If the glass is pushed all the way forward, maybe 3/4" at best. And yeah I have the plastic strips on the glass but I measured to the glass.
so then if you use 3/4" PVC you'd only have to remove a little bit of the background to make the spraybar fit. and then you could trim the plastic tab on the back to run the PVC into the tank
vertical would be cool, and stimulate water flow on all levels of your tank. may even help keep the bottom cleaner by kicking up fish waste letting it get sucked into your filter