High quality glass aquariums, tanks and glass cabinets.

We at Aquariums ltd. are not just tank builders we are passionate about the aquarium hobby. Each year we sponsor one of our staff members, who is a marine biologist, to travel the reefs of the world for three months carrying out research. It is so important to protect this part of our eco system and we hope the information below will help you bring a part of it into your home. If you are new to the hobby or just have a question, just call or e-mail. If we can help, we will.

Our aquariums are constructed using aqua high modulus reactive curing silicon sealant, which conforms to the performance requirement of BS 5889, type B. On curing acetic acid is produced, so wash out the aquarium before use and test ph level once filled. Your aquarium must be placed on a polystyrene base and a level surface so that hydrostatic pressure is evenly spread. Ensure the product you are placing your tank on is rated to take the weight of your tank filled with water. Our main pages show the weight of each tank plus the weight of the water. Calculate bespoke items as follows:

PLANNING:
You need to consider a number of factors when designing your aquarium:

1: Can the tank be made?  Remember a few facts. We have to get to the bottom of the tank to seal it. If your design is for a narrow tank our limit is about 800mm deep by a minimum of 300mm wide.  Narrow tanks will also limit your fish stocking, as the surface area of water is less.

2: Can we get the tank into your room?  Its fine tipping the tank on its end moving it around small halls or doorways but remember when working this out we also need to get people around the tank.  On average to lift it, you need one person for every 25kg’s of tank weight.

3: Is your floor wooden? Will it take the weight of the tank? If it’s a large design we advise that you check with your local builder. You must have a level surface for your tank to sit on.

How to work out the weight.

First you need to know the glass thickness. This is governed by the depth and length of the tank. See above:

The top row is the length of the tank the vertical row is the depth. The width is not taken into consideration. The reading is the glass thickness. (SP) is special and will require laminating glass panels together, please contact us for advice.

By multiplying the thickness of the glass by 0.0000025 this will give you the sq mm weight in kg. Example: 12mm glass x 0.0000025 = 0.000030kg per sq mm

Example: If we had a tank 2440mm long by 762mm deep (by 610mm wide) this would be required to be made from 15mm glass. You can then calculate the weight as follows:

15mm glass x 0.0000025 = 0.0000375kg per sq mm. So 15mm glass weighs 0.0000375kg per sq mm

The base would be 2440mm long x 610mm wide = 1488400sqmm x  0.0000375kg = 55.81kg
The front and back would be  2440mm long x 762mm deep x 2 = 3718560sqmm x 0.0000375kg = 139.45kg
The sides would be 762mm deep x 610mm wide x 2 = 929640sqmm x 0.0000375kg = 34.86kg

Total weight of the tank would be all totals added together 55.81kg + 139.45kg + 34.86kg = 230.12kg. So a 2440mm long x 762mm deep x 610mm wide tank in 15mm glass would weigh 230.12kg, just under a ¼ of a ton.

Note: (For ease we have not deducted the glass thickness of the base or side panels) when calculating the panel sizes but once you add the weight of the strapping bars this balances out the total weight).

To work out the weight of water you need to calculate the volume.
One 10cm cube of fresh water contains one litre and weighs 1kg.
One 10cm cube of salt water contains one litre and weighs 1.025kg
On a standard tank the water level is set at 50mm below the top of the tank. So let’s work out the cubic volume of the tank in cm’s.

The tank is 244cm long x (76.2cm deep – 5cm water level) x 61cm wide = 1059740.8 cube cm. Divide this amount by one 10cm cube, which is 10x10x10 = 1000 cube cm. 1059740.8 / 1000 = 1059.7 litres. Which is 1059.7kg of fresh water or 1086.2kg of salt water.

So a tank 2440mm long by 762mm deep by 610mm wide in 15mm glass will weigh 230.12kg plus 1059.7kg if fresh water or 1086.2kg if salt water. Always remember that any rocks you install will displace the water and add their own weight.

Right, we have the size of tank we know we can get it into the required position we know how much it weighs, let’s continue:

DESIGN:

Bracing and Strapping Bars:

Bracing bars are 50mm strips of glass fitted about 25mm from the top of the tank. These are used to prevent bowing of the main panels. We can produce tanks without these but this will increase the glass thickness. You should contact us if you require the bars to be omitted. When installing the bars we will leave a 50mm gap in each rear corner as standard. This will allow the exit of cables and pipes from the tank. If you require extra spaces, for example if you were going to use an item of equipment that hangs on your tank let us know. Remember these bars are of a structural nature and this must always come first in any design. The strapping bars are used from the front panel to the rear again for structural strength.

Please enquire if you require double basing.

 Type of Glass:

Normal or Optiwhite(TM) glass. What is Optiwhite(TM) glass? This is where during production extra iron is taken out of the glass. If you look down the edge of normal glass it has a green tint, if you look down the edge of Optiwhite(TM) glass the clarity is a lot clearer. We would always recommend that you use Optiwhite(TM) at least on the front panel of your tank to improve the viewing colours of your inhabitants.

Top: 6mm Optiwhite Glass. Bottom: 6mm Normal Glass

Condensation Glasses:

These are covers fitted at the top of the tank to prevent evaporation of your tank water. We normally make our covers sliding. We leave two 50mm cut outs at the rear corners of the tank to allow cables and piping to exit the tank but if you require any more let us know.

Backing:

This is a blue or black vinyl that we bond mainly the rear panel of the tank for a background.

Silicon:

Black or clear silicon. Black does not show algae growth.

Left: Clear glass black silicon. Middle: Optiwhite glass clear silicon. Right: Normal glass clear silicon.

