Custom Square Quartz Glass Fish Aquarium Tank

Custom Square Quartz Glass Fish Aquarium Tank

The application of quartz glass in aquariums is extremely rare and impractical. Although “quartz glass” may sound high-end, there are many significant drawbacks to using it to manufacture conventional aquarium tanks, far inferior to mainstream ultra white glass or acrylic.
The following is an analysis of “quartz glass” as a material for fish tanks, with a focus on its characteristics, limitations, and why it is not a mainstream choice:
The characteristics of quartz glass itself (theoretically)
1. Extremely high purity and transparency:
Quartz glass (fused silica) is fused from high-purity silicon dioxide (SiO ₂, usually>99.9%).
The theoretical transmittance is very high, especially in the ultraviolet and visible light range, and even slightly better than top-level ultra white glass. This means that there is minimal loss of light when it passes through, theoretically providing a very clear and distortion free viewing experience.
2. Excellent heat resistance and thermal stability:
The coefficient of thermal expansion is extremely low, and it has strong tolerance to temperature fluctuations (much higher than ordinary glass or ultra white glass). In theory, it should not rupture due to rapid changes in water or room temperature (but this is not the main risk in fish tank environments).
3. High hardness and wear resistance:
The Mohs hardness is high (about 7), and it is more scratch resistant than ordinary glass (about 5.5-6). But this advantage is offset by its fragility in the fish tank environment.
4. Excellent chemical stability:
Has strong resistance to water, most acids (except hydrofluoric acid and hot phosphoric acid), and chemical substances. Almost no substance will precipitate into the water, with no impact on water quality and excellent long-term stability.
Why quartz glass is not suitable/used for manufacturing conventional aquarium tanks (harsh reality)
1. Extremely high cost:
This is the most fundamental reason. The high purity of raw materials and complex melting and forming processes result in the extremely expensive price of quartz glass, far exceeding that of white glass or acrylic. The cost of manufacturing a regular sized quartz glass fish tank will be astronomical and completely uncompetitive in the market. For those who pursue luxury, the price is not too expensive.
2. Extremely high processing difficulty and fragility:
High hardness means difficult processing: cutting, polishing, drilling, chamfering, etc. all require diamond tools and special processes, which are difficult, costly, and inefficient.
Inherent brittleness: Although quartz glass has high hardness, its toughness is poor and it belongs to brittle materials. When subjected to impacts such as handling collisions or falling hard objects, it is more prone to overall breakage or edge breakage than ordinary glass, rather than shattering into small particles like tempered glass. This is a huge safety hazard for fish tanks that need to withstand water pressure and may face unexpected collisions. The strength of large-sized quartz glass plates is not sufficient to safely withstand the water pressure of large fish tanks. Generally used for processing small-sized aquarium fish tanks.
3. Huge weight:
The density of quartz glass is similar to that of ordinary glass (about 2.2 g/cm ³), and it is much heavier than Biak force. Large quartz glass fish tanks can be very heavy, posing severe challenges for load-bearing and transportation installation.
4. Size restrictions:
The technical difficulty and high cost of manufacturing large-sized, high flatness, and defect free quartz glass sheets are extremely high. The demand for modern large fish tanks is very common.
5. Lack of resilience:
Compared to acrylic, quartz glass has no toughness at all and cannot withstand any bending or deformation, breaking directly under pressure or impact. But it has strong hardness and is generally not easy to bend.
6. Low necessity:
Transmittance: The transmittance of top-level ultra white glass (such as Golden Crystal Five Line Ultra White) is already very close to that of quartz glass (>91%), and the difference in clarity is almost indistinguishable to the human eye, but the cost is much lower.
Chemical stability: High quality glass (including ultra white glass) and acrylic are completely inert and safe for water quality in aquatic environments.
Heat resistance: The fish tank does not need to withstand extreme temperature changes.
Summarize the characteristics of quartz glass fish tanks
Advantages (theory): Ultimate light transmittance (but super white is already good enough), top-level chemical inertness, ultra-high heat resistance (useless), high hardness and wear resistance (but offset by brittleness).
Fatal drawbacks (reality): sky high cost, extremely difficult to process, extremely fragile and unsafe, huge weight, limited size.

Fused Quartz Glass Features:

Fused quartz glass is a special industrial glass made of silicon dioxide. It is a very good basic material. Quartz glass has a series of excellent physical and chemical properties.

1. High temperature resistance. The softening point of fused quartz glass is about 1730℃ and can be used for long time working under 1100℃~1250℃.  And working at 1450℃ in a short time.

2. Corrosion resistance. In addition to hydrofluoric acid, fused quartz glass is inert to other acids. Its acid resistance is 30 times as ceramic, 150 times as stainless steel. Especially, any other material cannot make a comparison with chemical stability of fused quartz at high temperature

3. The thermal stability is good. Thermal expansion coefficient is extremely small. And it can withstand severe temperature changes such that heating up to 1100℃ and putting it in normal temperature water will not crack.

4. The light transmittance is good. Quartz glass has good transmittance in the whole spectral band from ultraviolet to infrared. The transmittance of the visible light is above 95%. Especially in the ultraviolet spectrum band and the maximum transmittance is over 85%.

5. The electrical insulation performance is good. Resistance value of quartz glass equaling to 10000 times of ordinary glass. It is an excellent electrical insulating material and has good electrical properties even under high temperature.

As a leading China fused quartz glass supplier and manufacturer, we are providing best price as well as quality for all kinds of customized fused quartz products. We are also willing to look for long term partners who are a distributor or wholesaler specialized in fused quartz glass in local.

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Fused quartz glasses have the excellent properties for their following features:

• High working temperature
• Thermal shock resistance
• High electrical insulation
• Optical transparency
• Chemical inertness