what thickness glass for large tank???

[tlc]

i am in the design process of building a large reef tank. it is going to be built from plywood with a glass front. i dont trust myself with acrylic. it will be scratched in no time. the tank will be 15 feet long 36in wide ane 24-26 inches tall. what thickness glass would you suggest. i may split the tank in half if it will provide more strength. any advice appreciated....

 

[Len]

15 feet long! 8O

I don't know if many people have experiences with this. It might be best to ask glass tank manufacturers like Oceanic or All Glass. My guess is dividing it into two is a safer bet, but 15' is possible.

Who knows ... maybe someone will know here I envy you.

 

[Anonymous]

That is a tough one, and I don't think I want to answer it. That is a large piece of glass!

I think I would consult a designer. You can find quite a few by plugging custom tank in your favorite search engine. They may be able to give you specifications.

Have fun

Bryan

 

[Anonymous]

Dont know if this works for 15 foot long tanks but . . .

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/glassthickness.0.html

 

[Anonymous]

Just curious, but will plywood be able to support ~750 gallons of water?

 

[Anonymous]

Dont know if this works for 15 foot long tanks but . . .

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/glassthickness.0.html

Hey, that was a great article, think I am going to save it

Thanks

Bryan

 

[Stuart McCowan]

According to the calculator above...the glass thickness would have to be 23.66mm =2.366cm = .9314inches...almost an inch thick...which is just about what Cabella's has in it's giant display aquariums.

 

[tlc]

well finding a 15 piece foot of glass is near to impossible. the longest is 10 ft. i will probably use a 10 ft piece and a 5 foot piece having 2 viewing areas. will 1/2 inch work work as i can get starphire in the lenghts i need. if not i will go with 5/8 in platte. i am still contimplating whether or not to use starphire. some have said that when the tank is full and lights are on there is very little difference.

yes you can build a plywood tank that large. there is a thread on a african ciclid forum where a guy built a 1000gal+ tank out of ply wood. properly built and braced size is no limit...

thanks for the help so far

 

[Garry thomas]

TLC because you are only going to 24/25 high, you could manage with 15mm. If you went higher it would have to be 19mm. Here in britain you can obtain pilkington float, a lot longer than 10ft. My tank is 11ft, and i had the option to go bigger, but no more room i'm afraid.

 

[cwe]

you might want to give mitch a call @ Interamerican in Calgary, Alberta. They build custom tanks and might be able to give you a hand.

 

[Anonymous]

there was an article in fama magazine many years back about how to build a plywood tank-complete w/schematics-circa the late '70's early '80's
you may want to contact them and see if they have it in their archives