piecing together 220gallon

[oakes]

Quick background info, I bought a used 220gallon a few months back and it was taking up space at the time and it leaked. I tore it down to 5 sheets of glass, now I'm needing to put it back together. This is an older style tank as it's made out of 5/8" glass so there were no supports on the trim. The trim was in bad shape and broke while I was taking it apart. I wasn't planning on keeping it anyways as it added no extra support for the tank.

What I was planning on doing was using all the pieces but the front panel. I was thinking of getting starphire glass for the front panel. From glass cages they offer it in 1/2" and 3/4". I do plan on either adding some euro style bracing on the top and possibly on the inside bottom, just for piece of mind. If I added the bracing on the top and possibly the bottom could I use the 1/2" glass for the front panel or should I go with 3/4"? Tank is 6' long and 30" tall. I'd ask for other suggestions, but I know most will say use the panels to make a plywood tank! and I would but don't have the room at the moment, haha!

Reading back through, I might have to add a whole sheet to the bottom since there won't be a brace and I'm pretty sure the brace held the bottom glass up a little bit...will need to measure all my glass when I get home to know for sure though.

 

[oakes]

So I figure I might as well use what I have, plus I don't think I'll need another sheet on the bottom. Attached are what I am dealing with, both sides and the front/back, and bottom. Both sides are pretty much ready, just need to finish cleaning up the front/back and bottom. I'll drill the back before I put the tank back together, just to make thing a little more simple.

 

[FSM]

If you use 3/4" glass for the front, it will flex less but the seams won't be any stronger because the 5/8" surface will be glued on. I'm not sure which generally fails first.

 

[Clay]

Did you decide on a silicone for your rebuild?

 

[oakes]

Did you decide on a silicone for your rebuild?

You talking about color? If so I'm probably just going to use the clear silicone.

 

[oakes]

So I'm hoping I can get all the glass cleaned up in the next week or so. Only thing I need to figure out is how to keep the tank together while the seal is curing. I saw one thread where they used tape to hold the glass together, only problem is he was using 1/2" glass and I have 5/8" glass. I'm not sure tape will hold that, so I was thinking of building a wooden frame of somesort that would hold all the sides together until the silicone is cured. Anyone ever put together a glass tank using 5/8" glass? Any suggestions will be helpful!