Planning stages, need some input!

[Eric the Ricer]

Hi all! I purchased a home back in Feb and have been going crazy with tanks since then. Currently my basement room has my 125g, 180g, and 40g breeder. I've got a nice section of the room that would be perfect for a tank build. I just recently acquired some tempered glass (for free! ) and want to get the ball rolling on a build. The glass is three panes, 77", and two 31". Unfortunately they are only 22" tall, all 1/2" thick. So for now, I'm thinking a three pane front, with 6" between each pane and 6" on the ends. SO I'm looking at building a 13.5' x 3.5' x 3.5' tank. My question comes down to bracing the space between the panes, how could I accomplish this cleanly? Also, with the panes being so short should I limit myself to a shorter tank? Thanks all for your input. Here's a pic of the glass I scooped:



And the basement currently!

 

[MyGiants]

1/2" glass 30" tall max probably 24" tall would be good.

 

[David R]

The glass is tempered/toughened so around 5 times stronger than regular glass, so the depth won't be a problem. Also, the glass is only 22" tall, so if the window is at the top of the tank then it doesn't matter how much water is below that, so 3.5' height would be fine, so the depth won't be a problem.

If it were me I'd use that piece for the front of a smaller lower tank, in fact being toughened you could probably do it without any bracing across the top with a 20-22" water depth which would look cool, and spend the money on a full sized full height window for the monster tank.

 

[Eric the Ricer]

Unfortunately I'm pretty locked in to this style build. I priced glass, it's rather crazy

With only a 22" height, I'm thinking only 20" will be viewing. Would it be wiser to go with 6" above and below the viewing windows or go with the glass closer to the bottom of the tank, with more height near the top? Also, I'm still a little fuzzy on the bracing between the viewing panes. I'm thinking it would call for some sort of bracing from front to back of the tank, drilled in from the front to hold it together. Picturing this all in my head doesn't make it easy to put in to words!

 

[Lil_Stinker]

Call me a little crazy, but a 5 ft tall tank like this would be pretty cool



Whatever you do, best of luck, I'll be watching

 

[Lil_Stinker]

Also, I would put a wall between the two bottom windows,
If needed you could drain the tank and leave once side full to make repairs without removing the fish. This would also supply support "front to Back"