New Tank Build Plan

[rpadams]

Hello everyone. First off I am new to this site, but have alot of expirence in the hobby. I have been out for several years now do to moves and deployments(navy). I plan on building my own tank and getting back into the swing of things. I am basically looking for some advice on what everyone thinks about my plan. I have built tanks out of plywood but the new wife won't go for one I am sure. I plan to build an all glass tank. Here is my plan.

2" angle iron frame welded together to frame the top/bottom/vertical corners

1/4" rubber seal on angle iron to pad the glass(held in place by epoxy)

1/2" Glass for all sides and bottoms(heat bonded together with torch and joints filled with 1/4" glass round heated and pressed to round the corners)

Silicon all joints

I plan on making this to be around 6'L-4'W-3'T

I know it may be overkill but to get the wife to feel more secure with that much water in our new house the steel frame will put her at ease. The only thing I am not 100% about is heat bonding the glass together. I can easily heat the edges up with a torch and put them together but I am not sure if it is even worth it. I guess I could make a 6" cube and then put it under pressure without any silicon just to see if that will bond the glass well. It will be a while before I start this build. Any suggestions?

 

[Geo_Master]

You should make it an 8x4x3. With the extra two feet, it will 99% for sure hold any fish you put in it. Not all of course, but RTC, arowana and others like that can. Good luck with the project.

 

[rpadams]

Sounds good. That would change it from just over 500 to almost 700 gallons. With the added length I wonder what the cost would be for that extra length though. What do you think about heat bonding the glass at the joints. Plan on stocking it similar to what I had in my 400 gallon plywood tank a few years ago. I had a black ghost knife 16", electric cat 10", pleco(common) 10", 2 oscars 8", arrowana(silver) 16", a bunch of misc SA cichlids. I obviously may change this before it is done, but will more than likely by some small guys and let them grow out like I did before. I have a place picked out to put it in my family room which is slab on grade so I don't have to worry about the floor caving in. The problem is I moved from VA to FL so the list of "illegal" fish has multiplied.

 

[Geo_Master]

Yea I was wondering about the e-cat in FL. lol. I'm not sure on the glass bonding tho. Im sure Dr. Joe will have some say on this. If it were me, I would just to silicone it, but that's just me...

 

[Greenaveli]

Curious why the wife wont let you do the plywood??? Especially if you already have successful history in building a plywood tank??? I ask because it just seems that this would be a harder job. And much much heavier.

 

[rpadams]

I am not worried about the weight, but she doesn't like the idea of a plywood tank. She just doesn't there really isn't a logical reason especially since I have had them for years before. She doesn't care about that it is a little to far out of her comfort zone I guess.

Yeah I think the e-cat will probably be out here, but I haven't really looked at the list so I am not sure. You know now that I am here I wish I could keep what I could in VA, but on the same note when I was in VA I wanted to be in MD. I guess you just always want what you can't have.

Does anyone have expirience with heat bonding glass? I know I could just silicon the tank and it would be fine, but I like to try new things and see how they work out. I don't think it could hurt.

Also I do not plan on using any PVC on this tank. I want to use copper pipe. I will probably do 2 overflows and a large sump for filtration.

I may have to cut the tank down to either 5.5'L or rethink where I am going to place it as the opening is just over 5.5'. I was also thinking about making the tank more like a "T" to fit the opening and still allow the tank to be 8' in the front but 5.5' in the rear with a notch around 1.5' on both rear corners. Not sure what I will do yet as I am only in the planning stage. When I was single it seems like there was not so much planning and more doing, but it is all good.

 

[Merbeast]

I would stick to silicone. It provides some give and some cushion. If you heat bond the glass, all of the stress is going to be locked into the glass with nowhere for it to be released... until it is too late. There is a good reason they use silicone.

 

[Dr Joe]

Merbeast gets an A+.

I've use this technique, but not under pressure like an aquarium. I don't suggest it unless you could oven weld the whole thing and that's not practical.

Use silicone between the glass and the frame and build the tank normally (but do this all at once to prevent unequal stresses (electric caulking gun comes in handy here)).

You'll have to use hard copper if your going to use copper (leeching). Are you using it 'cause it'll look pretty? Isolate pumps w/ vinyl tubing for vibration/cracking purposes.

Go with what the DW likes, it's always better to have her on your side .

Yep, sorry about your luck with the e. cat...

http://floridafisheries.com/Fishes/prohibited.html

But check out the list on the side, tell about all the fish here good/bad/ and other.

Dr Joe

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