Working on tank design

[kzairsoft]

I am brainstorming my new yard tank build/s. I used the calculator at one point but it seems to be for all glass. How do I determine the thickness to L x W ratio to depth to determine safety factor. Say for instance I have a depth of 6 feet above the bottom of the panel. The panel being say 1/2 inch standard plate glass with a height of say 16 inches of glass exposed to atmosphere height wise. What would be the safe "span" or length. Or if I want a 4 foot tall window, at a maximum depth of 5 feet with a 18-24 width, what thickness do I need?

I am going to start modeling the tank/s in cad when I get time from the sun in the following days and weeks.

Major construction will be from wood pylons and composite "wood" polymer decking and whatever else I come up with.

a section of the yard it will share as of today.

Any guidance is appreciated.

 

[Midwater]

Nice looking yard.

 

[AR1]

Nice looking yard.

You mean, Fish looking yard!

 

[cockroach]

When you see IBC totes involved you know shizz about to get DI-Wild.

For the bigger/deeper panes I would not go less than 3/4".
From what I could find, and converting, water exerts about 0.43 PSI per foot of depth. So at a depth of 6 feet, the pressure on the glass at the bottom would be around 2.6 PSI (6 feet * 0.43 PSI). Generally, for a depth of 6', a 3 to 4' span would require 1/2' thick glass. If the span is longer, as in 6-8', you'd want to increase the glass thickness to 5/8 or 3/4 inch to ensure safety.

For a 4' tall panel, you're likely looking at a thickness of at least 3/4 inch glass too. The span or width of 18-24 inches won't add much stress, but you’ll want to ensure the frame supports the glass well along all edges to prevent flexing or bowing.

 

[kzairsoft]

Thank-you. The Overall plan is to salvage older tanks for the panels of glass. I'm in florida, I think tanks float out of the sand naturally.

The thought is to use the shorter sides as the panels for the deeper parts. and the thought with using some panels in the tall orientation is the thickness requirements will not be as great as it only has a say 16-20 inch width so the "bowing" should be next to none. That is assuming I keep the actual walls in place and supported. I keep looking at it in 2 way, WOW thats a lot of water and weight, then it goes back to the fact that 17000 gallon pools are made of rubber....

The ibc totes I am undecided on, Probably grow out for some fish, the top sections now are the initial filtering, they drain into the bottoms that drain into the folded "river" that winds into the main pond. There is a coarse filter at the near bottom of the river to keep critters from flowing back to the pond. I'll keep the post updated, and I guess I'll start a different thread adding some more photos of the current set-up . or tag on here IDK, back to work, later.