How strong is aquarium glass

[zain611]

This may sound like a silly question but how strong is aquarium glass? I had my little cousin come and hit the front of the tank with her hand a few times and accidentally hitting her head on the front .

Just my insecurity playing up plus its the first time having family since setting up the tank

 

[Alliesten]

This may sound like a silly question but how strong is aquarium glass? I had my little cousin come and hit the front of the tank with her hand a few times and accidentally hitting her head on the front .

Just my insecurity playing up plus its the first time having family since setting up the tank

It is pretty strong. Unless there is a visible crack, no need to worry. Just keep telling the kids to be careful. They will learn. I have lots of young nieces and nephews, and now the most I get is finger prints on the glass.

 

[zain611]

It is pretty strong. Unless there is a visible crack, no need to worry. Just keep telling the kids to be careful. They will learn. I have lots of young nieces and nephews, and now the most I get is finger prints on the glass.

Thanks alliesten, just got a little angry when I saw my little cousin tapping the glass with her palm of her hand. I'm a quiet person sadly so just moved her hand away which she then just ran back and forth twice to the tank hitting it with her hand to get my attention. I moved from 28 to 130 litres so it's a big jump in size so just getting used to that

 

[Alliesten]

When your cousin does it, you just tell them to be gentle. If they break it, the fish will die. Most kids understand that. You don’t have to be mean or unkind. Just let them know. They will respect you more if you set boundaries.

 

[ErolHsif]

It depends on the thickness but I would work on changing her behavior so that she gets out of that habit. I usually tell my little house guests, “don’t scare the fish, be gentle.”

 

[NickAu]

How thick is the glass? 10mm glass is stronger than 6mm glass.

 

[Essjay]

You need to tell her that banging on the tank scares the fish. They think she is a big scary monster and will be very frightened if she bangs on the tank. Even my son and daughter-in-law's current 2 year old foster child understands that. She can understand being frightened by monsters more easily than the risk to the tank.

 

[zain611]

Yeah I'm sure it's about 10mm thick. It's the first she's seen the tank so it must of been a shock for her seeing it. My 1 year old cousin was alright but everyone's different.

 

[David1978]

Be very careful of hard objects hitting the glass.

 

[Ch4rlie]

It’s unlikely kids hitting the glass with their hands will break the glass but i truly get that it’s very frustrating seeing kids doing this though.

As others mentioned, explaining (through gritted teeth!!) why this is not a good idea does tend to work best.

My own son, until he was up to about 2 to 3 years old did this a few times and greatly annoyed me but after explain a few times, he no longer taps the glass and even now says to his cousins or pals not to tap the glass and explains a bit why (sense of pride shine through!)

But do be extra wary of kids tapping the glass with toys as this has a much more profound effect on tank inhabitants as it’s a much sharper and louder noise echoing through the water which will undoubtedly stress the livestock more than usual.

Obviously if they are banging glass with any metal or hard types of materials, then this will carry a much higher risk of cracking the glass.

Watching the tank/s like a hawk when kids you do not know are around is best imho.