Really scared about glass tanks now!

[12 Volt Man]

I've seen plenty of tanks on here with it. But to make a point, can you see it on my tank? It's there. As creative as the people are on this site it isn't that hard to hide it even when it's in plain view.

don't get me wrong - there certainly are a lot who use it.

but for everyone that does, there are shots of tanks without...

 

[prskiller]

If your stand had even a small high spot (like a screw head slightly raised) or a tiny piece of gravel, it could crack the tank when filled as the pressure is now high (force/small area). Almost everyone uses styrofoam under their tanks, I would highly recommend it.

I use AGA 125, 75, and 55 glass tanks. Now I can't see under my 125 tank due to the stand having a top but when I look under my 75 and 55 tanks I see a 1/2" gap between the glass and the stand. The only thing touching the stand is the plastic trim around the bottom of the tank. So I can't see how a gravel or a screw head sticking out would cause any damage. Looks like AGA tanks sit high above ( glass panel ) so things like this will not happen.

I haven't used foam on any of my tanks but I would certainly use it for acrylic sitting on a stand w/top for what you stated.

 

[StewHawke]

Quote from (I think OP)

I use AGA 125, 75, and 55 glass tanks. Now I can't see under my 125 tank due to the stand having a top but when I look under my 75 and 55 tanks I see a 1/2" gap between the glass and the stand. The only thing touching the stand is the plastic trim around the bottom of the tank

End quote.

Ok I am new here so I don't know the rules yet so give me a bit of slack if I seem a bit silly. Also I am not US so I don't know what AGA means and I don't relate well to US gallons. My (approx) 700 liter tank weighs about 700 Kg. I consider that heavy. It's a bit less than my car. It's wet and it's in my living room.

It has NO plastic around the bottom edge. It sits on a piece of polysyrene and is supported at the edges and by three cross members (pine) running front to back under the tank also the syrene sheet is between them and the tank as well as around the edge.

So it seems from the posts that the broken tank was bigger than mine and was only supported around the edge on some plastic strip straight onto the wood. Is that right? And the OP is suprised that it broke? Because I can't see how any central, cross suport would work with a plastic strip. Maybe the stand is designed for that. But you could never get it properly even pressured on the base glass without the syrene sheet in the circumstance as far as I can see.

I am new in this forum. But I'm 50'ish and sort of engineering based. I didn't like the stand I bought so I strengthened it. It seems OK now. But you US based people use different mesures to us here in Austalia so I can't easily convert. But water is HEAVY. I think we have all noticed that ;0)

No styrene sheet, plastic strip around the tank edge, fill with water, it broke.

Unless I am missing something that's about what I would expect to happen. Unless it was a small tank or had VERY thick glass. I'm thinking about 2 inches but hey I like to err on the safe side.

Stuart Hawke

 

[Danger_Chicken]

I use AGA 125, 75, and 55 glass tanks. Now I can't see under my 125 tank due to the stand having a top but when I look under my 75 and 55 tanks I see a 1/2" gap between the glass and the stand. The only thing touching the stand is the plastic trim around the bottom of the tank. So I can't see how a gravel or a screw head sticking out would cause any damage. Looks like AGA tanks sit high above ( glass panel ) so things like this will not happen.

The problem is when something interferes with that trim. Since all the weight is on that trim a high spot could be damaging. A small high spot may not present itself to an unloaded tank but cause significate stress once load is applied. And chances are we wouldn't be able to detect that stress until it was too late. That high spot could be a tiny knot in the wood.

There seems to be a misunderstanding that the stryo is for supporting/protecting the bottom of the tank, that is not the case for glass tanks, it would be for Acrylic.

Clearly many people don't use it and have no problems and many people use it. For me it's that little extra added protection, not a cure all. In this thread, and many others, I've heard the benefits of using styro, but I can't recall any negative effects. With the price of a large tank and the damage by large amounts of water, and for $10, I'd rather error on the side of caution - especailly with a DYI stand.

