240 Gal. Aquarium "BLEW"

I would have to disagree with 1/2" being plenty. My tank is a full 40 gallons smaller and uses thicker glass. 1/2" seems pretty thin for that large of a tank, specially for how tall it is.
Just my couple of pennies.

 

I know this is highly inappropriate as there were casualties of this horrific accident, but does any one else find it amusing that a WASTE water treatment plant had a CRAPPIE in their tank? *Giggle snort*
Seriously tho I am very sorry for the loss. Looks like it would have been lovely.

 

Very smart idea, go with an AGA or oceanic or mircales tank, MUCH better built

 

Agree 1/2 is thin my 180 is at least an inch ill have to measure it again

 

I know lots of people are against Acrylic, but don't seem to hear stories like this about it. Much stronger. Especially for a fresh water tank, might be worth thinking about.

It does scratch more easily, but many many people keep them without any problems.

 

I have a feeling that this is a public display aquarium though. If that's the case you DEFINITELY do not want acrylic! Tank would be destroyed in about 10 seconds with all the kids and soccer moms leaning against the thing with keys and change in their hands...

 

Let me know what you think of them. I was just talking to my LFS about them. He said it was Oceanic till they sold it. Also Oceanic is no longer putting Starphire in the front. It was the reason I was looking at Oceanic. Not that they are not good tanks.

I was also looking at GC, but now may pass. I realize it may be hear say and that a GC could provide me with many years of good service..... but I want to sleep at night too. Sucks when someone puts the boggie man in your head.

Very sorry to hear about your tank and livestock. Compliments to your company for the display.

 

I guess we could see what thickness of glass MIG or other tanks use for a similar sized tank.

I will have to look through some of the tank builds on the site that I used as gospel for my DIY tank build to see what thickness of glass folks used on their MONSTER tanks.

I seem to recall that one guy has 1/2 glass on his 8 foot long and very tall 1000g tank. I will see what they say.

At worst, if you have a choice between a thicker glass when you custom order a tank from GC, then you might want to.

I know on my 193g that is 62" wide, I only needed 3/8" glass, but then again my tank is only 2 feet tall.

 

Did another company buy Oceanic?

 

Interesting..

The glass thickness calculator I see on wet web media shows a minimum of 16mm for a tank this size. 16mm= .63 inches, so, 1/2" WAS too thin, as you found out.
20mm could also be used, and that has a higher safety factor, that is around 3/4" thick....

So basically, that sounds like the reason it failed. GC should know better than to make a tank in the std size for them with that std too thin of glass.

Now, if I were to have GC make a tank of all glass for me, and I might when I do the big tank upstairs, I would use the calculators that I referenced here to tell them what thickness to make each panel.

Yeah, I am like that. I usually over think things, but in this case, having a couple hundred gallons of water INSIDE the tank is a better option to take when it would only cost a little more at the on set.

Ocean, I highly doubt the 180 you have if it is a std aga or similar 180g has 1" thick glass.

Here is the calculator I used..
http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/pl...bles--Diagrams/Glass-Thickness-Calculator.htm

There are several guys in my local club that I am the VP of that have GC tanks. All have been going for years with no issues. At worst there is a little messy caulking in a couple of spots, but their build quality is jsut fine, provided you double check their math for the big tanks.