120 Gallon Glass Aquarium Specs

Fish lovers need a place to keep their fish, and people who really love fish need a place to keep a lot of fish. A 120-gallon aquarium is not the largest aquarium available, but it offers more space to keep more fish than most smaller aquariums available off the shelf at a pet supply or big box store.

  1. Material

    • This glass for a glass aquarium can be standard plate glass, tempered glass, or laminated glass, and most aquariums use plate glass. Some aquariums use polycarbonate, such as Plexiglass, but it is expensive, especially in sufficient thickness for a large aquarium, and tends to scratch easily. Tempered glass tends to be stronger than plate glass, but if it does break, it will shatter into countless tiny pieces. Laminated glass is weaker than the other types, offering only minimal protection against minor cracks, but its benefit is that if it breaks, it breaks into small pieces that are not as dangerously sharp as plate glass. Glass aquariums are typically framed with hard plastic or some other material that counters the natural tendency of glass to bow slightly over time.

    Shape

    • Aquariums most often come in rectangular form, but some are also available in a cube shape. Rectangular tanks have the long edge lying horizontally, with the height and the depth being smaller. The depth and the height are typically similar. This gives the tank a rectangular appearance when viewed from the front, which is how they are normally seen. From the side, they will appear as more of a square. Cube tanks have all sides being approximately equal and will offer the same view from any side.

    Size

    • A 120-gallon aquarium is quite large. The dimensions vary, typical dimensions are approximately 48 inches in length, 24 inches in depth, and 25 inches in height. Cube-shaped aquariums that hold 120 gallons, being mostly equal on all sizes, have dimensions of approximately 30 inches long by 30 inches deep by 31 inches tall. By multiplying the three numbers together, you get the volume of the tank, which must be enough to accommodate the 120 gallons of water.

    Price

    • There is no standard price for these large fish tanks, but costs tend to range from around $350 to over $600 dollars. This price goes even higher if a stand, a filter or the other various aquarium accessories are purchased along with the tank. These tanks are available at various online and physical retailers, and some places will make custom tanks to your specifications.