# Rivermuds Calculator (Glass Thickness, etc.)



## Rivermud (Nov 22, 2004)

I have written a calculator to help people determine the proper glass thickness for their DIY projects. THis is not gospel, it's just a guide or starting point. Good reference we'll call it. Anyway, the guide defaults to a 3.8 safety factor, you can modify this if you choose. It will also calculate the approximate gallons (it assumes inside dimensions) and water weight. What truly makes the tool useful is that it also reverse calculates the safety factor based on glass thickness. Now you can check to see what the safety factor is of the glass size you are planning to use before buying it.

Rivermuds Calculator


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## jb1234 (Apr 2, 2006)

That is very helpful. Thanks a bunch.


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## Rivermud (Nov 22, 2004)

Glad you like it. I am open to suggestions and am happy to answers questions.


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## Joephish (Oct 28, 2005)

I love the idea. Thanks for putting this together.
It seems like it is designed for building an all glass aquarium. Do the numbers work the same for a plywood tank that has a single window in the front?


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## Rivermud (Nov 22, 2004)

It is designed for an all glass tank. However, the safety factor can be modified and the thickness rating for the sides can be used for plywood or whatever tanks. Thats the reason I made the safety factor field modifiable, and the saem reason I made the fields for the reverse calculations.

So, for example if you were making a 300 gallon plywood tank 72 inches long, 32 wide, and 30 high with a safety factor of 3 (pretty common for plywood builders in my experience) the calculator tells you that you need .61 inch thick glass. The reverse calculator can then tell you what safety factor you will have with 1/2 inch(.5) and with 5/8's(.625) inch. That would be 2 and 3.1 respectively. If you were to go with the 3.8 default safety factor rating it would recommend using .69 inch thick glass. the nearest size readily available would be 3/4 in and not so readily available but closer to the 3.8 safety factor rating 11/16's or 23/32's.

The calculator is just a tool to help you find the proper thickness of glass for the aquarium you wish to build. It does work for plywood and other types of aquariums simply because you can modify the safety factor. It can't calculate the plywood thickness.


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## Rivermud (Nov 22, 2004)

I've modified it a bit and added a glass weight calc to it. The link at the beginning of the thread wil open the most current version. Here's a look:


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