Ideas for large tank

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Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 17, 2010
114
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31
Boulder
So I have a 400g tank I got for $200. It was leaking when I got it, so I tore it down and got it all moved down into my basement. Dimensions were 10'x30"x30". During the process there were a few chips around the edges, as each sheet weight almost 250lb and myself and my friends had a hell of a time getting it moved to my house and to my basement. Because of the chips and the fact that it failed before WITHOUT the chips, I have decided to not just reassemble this as it was, but to make a plywood tank. If you had these sheets, how would you handle it? Currently I am thinking of doing a 10'l x 3'W x 30"d plywood tank, also considering doing an L shaped tank since I have both the front and back panes to work with. The bottom has several holes drilled in it and many different braced siliconed to it, and the top is nothing but a patchwork piece of smaller glass chunks. The smaller sides are totally in tact, so using those are in play as well, though I can easily just toss them or repurpose them.

Any suggestions, advice, or thoughts on how you would do this?
 
If you were to rebuild you could just cut 1/2" off the edges to get rid of the chips. Would be pretty cheap to bring it to a glass shop.

If you are handy though and have the space, an L with each side having a 10' viewing window would be SICK. However, the chips would still be an issue, so I'd still bring it to a glass shop and have it cleaned up (and don't create more chips moving it again).


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I have a 220 with chipped edges. I put a 2 part epoxy in the chips. same idea as fixing a chip in a car windshield. its been up and running for a little over a year
 
How thick is the glass? i'm assuming at least .75 inches. How bad is it chipped? It isn't going to crack or run, is it? If their is any twist or flex at all once the pieces are installed a chip could turn into a crack.
I dont thing small cuts can be made near the edge of thick glass. It would have to be ground down with a diamond tool.

An "L" shape tank would be awesome. You could also install the ends on each end of the "L" shape tank.
 
The glass is around 3/4". When it was being carried in, we overestimated how heavy one of the panes was (front and back are about 300lb each, total the tank was over 1000lb), and my friend nearly threw his back out. He set it down on concrete and the weight of it took a chip off the corner. I have looked pretty close and it doesn't look like it will spread, its a clean rounded chip. There are a few other small chips around the edges. I will probably just overlap the glass a bit if I can't cut it off so the cracked parts are all behind the wood and not bearing a lot of the load. Just have an extra 3-4" behind the wood. Also if I do an L shaped tank, one of the sides will need to lose a few feet or it will cover the door. So it would probably be a 10x6 L shape, maybe I could add a few smaller windows on the 10' portion since there is more room going that way, so possibly a 16'x6' L. Don't know if that would be worth it though or if it would just add more points of possible failure.

After talking with the wife were planning on putting a few couches down there and turning it into a chillout/cocktail room for parties. Would be awesome with a tank full of big fish to set the mood.

Thanks guys, this helps quite a bit!

*Because of the weight, and how hard it was to get it down two flights of winding stairs (split level house), moving it anywhere outside of the basement will involve a hammer and a wooden box full of broken glass. No way I am getting it back upstairs easily. Getting it down involved removing doors, trim, and moving my at the time empty but now full 220G.
 
Door frames and trim needed to come off because I live in a split level house, and moving 10' panes of glass down two levels of a winding staircase is not an easy task. If it was together it would not fit down period. My 220 gallon had to be setup in the guest room because it couldn't fit down the stairs without taking out a wall.

Not sure what relevance this has on the original question...:confused:
 
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