haha yeah I said 6ft high. It would be 5.5 deep actually. I included the 6 inch floor. But I planned on just two pieces of either glass or acrylic in the front. There will be 6 inches of concrete surrounding all sides except the center where it will be 1 ft think. Nothing is really set in stone right now, but this is what I plan so far. Just trying to cover everything first to make sure i get the correct measurements on everything and get the right glass so it does explode shortly after filling the tank up. So I'm up for any suggestions, this will be my first tank build and I'd rather be safe than sorry.
Concrete aquarium glass and filtration help
- Thread starter brandonhovis
- Start date
Younglin;4661743; said:
I ran some calculations for a 8 x 3 x 6' TALL
and with a safety factor of 3.0 you'll need 1.18 inch glass.
Since you can't get 1.18 inch(30mm) glass in the US. You would move up to 1.25" glass which gives you a safety factor of 3.3.
On the other end if you went down to 1" glass you would have a safety factor of 2.1 which gets into the area of safety issues. Someone else may weigh in on safety factors.
Speaking of weights. An 8 foot by 6 foot piece of 1.25" glass will weigh approxemtly 968 pounds.
alright thanks for the help guys. so any suggestion on setting the pieces of glass in there? think just pouring the concrete and leavin a lip inside would be adequate enough or should i use stainless steel fram inside the lip as well. i know supposed to be 6 inches of concrete for the tank and if i do the lip itll be 4 inches of concrete or 4.5 depending on if i get 1.5 in glass or 2 in. May go 2 though just to add the extra safety in there so it doesnt crack or break overtime
Metal frame embedded in the concrete would probably be your best bet. It's what we do for window openings on buildings. Say 3" angle iron. Then set the glass/acrylic in place and secure it from the back side so the weight of it won't break the seal and fall into the tank.
And LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of silicone. If you think you've used to much then it's probably just right.
And LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of silicone. If you think you've used to much then it's probably just right.
Alright thanks guys im looking into trying to find 3 in acrylic. With the 3 in acrylic and the 3 in angle iron will the concrete be sturdy enough not to crack where the glass is since instead of the recommended 6 inches it will only be 3 in. Also is it alright to form and pour the aquarium and let set without the glass in until it cures or does it need to be formed, glassed, and then filled with water to let cure.
