180 Gallon Glass build help

[69maritime]

Well, it's been a long time coming but I'm getting close to building my own stand and tank. I've been reading and have some questions for anyone who has the time to add their two cents. I want to build a 72" X 24" X 24" glass aquarium. From what I've read so far I can do it with 12mm glass as long as I'm installing bracing. The reason for glass is basically the cost of acrylic these days in my area has steered me away from considering it. That being said I will be inquiring today on the current price of both. The info I've found leaves me asking about how to install the glass panels. I see many builds with placing the vertical panels on top of the bottom glass and others installing them on the perimeter of the bottom glass. Another question of mine is the necessity of bracing at the bottom of the tank as well as the top ( I'd like to do Euro bracing ). One more concern of mine is doing the "direct injection" method of silicone or it is fine to just lay the bead of silicone then place the panel? I'm sure I will have many other questions, but if someone could steer me in the right direction I would appreciate it. I hope I don't cause too may arguments on these points, but I'd love to hear as many points of view as possible. Thanks in advance to any who can help.

 

[M1A1]

That's an extremely common size size, can you not find any for sale near you or that will ship near you?

 

[Tenzen]

Well, it's been a long time coming but I'm getting close to building my own stand and tank. I've been reading and have some questions for anyone who has the time to add their two cents. I want to build a 72" X 24" X 24" glass aquarium. From what I've read so far I can do it with 12mm glass as long as I'm installing bracing. The reason for glass is basically the cost of acrylic these days in my area has steered me away from considering it. That being said I will be inquiring today on the current price of both. The info I've found leaves me asking about how to install the glass panels. I see many builds with placing the vertical panels on top of the bottom glass and others installing them on the perimeter of the bottom glass. Another question of mine is the necessity of bracing at the bottom of the tank as well as the top ( I'd like to do Euro bracing ). One more concern of mine is doing the "direct injection" method of silicone or it is fine to just lay the bead of silicone then place the panel? I'm sure I will have many other questions, but if someone could steer me in the right direction I would appreciate it. I hope I don't cause too may arguments on these points, but I'd love to hear as many points of view as possible. Thanks in advance to any who can help.

Having experimented with many tanks and having built that size and 2 other larger tanks ( I am a total amateur ! ) I can only respond as to how I did it.
I basically copied the build from a few customaquarian videos I saw.
~ I had the glass cut and beveled to my measurements
~ I placed silicone spacers on the vertical panels and taped all the edges within 1/4 - 1/3 inch of all adjoining pieces.
~ used braces to fit and hold the pieces in place ... I personally placed them ON TOP of the bottom glass
~ I then direct injected into the gaps of the panels. The horizontal bead I l did not clean up much of the bead on the inside however the vertical beads I used a right edge to scrape the excess off and then did a further esthetics bead after using another right edge but with a few MM notched out
~ As far as bracing goes I am always experimenting with that. On the 180 I just went 6" on both sides with a large "I" in the middle to give myself an easier time for building lids. I have experimented with corner bracing however have yet to come up with something visually appealing yet.
~ Oh ya .. the small side panels I placed on the inside of both the main face panels and on top of the bottom well

Thats what I did anyways , right or wrong it has worked so far.
Built a ton of small ones practicing and then just a 180 / 300 and 500 so far. Its now an addiction for me

**EDIT**
I did heat up my silicone slightly before hand so I could get it "Flowing" better and only went one direction as I do most my work in my cold Canadian garage.
Going forward I almost want to build some sort of small tube with 60 degrees or so cut out and place it in the corners to really push the silicone in and make sure there are absolutely no air pockets or bubbles. I have had a few very small pockets or bubbles after cured which drive me crazy but are minor in the scheme of it all ( Oh ya ... I used clear just to see the quality of my work, once I am super confident I will go black silicone )

 

[Backfromthedead]

For a tank that size, i would go floating bottom, which is the walls surrounding the perimeter bottom panel. Get the thickest glass you can afford for the bottom panel and short side panels, but 1/2" will work fine.

Im not familiar with direct injection except in modern combustion engines lol. I just lay a thick, uniform bead and place the panel in, taking care not to slide it around too much/smear the bead.

I advise practice with a smaller tank before attempting a tank that large if youve never built before. Maybe make yourself a custom sump first.

