Viewing panel for a plywood tank?

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TheBigB

TheBigB

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Nov 1, 2011
503
3
33
North Texas
Ive been researching for a while on building my own plywood tank. Im looking to build something in the neighbor hood of 96" long X30" high X 36" deep. I have a few acrylic quotes but not sure what thickness I would need. I tried using the thickness calculators but didnt have much luck. Below are the quotes I got, so let me know if the prices seem fair and what size you would go with.

96" X 30"

½” Clear Acrylic $377.25
¾” Clear Acrylic $579.75
1.0 Clear Acrylic $806.25

Also, I have always like glass over acrylic. Would it be feasible to do glass instead? What type of cost difference would there be?

Thanks guys!
 
I used 1" for my 36" high build and have next to no deflection (about 3mm). I would be willing to guess you could get away with 3/4" on a 30" high tank with good bracing since the actual water level will most likely be somewhere around 28-29". The calculators are odd if you ask me, you can look at professionally built tanks from manufacturers and they use less thickness than any calc I have ever seen. On my tank it was telling me to use 1.5" thick acrylic which seems total overkill when i see tanks 40"-48" using 1.5" thick acrylic. I had a 180 gallon glass tank that was 30" high and was made from 1/2" glass if that helps on the glass part. Again with proper structural support and bracing you should be fine with 3/4" acrylic or 1/2" glass. Hopefully someone else will chime in with their thoughts as well.
 
Have you gotten a quote for 1/2" glass?
 
A local glass shop quoted me just $155 for 72" by 24" by .5" of glass. Might be kinder to your wallet to look at glass.
 
I honestly don't know, I just asked for a piece of glass. I assume it's normal, non-tempered glass. For me, this tank will be a holdover between my 150 and my huge tank that I'm going to get in a few years time, so I'm not overly concerned about it's being flawless. I just want to see my fish while they're growing out. :)
 
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