GlassCages.com can provides quick and affordable custom glass tops

By Matt Pedersen on May 08, 2012

A custom glass lid, cut to my specifications, cutting down on salt creep and evaporation.

When a company does something right, I think Reef Builders readers ought to know about it. Case in point – you can probably get glass from many different places. I had a need for dozens of custom cut glass pieces; custom lids for the used tanks I had amassed over the years. Of course, I needed some different panels and some diagonal cuts (rather than using the plastic strip that many conventional glass tops come with, I wanted access points at corners where cords could pass through).

4 boxes of Glass, shipped to my door via UPS, from GlassCages.com

I searched locally for glass companies- the initial quote back was $1500+ a shocking price at first, since I hadn’t paid that much for the tanks. I never got a revised number from my local company, but I know that $1500 was for tempered glass and for probably more finish than I needed.

Meanwhile, enter GlassCages.com. To my door, the entire quote was $261.00 for 46 pieces of glass at 1/8″ thickness to cover ten 5.5 gallons, fourteen 40 gallons (double panels), and eight 30 & 40 breeders (leaving a large opening on one side). There were no frills, no extra stuff, just the functional glass I needed. When I gave this bid back to my local glass company, they told me to go buy it – which I did.

I should of course mention that over email, Glass Cages may be short with you, but that’s probably because they’re busy. Well that, and because I think they’d much rather talk to you on the phone. And they are wonderful on the phone. A total of 10 days later, the glass arrived in 4 boxes on my doorstep. Check out the packaging.

Heavy duty cardboard gives way to outer layers of styrofoam, bound with packing wrap.

First look at the glass, which was also bound with wrap, inside the styrofoam casing.

I should point out that according to Glass Cages, they cannot offer insurance on glass because UPS doesn’t cover glass in transit. That said, I had ONE panel come shattered – everything else was perfect (and yes, I ordered some extra panels because I figured I would break something).

Broken Glass in UPS shipment - looks worse than it was. Only one pane, in the middle, had shattered.

So in the end, I have to say, for anyone looking to purchase a large quantity of glass lids for your aquariums, you might want to give the folks at Glass Cages a call at (615)-446-8877. I can’t speak to their aquariums, but I know that I’m VERY pleased with the service and finished product I received.

Why do you need cover glass? This is 2 days of evaporation - note the salt drips too.

A custom glass lid, cut to my specifications, cutting down on salt creep and evaporation.

XD_1

Great post, Matt.

Will we get to see what you’re doing with these tanks?
mcallahan

glad to see you are just buying glass tops from them!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3PQR2S2EAZUDJKVYUCKLCWJ37Q Micheal

Could you not get the glass tempered? That might help during shipping.

So their webpage shows a buck per sq.ft. how much extra did those corner cuts end up costing?
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QSDPQ6KDZJ64Q25D2NVBTL2YTM wood

I’ve heard nothing but negative comments about their aquariums from customers. This is the first positive I’ve heard other than they’re inexpensive.
W T

I have many tanks made by Glass Cages including a 300 starphire display and I am very pleased.
mpedersen

Tempered drives the costs up substantially, and ordinary glass lids are not tempered based on my experience, so I didn’t feel the need to go a higher end product.

Regarding cost, I’m happy to share their exact quote…I basically paid $3 a sheet for small and big rectangles, with the hexagon cuts being $5 each. Absolutely worth it to get exactly what I wanted – custom glass tops for a 55 gallon tank at $10 a shot…(plus shipping of course).

And your inquiry reminded me…even Glass Cages suggested I look LOCAL FIRST! Here’s the estimate they sent over to me when I first inquired.
—-
1/8 ” glass is window glass stocked at most hardware stores. Because of the shipping cost you may want to get locally.

———————————

1/8″ glass sheets
17 3/8″ X 22″ – quantity of 8 $ 24.00
7 9/16″ X 14″ – quantity of 10 $ 15.00
11 3/8″ X 23 1/4″ quantity of 28 with 2 diagonal cuts on opposing corners. 140.00

Edges seamed only.

Shipping UPS $ 82.00

Total $ 261.00

Call to order. 615-446-8877
mpedersen

I promise, very soon.
mpedersen

Oh, and I wanted to add one other thought re: shipping – I found it downright odd that a pane in the middle of the group would be the one that was shattered. The way these sheets of glass were packaged, I honestly understand how all this glass could come through and be OK..it’s one of those wonderful science experiements – easy to break a single pencil, but bundle them together and try to break the bundle..much harder. I DO wonder if shipping success would be as high if someone were to say order just a single sheet of glass or a couple. But in quantity, and custom, this was a total win.
http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Grim/100002504656450 David Grim

I just priced out a large tank from them. Unfortunately, while 5 other custom aquarium companies gave me quotes on the exact design and specs I wanted (96″ x 40″ x 28″ tall, external overflow), glass cages refused to do anything except their listed design sizes and they refused to do an external overflow, only internal. And they were the same price on the tank as the custom company I finally decided to buy from, so the myth of cheaper prices is just that, at least on a large type tank. so forget any custom designing from them. I couldn’t get anything except what they decided to do, and I wasn’t demanding at all.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Matthew-Carberry/9424326 Matthew Carberry

Treating the edges of the glass (polishing/beveling) greatly decreases the likelihood of a crack. Since GC does not do this, cracks can start at the edges of the glass at any imperfection (which would otherwise have been removed through the polishing process) and propagate through the piece. Don’t get me wrong, we have hundreds of GC tanks from 15 to 500g, but breakage due to this issue isn’t uncommon with their work and may help to explain why other manufacturers using polishing equipment do not see a similarly high number of problems.
mpedersen

Interesting Matt, I was not aware to the “structural” benefits of finishing a glass edge. I should clarify that I did ASK for just a finish that wouldn’t cut me, explicitly excluding anything of a higher finish level. Of course, from a lid standpoint, your standard glass lids are no different. I’m sure that if I had asked for beveled or more polished edges, the price would’ve been higher (assuming they have the ability to do so).

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