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tank building Q.


Mike nickerson

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I think the 3/8" would work, but it will bow significantly in the middle, I built a 4' long 120 rimless out of 1/2" scavenged pieces and it bowed alot in the front - I had 2 overflows (1 in each back corner) which mitigated the bowing in the back (almost to nothing and made the corners very strong. I eventually put in a 1.5" wide piece of 1/2" glass along the front and the bowing disappeared - not exactly a euro brace, but it looked nice and took away alot of my worry. And it made a nice little shelf for testing vials...

Just my experience-based .02

Good luck!

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I think the 3/8" would work, but it will bow significantly in the middle, I built a 4' long 120 rimless out of 1/2" scavenged pieces and it bowed alot in the front - I had 2 overflows (1 in each back corner) which mitigated the bowing in the back (almost to nothing and made the corners very strong. I eventually put in a 1.5" wide piece of 1/2" glass along the front and the bowing disappeared - not exactly a euro brace, but it looked nice and took away alot of my worry. And it made a nice little shelf for testing vials...

Just my experience-based .02

Good luck!

okay thanks for the advice ill probably do the same and put a brace on the front and back when i build it

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With 24" width, you may want to think doing a full euro brace if you intend to build out of 3/8".

You can't even imagine how worrisome bowing glass is. Glass is very easy to fracture under stress. I know this sounds obvious, but I have seen 1" thick glass shatter at a tap because it was being flexed. Not an aquarium, a window, but water is really messy.

Also, think of the weight of water wanting to force itself down and out in all directions - as gravity and water's properties dictate. So make sure your silicone bonds are complete and well cured before adding water.

Good luck dude - always a great deal of satisfaction from building your own tank.

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  • 2 weeks later...
There is a chart that will give you the correct material thickness for many sizes of tanks

 

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/planasystem/ig/Guide-Charts--Tables--Diagrams/Glass-Thickness-Calculator.htm

 

Here is another

 

http://www.theaquatools.com/building-your-aquarium

 

thanks for the links peppie ill be sure to check them out

 

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk 2

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Not a problem, Sometimes it is better to have solid data to relies on.

 

Imo 3/8 would need a euro brace, and the 1/2 could be rimless

yeah its always nicer to have solid data

At only 18 tall' date=' and with proper bracing, 3/8 is good. 1/2 really looks amazing though.[/quote']

yeah 1/2 would look sick but my plan was to scrap my 75 and just use it and buy the bottom sheet of glass unless someone has some laying around that would give me a killer deal

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You could always route a notch in any other material and waterproof it - plywood for example. I don't have any experience with starboard. If it is rigid and can be siliconed...already waterproof. Assuming of course you are planning on having a top or supports beneath the tank built into the stand to prevent bowing and such...

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