Salt water aquarium glass

[DiverDude]

Originally Posted by corrosionjerry

Can I use a freshwater aquarium ... is there any difference in the thickness of galss between freshwater and saltwater tanks?

Be careful that the bottom pane of glass is not tempered (can't be drilled). Otherwise, you're ok.

For dimensions, a 4' tank with a volume of only 50-75 gal is going to be very narrow (front to back) and will make aquascaping and flow VERY difficult.

I don't know if you're trying to fill 4' of wall space or trying to keep to a specific maximum number of gallons, but a 4' tank will 'normal' dimensions will be at least 90 gallons. I would concur with what others are saying about the tank size, too. Go for the largest tank you can practically afford -it will save you from the constant upgrade syndrome we all go through (I'm starting the upgrade process from a 40 gal to around 110 gal now).

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by abcha0s

+1 : If building a proper overflow is possible, that is what you should do. With the hang on overflows, I think there are ways to restart the siphon if the power fails, but I wouldn't gamble my tank on it working every time. If you take short cuts setting up the tank, you will be limited by them down the road. Be prepared for some hard work. Start with designing a proper overflow.

+1


this argument comes up alot around here and its a proven fact or else wed all be using syphon's.

fact of the matter is sure alot of people have used hob overflow boxes like cpr's and even my self have never had a flood with one and i ran a 180g off one, but its not like they are safer by no means, theres alot more variables with those types of set ups and yes some people make em work just fine but the more things that make something work and the more chances it can break or fail.

thats the whole reason a herbie overflow has an emergency drain, it never is wet untill a flood its never used untill its needed.the force syphon works just fine with a gate valve matched to the pumps flow and is super quiet but still allowing alot of flow butttttt.......since we added a gatevale thats a variable that could fail since were only using one drain thats a variable that could fail.so a second emergency one was added in case any of these "variables" were to god forbid fail which we all fear wont but its never off our minds.



i guiarantee the next post is going to be another person saying they are great and no issues but heres a test......call around all the saltwater fishstores in town and all the builders you can find and ask them this simple question......."if you could do either which one...??hang on back overflow or drilled overflow....." i bet you get 10 out of 10 for drilled. you dont even need to drill you can still add an external overflow box by cutting near the top instead of drilling with a dremal or similar router. just notch out some and make a small overflow box to mount on the back of the tank.....and as far as i know theres very tanks that are all tempered glass most tanks are tempered bottoms

the possibliities are whatever you want them to be .....and more so if you have your tank made to what you want,do it now and not need to change it later is the best advice youll get and save you lots

most cases for tempered glass it would be the bottom but there are ways of telling anyways using polarized glasses there was a thread on here a while back about it i liked i couldnt find it again but maybe someone else could clarify on how it works exactly.cheers

[bignose]

Do yourself a favor and avoid HOB overflows. If your worried about the look install an external overflow box. Do it right before your tank is setup and you will save yourself the headache thinking about the water on the floor. Actually the overflow box will be the least of your worries, wait until you get new tank syndrome