At 33" deep 3/4 plate glass is plenty strong enough. There's overbuilding for safety margin then there's unnecessary wasteful overbuilding.
363 gallon build 92x34x36
- Thread starter fishmanbob87
- Start date
There's overbuilding for safety margin then there's unnecessary wasteful overbuilding.[/QUOTE]
so in what type of application would tempered glass actually be necessary?? my 125 and 240 are tempered glass, what is the reason behind it?? thanks for the help
so in what type of application would tempered glass actually be necessary?? my 125 and 240 are tempered glass, what is the reason behind it?? thanks for the help
If the tank were to ever break, tempered glass would break apart in larger pieces whereas untempered glass will shatter into hundreds of smaller pieces. Tempered glass is stronger, which is also why most aquarium manufacturers use it.
wfex4;5021207; said:
You have that bass ackwards it is the tempered glass that shatters in to millions of tiny pieces and plate glass will just crack.
Tempered is anywhere from 3-10 times stronger depending on who tempered it, but if it does fail it will be a total catastrophic failure.
Most tank manufactures wont build a tank bottom over 18" wide without tempering it.
The advantage of tempered glass is that you could use a smaller thickness while having almost the same strength as a thicker non tempered. For fish tanks it's not "necessary" to use tempered glass. It's just your preference whether you want something thinner and more expensive or thicker and cheaper. However the shattering with tempered is not a good thing when holding back water. You would dump the entire tank if it shatters versus big leak and some time to try and do emergency measures with plate glass.
And yes, you do have that bass ackwards. Tempered shatters into small pieces (think car glass). Non tempered breaks into large jagged pieces (think broken mirror)
And yes, you do have that bass ackwards. Tempered shatters into small pieces (think car glass). Non tempered breaks into large jagged pieces (think broken mirror)
On the 330 i just finished i did not use tempered glass. Dimensions were 6x3x2 1/2 tall. Its holding up just fine. And i know its too late now but you could have added more space to the inside of the tank and saved money if you just made plywood ribs and not framed the whole build with 2x3s.
heres mine. see the sides. This saved space and does the job just fine.
heres mine. see the sides. This saved space and does the job just fine.
redtailcatfreak;5021891; said:On the 330 i just finished i did not use tempered glass. Dimensions were 6x3x2 1/2 tall. Its holding up just fine. And i know its too late now but you could have added more space to the inside of the tank and saved money if you just made plywood ribs and not framed the whole build with 2x3s.
heres mine. see the sides. This saved space and does the job just fine.
seeing the way you ribbed the sides of this tank and checking out a few other similiar builds really made me question the way i built mine. not the integrity or strength of the tank, but the fact that i could of had 32" depth(from glass to back wall) instead of the 28" it turned out to be. if i dont run out side and chop my build up with a fire ax tonight, my next build will be done the way your's shows. unless of course the next one is considerabley larger !!! i meant to ask, did you have any problems with the tank bowing when you support it this way? thanks
so i have been waiting for a few weeks now for a buddy who fiberglasses for a living to help me( which was the original plan) fiberglass the entire tank inside before using the pond armor. but being as tho it seems to be excuse after excuse of why he cannot do it this week i was think of just fiberglassing the corners myself and than coating the bare wood with pond armor. any suggestions, or should i just wait to fiberglass the whole interior of the tank???
thanks for the input... it seems as though all the research i did before starting my build (and whatever was running thru my brain at the time ) led me to wayyyy over building my tank. i do feel very safe about this tank, but knowing that i could have made my demensions bigger by using less bracing ect. is a real kick in the butt for me. or the otherway around, using 2/4 ply for ribs on the exterior would have slimmed the outside of the tank down by alot. only thing i have left to bring my spirits up is the fact that i can spray foam the spaces between all of the studs, which will definately cut down on heating costs. which by the way, i was wondering... has anybody else ever run hot water through pipes in your actual sump to heat the water in the system?? my father's got two 1000 gallon sumps that he built, both sumps run something like 30 tanks a peice. to heat all the tanks and i guess to cut down the electric bill, he decided to somehow plumb a hot water heater to these coils that rest on the bottom of both sumps and pump hot water thru them. it is not constant either, he somehow set it up with zone valves i do beleive... so one side will pump hot water thru the system for so long and than a valve would close and another would open that would pump the hot water through the coil in the opposite sump. anyone ever try this with a smaller tank??
