Fish tanks can come in a wide variety having various sizes, shapes, and materials used to construct. Depending on what your goals are for your aquarium you’ll need to understand all of their differences. It’s best to plan ahead and think about what type of fish you’ll eventually have and the type of filtration you would like to use. Having a plan will save you from regretting your purchase.
Size
When it comes to the size of your aquarium there are two main things to consider. The first is where you plan on having your fish tank in your home. It’s important to know where in your home it will go and to know the space available to you in your chosen area. Obviously, you want your set-up to fit. When you’re carrying your brand new tank and stand into your living room just to find out that there isn’t enough room you’ll wish you planned better,
The other thing to consider, when it comes to the size of your fish tank, is the type of fish you plan to keep. Most fish that you see available for purchase at the local pet store are small in size. Some of those small fish grow into large fish though. What ends up happening is you’ll have very stressed and unhappy fish, and in some instances simply won’t fit in your tank. This leaves you without much choice, you will have to buy a larger fish tank. You should never ever release your fish into the wild.
Let’s look at some of the most common small fish sold in the hobby that grow large. The common pleco is usually sold between 2 and 3 inches but can quickly grow to well over a foot and up to 2 feet. A Chinese Algae Eater is sold between 1 and 2 inches and can grow to 10 inches. A Tinfoil Barb is around 1 inch when sold and can grow over a foot in length. Do you see where I’m going with this?
It’s best to have an idea of what fish you want in your tank and to do your research before moving forward. Each fish have their own requirements and suggested tank size. I’ve seen this bite many new fish keepers in the butt and could have been easily avoided with a little research.
Glass or acrylic
The choice between a glass tank and an acrylic tank is just a personal preference for most hobbyists. There are pros and cons to both so let’s go over the main ones.
- Glass is heavy whereas acrylic is light. If weight is of concern to you then you may want to look at acrylic tanks for this reason.
- Acrylic is significantly more expensive than glass. So, if the cost is an important factor then perhaps glass is right for you.
- When it comes to strength acrylic is superior, however, acrylic is more prone to scratches than glass is.
As for unique shapes, you’ll want an acrylic tank. Acrylic is easily molded into many custom and unique shapes. Although glass can be made with curvature, acrylic will maintain its superior strength.
In my experience, an acrylic tank will generally outlast a glass tank before needing to be replaced or resealed. With that said a glass aquarium should still easily last 10 years, so it’s possible the cheaper price tag is worth having to repair or replace it sooner.
As you can see the choice of whether to go with glass or acrylic depends on several factors that you will need to decide for yourself.
Tempered Glass
The process of tempering glass makes it much stronger than untempered glass, or annealed glass. This is done by heating the glass and quickly cooling it. What happens is that the outer surface of the glass, since it cools quicker, will compress. The inner area of the glass will be put into tension. When tempered glass breaks it shatters into thousands of pieces, due to this tension, instead of several sharp shards. For this reason, tempered glass is also known as safety glass.
Since this glass is much stronger than annealed glass it is often used for the bottoms of larger tanks. However, it is sometimes used for the walls of fish tanks as well. This is important to know if you have any plans for drilling the glass for plumbing. It is impossible to drill tempered glass, it will shatter. If drilling for plumbing please be sure that any glass you plan to drill is not tempered.
Shape
The shapes that a fish tank can be are endless. There are however standard shapes that are common. The most common is the rectangle tank that fits perfectly along a wall. There are also cube tanks, cylindrical tanks, and tanks in the shape of a hexagon.
Another common option is the corner tank. A corner tank, for obvious reasons, is best placed in a corner of a room. A bow front tank is becoming more popular as well. This is simply a rectangle tank where the front viewing panel is bowed out to allow for more viewing angles. The other benefit of a bow front tank is that they offer a higher water capacity for the same floor print of their flat-faced counterparts.
Custom Shapes
Now I said that fish tank shapes are endless, and that’s because they are. So if you are interested in a custom design you can have virtually any shape that you can think of. Supplies are readily available if you’re feeling up to the task. If you’re not so handy but have deep pockets, there are also several quality custom aquarium manufacturers out there. CustomAquariums comes to mind. I haven’t used them myself but there are plenty of people who have that have raved about them on youtube. Here are some custom aquariums to get an idea of what’s possible.
Now where custom aquarium building really comes in handy is for custom dimensions. Lets say that you have a space in mind that is 78 inches long and can be 32 inches deep with a height of 26 inches. I don’t know of any out of the box tanks that come in that size. With a custom build you can have that perfect 280 gallon tank that fits exactly what you need.
Conclusion
As you can see, the type of tank that you choose is based largely on personal preference. The tanks size must be suitable for the location you’ll put it, and also be large enough for the types of fish that you plan to keep. Having glass or acrylic is completely up to you as they both have their pros and cons. If you don’t have any plans of ever drilling your tank then you probably don’t ever have to worry whether or not your glass in tempered. Keep in mind that acrylic can also easily be drilled.
