Glass clarity, wavy glass?

[snapcrackler]

Anyone notice waviness or lack of clarity in their tank glass when your nose is right up to the glass (in different spots)?

I'm just wondering if there's a spec for allowed distortion for different types and qualities of aquarium glass, because I notice some of my tanks I have and have owned in the past, are not totally "clean" when looking up close. Waviness, distortion, etc. (varies depending on the pane and the area)

I am especially wondering because:

1. I want to avoid acrylic because I don't want to deal with internal and external scratches, even though acrylic has greater clarity (supposedly) than glass.

2. When I get a really really really big aquarium after I'm all done working on the house (does it ever end) I want to make sure that I dont have a 400-600 gallon rig with wavy glass.

I'm mostly being nitpicky, as usual, but dang I don't like looking along the glass and seeing little waves and imperfections, kind of a bummer when you're trying to look at tiny creatures.

I am suspecting that the higher end glass aquarium manufacturers "use better glass" but I just wonder where it all begins.

Waddya think?

 

[RubixCube]

Well, naturally, glass is not a solid. The wavy lines you see are actually the glass "running". Of course this usually takes many years (old house windows) I’m not a glass expert but from what I hear, the more clear the glass is, the better the quality, and the denser it is, making it brittle. What you may be seeing is slight thickness variations in the glass, coupled with x gallons of water, you can get a magnifying glass effect. But, if it’s a new tank, and the glass is bad, you may want to contact the manufacturer.