Different silicones=different procedures. I mainly use dow corning 795 black which is very forgiving stuff, cures slow but very strong once completely set up. A lot of people recommend RTV, ive never used it so cant speak much about it. Hands down the strongest stuff i know of is GE SCS1200, but it also the least forgiving, dries very quickly and very hard. Maybe the heating method above would help with that...

With a full top eurobrace you should not require a reinforced bottom, but if youre up to the challenge go for it....i only worry itd be adding unnecessary complexity and difficulty where its not necessary. Typically you see reinforced bottoms on larger rimless designs or larger tanks with skimp-spec bottom glass.

Good luck with the build. Keep us posted with results.

 

[69maritime]

M1A1 - I live in a rural area with no access to aquariums that size unless they're shipped. In fact the closest glass supplier I have is 75 minute drive away. That being said, as much as I would like the challenge to build my own I will have to think hard about it if building ends up being more expensive than buying and shipping. Thank you for the hint.

Tenzen - I too am in a cold Canadian Garage. (Nova Scotia) Well it was cold. Over the last three years I've insulated it and installed a heat pump. I will have to check out those customaquarium videos. I didn't click on them yet because I was assuming they were just promotional videos. I've seen some people use zip ties for spacers, I wonder if they're too narrow? I will definitely pay attention to the temp of the silicone before hand. And yeah, I don't think I would attempt Black silicone just yet. Thank you.

Backfromthedead - I was thinking about just doing a canister filter at first and then eventually a sump for more water volume, but I like what you and Tenzen are saying about practicing. That 1/2" glass will be too expensive to screw up. I have no intensions of drilling the bottom glass. Would there be any downside to getting a tempered glass for the bottom. My worry is I may change my mind down the road about drilling the bottom, and would tempered save me any money anyway? Do you know if Dow Corning 795 comes in clear? Thank you as well, for your time.

 

[Backfromthedead]

M1A1 - I live in a rural area with no access to aquariums that size unless they're shipped. In fact the closest glass supplier I have is 75 minute drive away. That being said, as much as I would like the challenge to build my own I will have to think hard about it if building ends up being more expensive than buying and shipping. Thank you for the hint.

Tenzen - I too am in a cold Canadian Garage. (Nova Scotia) Well it was cold. Over the last three years I've insulated it and installed a heat pump. I will have to check out those customaquarium videos. I didn't click on them yet because I was assuming they were just promotional videos. I've seen some people use zip ties for spacers, I wonder if they're too narrow? I will definitely pay attention to the temp of the silicone before hand. And yeah, I don't think I would attempt Black silicone just yet. Thank you.

Backfromthedead - I was thinking about just doing a canister filter at first and then eventually a sump for more water volume, but I like what you and Tenzen are saying about practicing. That 1/2" glass will be too expensive to screw up. I have no intensions of drilling the bottom glass. Would there be any downside to getting a tempered glass for the bottom. My worry is I may change my mind down the road about drilling the bottom, and would tempered save me any money anyway? Do you know if Dow Corning 795 comes in clear? Thank you as well, for your time.

Tempered is usually more expensive to order. Nontempered is always preferred, but there are plenty of tankbuilders that use tempered glass. The bottom is the last place i would put it--pressure points from scaping and slight variations in level could mean disaster with tempered but be fine with non. One of my first large tanks suffered a bottom panel crack (shoddy stand), and if i had used tempered there wouldve been 400 gallons on my floor not the 5-10 that leaked out of the crack.

My latest tank actually utilizes tempered glass on the long wall panels, which i believe is the only good place for them. Its actually an old red sea 650 flipped on its face with two new 63x21 3/8" thick tempered LI panels on the long walls. The two short walls and bottom are nontempered 1/2". I like drilling the short side for a peninsula type layout--makes for easy access to plumbing and equipment.

"The dead sea tank", about 70% completed:



As a side note, this is the largest tank i would consider using 3/8" glass for the long panels.

Hopefully some more members chime in...theres a lot more experienced builders than i on here who helped me through a lot of it when i started.

 

[Ulu]

Test your sealant first.

I will only entertain you with my worst experience. I glued a small tank and had to scrape it all apart, because the silicone was bad.

