Acrylic thickness on a tank..

[sbuse]

There really isnt a max front to back. Water pressure only gains as it gets taller. A 72x24x24T and a 120x48x24T would both need the same thickness in acrylic and would be exerting the same amount of pressure.
I can't remember the formula exactly I think it was .434lbs/in2 per foot of water column

Thanks for that answer. Been looking an couldn't find it.

man i've been looking for an the answere to this question for awhile thanks man :thumbusp:

We are in the same boat. Been looking and not finding anything. Hints that said the answer were mind boggling trying to interpret.

Close its 2.31 feet per psi or feet x .433= psi at the bottom. So in this case its 2 X 0.433= 0.86 psi on the bottom of the tank. Keep in mind that the pressure will decrease the higher up the tank you go. Here is the real mind f*==.... 72" x24" is the dimension across the glass. If you just calculate the pressure that its exerted across just the bottom of the glass in square inches it would be 0.86 x 72= 61psi pressure across the entire bottom seam on one side of the glass. You have four sides right? Multiply that by four and that its the total bottom seam standing force 24/7. Still want to trust 1/2"?The formula for calculating the total force across the tank escapes me at the moment. But I'm sure you get the point. Not the kind of thing I would risk considering the repercussions for a screw up IMO.

Drew

NO GOOD DEED SHALL GO UNPUNISHED!

If it works in my 180gal and don't break and doesn't increase unless I go taller...well I can trust that just fine. You want to get I to untrusting something look at the cables for elevators or how much stretch there is in them. Also look at how much concrete is actually in a bridge, the road portion.


Back on topic

One other question that is impossible to find. How long can you go before it needs to go thicker? Would a 144"x 24" be the same thickness as a 72"x 24"? 1/2" for a thickness or is there a max length vs height? Would a min (x) number of cross braces solve the length vs pressure issue?

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[wheatgerm]

Look at my 20' tank thread... Its only 3/8" acrylic and it bowed like crazy at 20' when it was set up. I've since cut it down to 10' but it still ran for 3-4 years at 20'.... It was far underbuilt but it still held water. Honestly with the correct top bracing I don't see why the tank would bow more at 10ft or 100 ft because the pressure per sq inch will still be the same... Keep in mind I did say "with the correct top bracing"

 

[sbuse]

Look at my 20' tank thread... Its only 3/8" acrylic and it bowed like crazy at 20' when it was set up. I've since cut it down to 10' but it still ran for 3-4 years at 20'.... It was far underbuilt but it still held water. Honestly with the correct top bracing I don't see why the tank would bow more at 10ft or 100 ft because the pressure per sq inch will still be the same... Keep in mind I did say "with the correct top bracing"

Interesting. I am looking at a 10'x10'x2', 12'x10'x2', 12'x12'x2' or even a 15'x12'x2'. The smallest I will be making is a 10x10, will be 2' tall for water level or so. Depending on costs I may bring it up to 3' tall. It will just have a front and side/sides viewing window. I have been looking for acrylic or glass thickness for that for a long time and just can't find them. I keep thinking 1" but this has me wondering if 3/4" would be fine or even 1/2".

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[wheatgerm]

Interesting. I am looking at a 10'x10'x2', 12'x10'x2', 12'x12'x2' or even a 15'x12'x2'. The smallest I will be making is a 10x10, will be 2' tall for water level or so. Depending on costs I may bring it up to 3' tall. It will just have a front and side/sides viewing window. I have been looking for acrylic or glass thickness for that for a long time and just can't find them. I keep thinking 1" but this has me wondering if 3/4" would be fine or even 1/2".

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So your building a pond style tank? And most of it will be plywood I'm assuming?

1" will be overkill. Even for 36" tall I had a 48" tall aquarium that was 1" thick acrylic it was professionally build... My friend has a 11' tank its 32" tall built with 1/2" acrylic. Most would say its under built but its been running 12 years in his house and he bought it used so it had been ran for however long before that.
Since your building it just go with whatever you feel comfortable with

 

[sbuse]

So your building a pond style tank? And most of it will be plywood I'm assuming?

1" will be overkill. Even for 36" tall I had a 48" tall aquarium that was 1" thick acrylic it was professionally build... My friend has a 11' tank its 32" tall built with 1/2" acrylic. Most would say its under built but its been running 12 years in his house and he bought it used so it had been ran for however long before that.
Since your building it just go with whatever you feel comfortable with

Plywood or cement. I have not decided as cement would be easier for me to do, but not in any way movable. Not that I would be moving it though. Kind of, my goal is to have something simmlar to energy's 1700gal but larger and not 360° acrylic due to costs. I have not fully looked I to cement costs but I can do all the labor myself so that will save a lot.

Custom builds like that are kinda new to me. I can build any pond above or in ground, viewing panels are something else. I know what most standard tanks are for thickness but something that long/tall with different support structures change the load on it to a degree. It would be my first build(if I don't make something to test out first) so I and going to be figuring most out on the fly.

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[wheatgerm]

Plywood or cement. I have not decided as cement would be easier for me to do, but not in any way movable. Not that I would be moving it though. Kind of, my goal is to have something simmlar to energy's 1700gal but larger and not 360° acrylic due to costs. I have not fully looked I to cement costs but I can do all the labor myself so that will save a lot.

Custom builds like that are kinda new to me. I can build any pond above or in ground, viewing panels are something else. I know what most standard tanks are for thickness but something that long/tall with different support structures change the load on it to a degree. It would be my first build(if I don't make something to test out first) so I and going to be figuring most out on the fly.

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It would be cheaper and stronger to do seperate viewing windows say if your tank is going to be 15' then use two 7' windows with a nice fat center brace. With something that size I would make your entire frame around the viewing window rock solid out of 2x4's, 4x4's, or medal tubing..... With plywood/cement builds "IMO" you can get away with even thinner glass/acrylic because you can make the area around the window supported so much better than an all glass or all acrylic tank.

I built a 320 gallon ply 4 years ago out of 3/8" glass the tank was 30" tall and its still up and running to date.. So there's a ton of different factors that come into play when talking about these things