 

[Mattyou]

150 gallon tanks, 48"x24"x31" are famous for poping seams (not sure what dimensions your 150 is), never seen one break the bottom pane unless it was racked side to side or something was dropped or fell on it. Cracked means no tempering means less strength. I would look for racking in the stand to be the cause if there was no rock pile that fell over.

 

[drb]

150 gallon tanks, 48"x24"x31" are famous for poping seams (not sure what dimensions your 150 is), never seen one break the bottom pane unless it was racked side to side or something was dropped or fell on it. Cracked means no tempering means less strength. I would look for racking in the stand to be the cause if there was no rock pile that fell over.

Visio, AGA, and Aqua aquarium none of them use tempered glass. Tempering the glass does make it stronger, but also makes it much more brittle which is a bad idea for aquariums. The tank was 60x24x24 the owner from Aqua has said that there were a couple very small differences with the stand. Didnt seem like enough for it to break but it did. I will probably never know exactly why it broke. What he is doing is putting 3/4 thickness on the bottom this time for my piece of mind. And just for the record he said he has been building tanks for 30 years and when using 1/2 glass styrofoam wont make any difference at all.

 

[Tommydeal]

Visio, AGA, and Aqua aquarium none of them use tempered glass. Tempering the glass does make it stronger, but also makes it much more brittle which is a bad idea for aquariums. The tank was 60x24x24 the owner from Aqua has said that there were a couple very small differences with the stand. Didnt seem like enough for it to break but it did. I will probably never know exactly why it broke. What he is doing is putting 3/4 thickness on the bottom this time for my piece of mind. And just for the record he said he has been building tanks for 30 years and when using 1/2 glass styrofoam wont make any difference at all.

Some of my AGA Tanks have the bottom pane made of Tempered Glass.

This is a chart of AGA tanks and the ones with the X have a bottom pane made of tempered glass.

2 1/2 mini 12 3/16 x 6 1/8 x 8 1/8 2.6 27
5 1/2 Gallon 16 3/16 x 8 3/8 x10 1/2 7 62
10 Leader 20 1/4 x10 1/2 x12 9/16 11 111
10 Long 24 1/4 x 8 1/2 x12 5/8 16 116
10 Gallon 24 1/4 x12 1/2 x12 3/4 21 170

15 High 20 1/4 x10 1/2 x18 3/4 22 170
15 Show 24 1/4 x 8 1/2 x16 5/8 22 170
20 High 24 1/4 x12 1/2 x16 3/4 25 225
20 Long 30 1/4 x12 1/2 x12 3/4 25 225
25 Gallon 24 1/4 x12 1/2 x20 3/4 32 282

29 Gallon 30 1/4 x12 1/2 x18 3/4 40 330
30 Gallon 36 1/4 x12 5/8 x16 3/4 43 343
30 Breeder 36 3/16 x18 1/4 x12 15/16 48 348
33 Long 48 1/4 x13 1/2 x12 7/8 52 382 X
37 Gallon 30 1/4 x12 1/2 x22 3/4 45 415 X

38 Gallon 36 1/4 x12 5/8 x19 3/4 47 427 X
40 Breeder 36 3/16 x18 1/4 x16 15/16 58 458
40 Long 48 1/4 x12 3/4 x16 7/8 55 455 X
45 Gallon 36 1/4 x12 5/8 x23 3/4 66 515 X
45 Long 48 1/4 x12 3/4 x19 60 510 X

50 Gallon 36 7/8 x19 x19 5/8 100 600
55 Gallon 48 1/4 x12 3/4 x21 78 625 X

60 Gallon 48 3/4 x12 7/8 x23 7/8 111 710 X
65 Gallon 36 7/8 x19 x24 5/8 126 775
70 Gallon 48 7/8 x19 x21 5/8 165 865
90 Gallon 48 7/8 x19 x24 5/8 182 1080
100 Gallon 72 7/8 x19 x19 5/8 189 1180

