Why are aquariums sooo expensive? Isn't it just Five peices of glass glued together with silicone? I was thinking that I could build one myself if I had the right dimensions. Anyone have any answers?
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Build-A-Tank
fluffy_turtle
Jul 04, 2004 04:16 AM
Replies (4)
periwinklewalnut
Jul 04, 2004 12:35 PM
part of the expense is in the type of glass they use...it's thicker and heated at a higher temp than your traditional window pane glass. Tempered i believe is what it's called....so that it can counter act the pressure of all the water on it without breaking...water weighs like 8 pounds a gallon...that's a LOT of pressure on glass...if you just made it out of regular glass it would break. I could be completely wrong about all this...but it's what my boyfriend explained to me....or at least what i understood from what he explained to me, lol. I think if you tried to make your own aquarium and used the proper glass it would probably not come out that much cheaper...but then again, maybe it would....you could make cheap aquariums for everyone on the forum and become a millionaire 
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~walnut~
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Lucilu
Jul 05, 2004 05:29 PM
I definately would not recommend building your own aquarium. I figured "Why pay so much for a real aquarium when I can get one of these critter cages for alot cheaper? They're practically the same thing!" Well, when I was filling my 'critter cage' (which looks like an aquarium but isn't made to be filled with water) I got about two thirds of it filled and the one side started pulling away and all of the water came out!! It was a mess that I doubt anyone would want to deal with!
brokermonkey
Jul 06, 2004 09:05 AM
im glad you posted that...i was thinking about doing it too. lol.
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0.0.1 Red Eared Slider
fluffy_turtle
Jul 15, 2004 01:19 PM
mmm...ok. I didnt see anyone asking about the 'critter cages.' Anyway, I looked on the internet on how thick glass should be for a X-gallon aquarium. I have to have thicker glass. But glass is glass. It wont crack under the water's pressure if you have the right thickness. Anyway, all you need to build your own aquarium is the dimensions, the thickness of the glass, and silicone. Its not that hard. If pet stores can glue them together then so can I.