Lighting:

There are a number of different systems available. T8/T5 Fluorescent tubes, Metal Halides and new to the hobby LED’s.
Lighting depends on the stocking of your tank. In a fish only tank whatever the species, lighting is a matter of choice. It is rarely vital to their health but do try to avoid deep reds and blues. Use pale yellow or pale red with a hint of blue these will bring out the colours of your fish.

In a reef tank lighting is vital to the survival of your inhabitants. T8/T5 lighting works well to a water depth of about 600mm. This type of lighting gives an even spread of light and is relativity cheep and cool running, compared to Metal Halides. Metal Halides are more of a spot type lamp forcing the light deeper into the water. This type of lighting gives the rippling effect of light to the tank. The only draw backs are that they can be quite expensive run and also run very hot, cooling fans are required for this type of lighting.

You can never over light your tank, compare it to the sun and you can understand why. Good invertebrate lighting should run in the blue and deep red end of the spectrum. As this type of lighting is not good to the eye, yellows and whites can be added to improve the colours of your fish.

Whatever your lighting, in a reef tank 10 to 12 hours is required in any 24 hours. Any lighting longer than this serves no benefit and is just adding to your fuel bill, carbon footprint and damaging the eco system we are trying to preserve. Try to switch on 50% of your lighting two hours before and 2 hours after the main lighting period. A blue actinic light should be left on for the full 24 hours. Use time clocks to control your lights you don’t want your fish to think there on a long haul flight with day and night at different times each day. Remember your 12 hours of light can be at any time of the day. If you are a working person bring on your 50% of light at 9am your main lights on at 11am. Main lights off at 9pm and the remainder off at 11pm. Thus you can enjoy your tank of an evening.

If you wish us to adjust the strapping bars of your tank or add glass sections to support your lighting system. Please contact us to discuss further.

Filtration:

Canister:

This is a self contained unit housing a number of compartments, containing filter media. The flow of water is taken from the tank via a loop of pipe over the rear of the tank which is set as a siphon. The water flows into the canister which has a small pump in the head. The water is returned by a further pipe normally returning to the opposite end of the tank. We would always recommend using two canister filters instead of one large one thus giving you a safety margin should one fail.

Sumps and Weirs:

A weir is a water tight partition containing one or two holes. The top of the partition contains a comb which just sits below the working water level of the tank. There is no limit to the number of Weirs you can have in your setup. Basically the water from your tank flows over the top of the Weir and enters one of the pipes which takes the water into your sump. The action of the water passing over the Weir and entering the pipe work can become noisy, just like a bath when it empties and draws air into the pipe. You can do a number of things to avoid this happening. First design your pipe work from your tank to your sump with as little restriction as possible. In other words use larger pipe that is required for the quantity of water flowing into the Weir. Try to avoid sharp 90 degree bends in the pipe if you do need to use bends use long sweeping bends. As a last resort you can install a Durso pipe which is a length a pipe which fits into the fitting at the bottom of the Weir runs up the rear of the Weir and turns back on its self, thus always having the outlet underwater. The second hole which is optional is used for the return pipe from the sump and is piped up the rear of the Weir and taken to a point in the tank were you want the return. We always recommend that if you only have one Weir that you keep a spare return pump just as a backup.

Your sump is a small tank which should be 2/3rds the size of your main tank. This will normally be contained in your cabinet or anywhere that’s below your main tank. Your sump should be split-up into sections to allow for the installation of media for the filtration of your tank water.

I am sure you will find so much conflicting information with regards to sump design and what type of media should be used. Whatever the design there are a few important facts you should be aware of. When your system is running your tank water will normally sit about 20mm up on the comb of your Weir. Should your pump fail this 20mm of water will continue to flow over your Weir into your sump. To prevent flooding any design should take this factor into account.  Your running water level in your sump is set by the height of the over partitions. You first need to calculate the volume of water that will pass over the top of the Weir. To do this you need to multiply the length of the tank by the width of the tank by 20 all in mm.

Example: Our tank as used above 2440 x 610 x 20 = 29768000 cubic mm of water that will still pass over the Weir once the pump has stopped.

If we designed a sump say 2/3rds the tank size so 1626mm long by 457mm deep by 457mm wide. The over partition is set at 357mm thus leaving 100mm of space. We now need to work out the available volume space.

Example: 1626 x 457 x 100 = 74308200 cubic mm of space. You now divide this result to calculate if you have the required volume 74308200 / 29768000 = 2.5 The result shows a positive of 2.5 which means you have a safety margin of 2.5 times the required volume.

 The second is if you use mud in your sump you will also have lighting above it. Beneficial bacteria that will colonise your sump prefer reduce light. So the section of your sump containing the mud should be constructed with solid black glass. This will then prevent any overspill of light thus reducing or limiting the functioning of your sump.

Piping:

If you are planning a reef tank, we recommend that you use ABS piping grade A or B not PVC. Salt water is abrasive just think what it does to the rocks on our coast line. The last thing you want is the erosion of the pipe leeching toxins from the plastic into your tank water.

MATURATION:

Once you are up and running you can then start the maturation process. Please start the cycle by adding maturation fluid, media from an existing working system or commercially available bacterial. Please DO NOT use living fish to complete this process.

The process can take up to 28 days to complete. You have come this far, please be patience. Once the Nitrite level is zero the process is complete and you can start adding inhabitants to your tank. Do this slowly as the beneficial bacteria in your filter need to increase as the occupants increase.

Last of all, enjoy.

Aquariums Ltd.

The information provided in our calculations, charts, drawings and pictures was compiled to assist you in setting up your aquarium. We are not responsible for any problems that may arise from following this information.