120 Gallon 48 7/8 x25 x25 5/8 230 1430
125 Gallon 72 7/8 x19 x23 5/8 236 1480
150 Gallon 72 7/8 x19 x28 3/4 358 1850
180 Gallon 72 7/8 x25 x25 3/4 430 2230

20 X-High 20 1/4 x10 1/2 x23 3/4 32 232
30 X-High 24 1/4 x12 1/2 x24 3/4 41 340
50 X-High 30 1/4 x12 3/4 x30 1/2 98 590
80 X-High 48 7/8 x14 x30 3/4 200 990
110 X-High 48 7/8 x19 x30 3/4 228 1320

10 Hexagon 14 1/2 x12 9/16 x18 3/8 12 110
20 Hexagon 18 3/4 x16 1/4 x20 5/8 23 220 X
35 Hexagon 23 1/4 x20 3/16 x24 3/4 43 390 X
60 Hexagon 27 1/4 x24 1/8 x29 1/2 110 750 X
26 Flatback 36 1/4 x12 1/2 x16 5/8 42 300 X

4 Designer 8 1/4 x8 1/4 x18 7/8 9 49
6 Designer 8 1/4 x8 1/4 x24 7/8 10.5 70
10 Designer 13 5/8 x13 5/8 x19 18.5 115
15 Designer 13 5/8 x13 5/8 x25 25.5 175

[Info taken from member Caball362 on thereeftank.com]

 

[12 Volt Man]

that chart is interesting because it is from the time where the tanks were made braceless.

notice: its been a while since 90 gallon tanks were made with 5/8 thick glass, and similarly the 150 with 3/4 thick glass.

now the 90's are made with 3/8 and the 150 and up with 1/2. but they have two braces now on top and bottom...

 

[Arthur]

I've never used styro, I know it's a good safety factor but it's not the do all end all. If your stand is not level/flat your tank will still crack, although it may work for smaller tanks like 10's and 20's and such. The fact of the matter is it still compresses. I'm mostly speaking about tanks with plastic rims, I really have no clue when it comes to acrylic and/or rimless tanks

 

[12 Volt Man]

I posted this in the styo thread by mistake. it was supposed to go here:

Here is a current list from aqueonproducts.com

pretty much everything over 37 gallons has a tempered bottom now:

Aquarium Dime nsi ons Empt y Full Tempere d
Size L x W x H* Weight Weight Bott om​

2. Mini 123⁄​

16 x 61⁄8 x 81⁄8 2.6 27 No
5. 163⁄16 x 83⁄8 x 10. 7 62 No
10 Leader 20. x 10. x 129/16 11 111 No
15 24. x 12. x 12. 21 170 No
15 High 20. x 10. x 18. 22 170 No
20 High 24. x 12. x 16. 25 225 No
20 Long 30. x 12. x 12. 25 225 No
25 24. x 12. x 20. 32 282 No
29 30. x 12. x 18. 40 330 No
30 36. x 125⁄8 x 16. 43 343 No
30 Breeder 363⁄16 x 18. x 1215⁄16 48 348 No
33 Long 48. x 12. x 133⁄8 46 382 No
37 30. x 12. x 22. 45 415 Yes
38 36. x 125⁄8 x 19. 47 427 Yes
40 Breeder 363⁄16 x 18. x 1615⁄16 58 458 No
40 Long 48. x 12. x 167⁄8 55 455 Yes
45 36. x 125⁄8 x 23. 69 515 Yes
50 363⁄8 x 183⁄8 x 19 68 600 Yes
55 48. x 12. x 21 78 625 Yes
65 363⁄8 x 183⁄8 x 25 90 775 Yes
75 48. x 18. x 211⁄8 98 785 Yes
90 48. x 18. x 253⁄8 135 1050 Yes
120 48. x 24. x 25. 191 1400 Yes
125 72. x 18. x 233⁄8 177 1400 Yes
150 72. x 18. x 29. 281 1800 Yes
180 72. x 24. x 255⁄8 282 2100 Yes​

210 72. x 24. x 295⁄8 343 2450 Yes