Water vs glass?

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seraph

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 21, 2009
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Glen Ellyn, IL
Hey guys, I'm sure this has been discussed to death, but...

I'm waiting for my 125 gallon to de-silicon-ize and spring a leak so I can plywood tank it. From what I understand or have read, that it does not matter on the length or the front to back dimensions of a tank but the hight of it which determines the thickness of glass. Is this true?

If it is, the plan is to take the 6 footer and open it up into a 15 footer with 2 6 foot windows and make it 3 feet front to back and keep the current hight.

So if the above is true, sticking with the original thickness of glass, I should be all good...?

Thanks!!!
 
Height, and bracing. If your tank is well-braced to either side of the windows, then it should be OK. Otherwise you could have problems, since a longer unsupported side can bow more and therefore is more prone to crack.
 
so something like this...that is 13' wide, 31" tall and 3' front to back with 3/8" glass...is the glass going to hold? In the picture, the rounded smaller rectangle is the viewing area and the rectangle around it is the actual glass just to shown the contact area to plywood...

monster.png


any comments or suggestions?

this would hold about 750gallons...
 
3/8" glass would make me pretty nervous. Id do atleast 1/2" knowing they make atleast up to 220's with it.
edit: also you gotta remember is 100 bucks or a little more now for thicker glass worth having to replace everything from the main floor down when a hot tub size amount of water crashes through the glass?
 
Online glass calculators tell me 1/2" to 5/8" thick
 
Even if the glass is reinforced on top? I'll probably run the glass top to bottom as to not change the hight from the original 125 gallon...so if the hight doesnt change...then the origial glass should be ok...right?
 
possibly. The online cal. mentioned 9mm (roughly 3/8") for a short distance. I forget what distance it said. I myself would assume 3/8" to be fine with enough bracing
 
I built the same thing but 16 feet long and 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep I have 1/2 inch for my front windows. but my 180 gallon 6x2x2 is all 3/8. I had to buy glass so for me 1/2 inch was not a big deal 19$ more then 3/8
 
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