huge tank

[TruonkQ]

hey guys i've posted before about building a acyrlic tank, but then now decided to go glass after i moved. i've imported some clear glass from china and now wanting to build a 4' tall x 32"w x 8'L. The glass is 1" thick. would the 1" glass hold the water? (keep in mind that water wont go up to 4' because the frame around it covers the top by 6" so water wont splash out.)

[Bug_Power]

for a 36" tank most use 1/2 glass your 1" glass should be fine. HOWEVER it's going to be heavy.

[ratboy]

Is it a quality glass ? tempered? Is it precut to size? I have a 3/4 inch oceanic glass tank that hold 380 gallons of water (7' x3'x2'). I looked into building a glass tank before I found my 380 and I would do a plywood frame with a single viewing pane. Other options I looked into was making a traditional all glass tank with stainless steel wraps. Problems to consider - slight green color from glass if not low iron, cutting 1" glass is not easy!, 4' tall! Im 6'2 and cleaning my tank is a chore- esp the lower center part. Prepare to buy a long scraper and spend big $$$ to get a magnet that will stick to 1" glass.

Good luck and post pics as you go ...

[matt]

Oh man this is a big project. You might want to get in touch with someone who has personally built something like the tank you're describing. Just out of curiosity, didn't it cost a small fortune to ship that glass from Chna?

Please keep us updated, this sounds very interesting!

[GaryP]

You might want to bounce this one off of Paletta. He built that tank in Chicago that he discussed in his talk.

If this is going to be a reef tank, what kind of lights are you going to use? With a 4 ft. depth I am thinking in the 1000 watt range. The Navy may have some surplus nuclear reactors that you could put in the back yard to power that thing. Wow! Just Wow! Keep us up to date. We may have to organize a MAAST "tank raising" for this project.

[hoho19]

With a 4 ft. depth I am thinking in the 1000 watt range.

Just thinking about the CPS bill with several killowatts per hour just for my tank gives me the heeby jeebies

[Ram_Puppy]

now would be a good time to install solo-tubes to light the tank, and solar panels to defer your CPS costs.

[TruonkQ]

ha... Don't really care about the glass. No not temp. It would cost 6k to get two 1" thick sheets of true clear glass in houston, but not from china. No more CPS guys. Im in houston now. Just built the frame/ stand out of steel. Whats the best silicon to use?

[LoneStar]

So how much did it cost to get that glass after all?

[GaryP]

CPS rates are cheaper then HP&L in Houston. Actually CPS is the cheapest in the state, or was the last time I checked.

[ratboy]

So if you built the frame and everything already out of steel what dimensions did you go with? Are you building it on site? Its gonna be a heavy SOB! Post some pics!!
--Erik

[TruonkQ]

here's the base. The top frame is in the garage. Yeah its heavy. Had gotten my guys to weld it. This is going to be a long project. Glass cost about $200 us each for a 4' x 8' sheet. Lucky for me i got a customer of mine was transporting a bunch of fancy glass for his resturant and he did me a favor. All the plumbing will go outside. no more pump sound at last!