Glass/Acrylic Hybrid Tank

[Aquius]

Hi All,

I have been lurking here for a while and have learned quite a bit. The amount of knowledge and willingness to help is greatly appreciated!!!

Anyway, I have a question about tank materials... IE, the ever present debate regarding acrylic vs glass. I have seen my share of both and really love aspects of each. Acrylic is awesome for clarity and structural integrity/weight, whereas glass is much more abrasion resistant. My question is what about combining the best of both for high end tanks?

What I am thinking is something along the lines of a cell phone screen protector. I am not saying gorilla glass is necessary, but simply using a one or two millimeter low iron glass cladding on both sides of cell cast acrylic would GREATLY increase the scratch resistance of a tank that is structurally made of acrylic. Best of both worlds... The basic technology already exists in "bulletproof" glass and I am thinking it might not be much of a stretch to use the same techniques in our hobby.

There would be downsides, of course. Cost would go up, as would "manufacturability." But for high end tanks, maybe..?

Steve

[Timfish]

Laminating is certainly not a problem, look at auto glass for example. I'm guessing since I have not seen any glass/acrylic laminate in all the years I've been keeping tanks that between different expansion coefficients and manufacturing costs it's just not economically feasible to laminate glass/acrylic for aquariums.