Don't confuse the concern of not applying pressure to the bottom glass with not supporting the glass sides on the glass bottom. The idea of supporting at the sides is that the bottom glass should be held up away from the surface the tank sits on. It is normally done on a commercial tank by having a piece of plastic frame that the bottom glass sits in and that supports the bottom along the perimeter. The glass front, back and sides sit on top of the bottom glass but the weight is really supported by the perimeter framework. The bottom glass just passes the forces through it to the frame from the sides. On a custom made tank, you can do the same thing by building a frame of wood L shaped trim instead of a plastic frame. It would run around the perimeter and thus hold the glass off the surface. Next you would set all 4 sides on top of the bottom glass. The front and back glass go the full length of the tank and the glass sides sit between the front and back. They are not as long front to back as the base because you need to allow for the thickness of the front and back glass that they are sandwiched between. Finally you put a frame around the top that matches the appearance of the bottom frame. It serves the purpose of making the top of the tank a nice level surface since there would be no way to get a perfect match of all the glass that would be that smooth from piece to piece. If you put a slight recess on the inside of the top frame, you can fit some glass to it and continue to build the hood for the light to go into. That recess at the top would give the top frame a sideways T shape with the center leg of the T pointing toward the center of the tank.
New Tank Construction
- Thread starter gsparsan
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