Concrete aquarium glass and filtration help

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brandonhovis

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 27, 2010
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Indiana
Hi, I'm planning on building three concrete aquariums. The largest being 8ft long X 6ft tall X 3ft wide (inside dimensions). There will be two pieces of glass in the front only. My question is how do i determine what the thickness of the glass should be. I was planning on 3/4" thick but want to make sure that would be thick enough so it doesn't crack.
Also I was wondering where I would need to look for a single filtration system that could be used for all three saltwater tanks.
Thanks
 
I could be wrong, but, somewhere on this site there is a STICKY page on how thick glass should be. It is probably at the top of the forum somewhere in the DIY section. If I can find it, I will post the link to it.
 
Thanks for the link unfortunately it doesn't help because the charts are for an all glass/acrylic tank, not a concrete tank. And they don't go to the size I was considering building.
 
6 foot by 3 feet high is 3/4" glass with a safety factor of 3.0ish.

The height of the tank/water determines the glass thickness.
 
I dont think it matters what the tank is made of but more the depth, as i read you want a tank 6 foot high, dam high unless you have given the wrong dimension s and meant 8 foot wide x 3 high and 6 deep (front to back ) ?

Also it depends if the viewing window is to be suported all around the glass or just the 3 sides.

And how big is the viewing window?

From what i have found out with my build is that 3 foot high will be fine with 3/4 plate glass if supported all around, if not IMO you would need 1 inch glass. If you do use 1 inch glass its a big rise in price then on glass so i would suggest an all around frame.

If you intend not to have the concrete all around the viewing window i would get a stainless steel frame built for the galss to sit in so thenm its is fully supported. But then it depends on how you are setting the tank in the room.

wayne:)
 
Going to post pics when you do build the tanks right?
 
woo. Might have misread that, 6ft high? Damn.

Once you get into anything that requires 1" glass it might be more cost effective to go with acrylic instead. It can be made considerably thicker. Keeping in mind however Acrylic is generally twice as thick as it's glass counterpart.
 
One of the mods on here told me that for my seven foot deep dream tank idea that I would need 3.5 inch think aylic for my giant fish tank.

I also got a price qote for a $1300 for a four foot high and eight foot wide two inch think sheet of aylic. But that was me expoloring the costs of how feasble a four to five foot deep tank would be.
 
Anything beyond three feet means thick, expensive glass/acrylic.
 
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