New Tank Construction

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gsparsan

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Dec 2, 2007
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I've never built a tank of my own and I'm about to make one. I've recently upgraded my lights on an existing 1200mm long tank. For that, I had to remove the hood that came with the tank. So now I have a spare hood complete with 2x36W tubes, a powerhead and hood-mounted filter. I want to build a cheapish 1200mm tank where I will use this spare hood + extra filtration. Its not going to be a display tank so nothing fancy required. Its going to house a 5" long-fin comet that I already have in a FW tank (i know) plus another one of similar size that I haven't bought yet. The tank will go on top of a concrete bench will limit the width to less than 450mm.

Could you please have a look at the attached sketch and tell me if the details at the corners and at the bottom etc are right? I'm going to have the glass cut this weekend. I want to use black silicon for the edges and plan to have it heavilly planted with elodea and amazon swordsat the sides and plenty of swimming space in the middle, with sparse natural decorations.
 

gsparsan

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Dec 2, 2007
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Sorry.. I was trying to upload a PDF. Please find JPG version attached

Office Tank.jpg
 

Sploke

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Oct 20, 2005
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Are you going to have frames as well? And will the silicone alone be strong enough to hold a butt-end joint like that middle brace?
 

Ranger

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Jun 20, 2001
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Everett, WA
Woh cowboy! Hold off on buying your glass
A few things:
That is roughly 75Gal US , at those dimension you are on the thin side using 6mm glass according to what is recommend by most of the on-line charts. Since you’re doing this yourself and there is no frame for support I would recommend stepping up to the next thickness of class and adjusting your dimensions.
In view A-A and B-B (by the way metric is cool by that 1st angle projection is bunk :)) you show the bottom plate inside the side walls, it is better to have the side wall bearing on the bottom plate this creates a more stable base and a stronger silicon joint (the silicon is trying to hold in tension in your current design) I suggest changing the design and adjusting the sizes accordingly
Also the center brace question above is a good one, see if you can reinforce that connection better.

Read around to see more:
Ref: http://www.thekrib.com/TankHardware/glass-thickness.html
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/aquariumdiy/l/blcustomtank.htm

Also have you considered building wood tank instead?
Happy DIYing and let us know how it goes
 

legendaryfrog

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Nov 25, 2006
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Yeah, 6mm is on the thin side. 9 would be your best bet.

Im curious- Have you considered just buying a tank? I speak from experience, and you should that small tanks are never cheap in comparison to store-bought ones.
 

gsparsan

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Dec 2, 2007
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Thanks for the advice. I don't think I'll get a ready-made one at those dimensions. The 442mm width is an absolute maximum. I may consider getting the lfs to do it for me but I'm tempted to have a go, specially knowing that I can pass it through with you guys first.

ok, so 8mm glass it is.

For the bottom glass detail, I thought the bottom glass should not sit on the stand. Instead, its the side panels that bear on the stand. Am I wrong?

There won't be a frame around it. What should I change to account for that? Most tanks i see at the lfs don't have frames.

I can modify the connection detail to the middle brace by adding a small piece (50x50mm) below it, glued to the panel.
 

gsparsan

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Dec 2, 2007
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Is this one better? Any further suggestions?

Office Tank-A.jpg
 

Ranger

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Jun 20, 2001
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Everett, WA
For the bottom glass detail, I thought the bottom glass should not sit on the stand. Instead, its the side panels that bear on the stand. Am I wrong?

YES! Absolutely wrong! I saw that in you previous section A-A and thought it was an error in the graphics. If you had built it that way with the bottom up off the stand a few mm I can almost guarantee it would have blown out when you filled it with water.

Think about it, all the weight of that 75g [284L] + rocks (approx 375lb [170Kg] ) would be pushing down on that bottom piece of glass with only the silicon joints to hold it. That’s why many tank manufactures here in the US make the bottom piece from stronger tempered glass, it rests on a frame but the side walls bear on the bottom piece. Furthermore; even if your bottom plate was all the way down and resting on the stand it would not be cut perfectly, say it was 1/2mm short or long then your vertical side pieces wound not be touching cause you have to fit them around the outside of the base piece. If they are on the base piece then you can fit them together till they all touch.
Your current design is much better, but I would recommend that the top trim pieces and the center brace be lengthened to install them on top of the side walls not inside, once again they maybe a fraction of a mm longer or shorter then they won’t fit well inside.
Having the base stick out farther than side sidewalls probably isn’t necessary but it would be good so you can add a bead of silicon on the outside and inside of the tank at the bottom. This will make it a little stronger since you don’t have a frame.
As far as a frame, here in the US the manufactures add a plastic frame around the top and bottom, but that’s not something easily done DIY, but I see lots of photos from around the world where they don’t use a frame, especially Takashi Amono, but his are smaller tanks. Compare what you intend to do with other tanks of similar size in your area, look closely at how they’re built and that will give you ideas. Where are you by the way?
Good luck
 
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gsparsan

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Dec 2, 2007
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Thanks. I'm in Mauritius. We don't get a lot of things mentioned here because the market is too small. So we have to make do with what's available.

As far as this tank goes, I'm thinking it may be safer to have this one made for me. I'll try my hand on something much smaller, like a 10g.
 

CBWMN

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Oct 11, 2007
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According to GARF, the sides, front and back glass support the weight of the aquarium.
http://www.garf.org/tank/BuildTank.asp
“Cut the 1/4 inch dowels slightly shorter than the length of the bottom. Place the dowels under the bottom piece of glass. It is important that the weight of the aquarium is supported by the front, back and sides. There should never be any support under the bottom glass as this could fracture it.”

Although Rangers instructions make more sense to me.
I'm gonna DIY 25 gallon and want to do it right!
Any other comments are requested.

Thank you
cbwmn
 
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