lenses among other thing that it is very strong quite possibly stronger on impact than glass... What we'd need to know then is does it act like glass and break in a line or more like tempered glass and shatter? If it is cost effective (cheaper than equivalent other products) then it may be a new revolution to the diy industry.. for some reason though i highly doubt it's going to compare to glass in price.. sadly.
 
just on personal research, I found a 6"x6"x.25" plate of fused quartz for the mere price of 120 us dollars.. i highly doubt it will be cost effective in the least. If someone were wanting an extremely clear reef or planted tank and was willing to spend the money quartz would be ideal based on it's specs for clarity (it's used in the best of all cameras for that reason alone).. but, if you find a supplier and a good price be sure to share.
 
You were correct, quartz is quite expensive. The website I was looking at was using abbreviations that I didn't understand. The real price turned out to be too large.
 
sounded good for awhile. i know they use quartz in UV sterelizers cause of it's clarity and ability to effectively transmit uv rays across into the water.
 
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