That had never happened to me before or since, but but it just turns out that I got a bad tube of GE #1

I let samples of that silicone sit around on my workbench for well over a month and it never cured. Not even close.

35 years ago I was an engineer at a company that did glass, aluminum and silicone windows. It was a requirement that we would open at least one tube from every batch, squirt out a sample and recap it, and we would keep those samples and watch them cure before we actually glued the windows together.

Scraping the silicone off of 180 gallon aquarium would be a total disaster for you.

Imagine if they had to scrape the silicone off the windows on PPG place?

 

[Tenzen]

M1A1 - I live in a rural area with no access to aquariums that size unless they're shipped. In fact the closest glass supplier I have is 75 minute drive away. That being said, as much as I would like the challenge to build my own I will have to think hard about it if building ends up being more expensive than buying and shipping. Thank you for the hint.

Tenzen - I too am in a cold Canadian Garage. (Nova Scotia) Well it was cold. Over the last three years I've insulated it and installed a heat pump. I will have to check out those customaquarium videos. I didn't click on them yet because I was assuming they were just promotional videos. I've seen some people use zip ties for spacers, I wonder if they're too narrow? I will definitely pay attention to the temp of the silicone before hand. And yeah, I don't think I would attempt Black silicone just yet. Thank you.

Backfromthedead - I was thinking about just doing a canister filter at first and then eventually a sump for more water volume, but I like what you and Tenzen are saying about practicing. That 1/2" glass will be too expensive to screw up. I have no intensions of drilling the bottom glass. Would there be any downside to getting a tempered glass for the bottom. My worry is I may change my mind down the road about drilling the bottom, and would tempered save me any money anyway? Do you know if Dow Corning 795 comes in clear? Thank you as well, for your time.

I didnt look at their website. I found many other youtube videos from the DIY guy to many many others which toured and made videos of the process.
Here is just one ( I think the tank assembly is around the 7:50 mark where you will see how the glass is placed )

I know there is all kinds of debate about the bottom placement "floating vs non" and I will be 100% honest when I say I have no clue which way is better. I have asked my GF which is a structural engineer and she wouldnt/ couldnt help me ?? I dont know ... I just know it worked for me.

Best of luck! Its fun to build

 

[69maritime]

Backfromthedead - very good point about the bottom, that should've been obvious to me. No stupid questions, right? I wish I had room for the peninsula tank. I love those boards framing your other tanks. Very nice look.

Ulu - Thank you! I just never would've thought that was a possibility. I will be taking my time with this build. This will be easy to check.

Tenzen - Thanks again, They make it look easy! I may look for those brackets to hold the panels together. I hope they're not crazy expensive, but I'm sure there are DIY brackets that could easily be made.

 

[Ulu]

. . . I know there is all kinds of debate about the bottom placement "floating vs non" and I will be 100% honest when I say I have no clue which way is better. I have asked my GF which is a structural engineer and she wouldnt/ couldnt help me ?? . . .

My congrats to your GF for sticking it out. Very few women made it in structural engineering in the 45 years I was an engineer.

She won't answer because there is no true blanket answer. It requires complete situational analysis. Either way can work fine, depending . . .

Which is "better" depends on the exact geometry of the tank, including glass thickness and the stand design too. PLUS your criterion for "better". Less expensive? Most forgiving in construction? Most durable? Most attractive? Easier to do? The real answer is always a combination of these, weighted by the needs of the user.

I was as the #3 guy in a structural engineering office for 22 years before I retired in 2017.

We would always get simple sounding questions like, "How far can a 6x12 beam span?"

This question can only be answered in the context of much other data, most rarely known by the questioner.

I will advise this: if the bottom floats, the highest stress area of the adhesive will be in tension, and normally thus fails in cohesion.
If it does not, the highest stress area will be in shear. Examine your joint design with this in mind.

ALSO IMPORTANT: Adhesive joints like this do NOT represent simple situations of shear and tension. Because of the fillets, the reaction is complex. You must build samples and test to be sure. Fortunately, millions of these tanks have been built, so the requirements are pretty well known.

in the 80's I was a product application engineer for the world's largest window and door company. We used to build windows with silicone and blow them out with air pressure, before we produced a window-wall or curtain-wall etc. This is because calculations and experience alone cannot predict everything.