I think the scratching possibility of acrylic ruled that out for me a long time ago,i bet the glass will be a lot cheaper from a window place than an aquarium manufacturer,
steve
steve
9' long 4'high 5'deep ply tank has begun.....kinda!
- Thread starter mike huntley
- Start date
i did work experience at london aquarium when i was in college, most if not all the viewing windows there were acrylic and heavily scratched, they were having problems with algae growing in the scratches too. I'm def going for glass for sure.
Looking good mike, glad you're making progress.
You had a 6x2x2 made out of 5mm glass? Mine's made out of 10mm and at a water depth of 2ft in the pond i used 10mm glass too and thought that was going to be a bit thin! Really need to do some experiments with glass thickness and pressure or find someone that has. There's a glass thickness calculator in the DIY stickies but that always seems to be open to arguments on glass quality!
Stuck at my parents place trying to use their mac so i'll leave attempting pics until i get back home, hopefully tomorrow night!
You had a 6x2x2 made out of 5mm glass? Mine's made out of 10mm and at a water depth of 2ft in the pond i used 10mm glass too and thought that was going to be a bit thin! Really need to do some experiments with glass thickness and pressure or find someone that has. There's a glass thickness calculator in the DIY stickies but that always seems to be open to arguments on glass quality!
Stuck at my parents place trying to use their mac so i'll leave attempting pics until i get back home, hopefully tomorrow night!
cheers mate, progress yes, but i'm getting very nervous that it'll hold water! natural i guess. brought some more epoxy today, just a litre, and some fibre glass woven matt, 50mm wide, i did all the corners and internals, my dad recommended it, he's a ship wright by trade so i think i'd better take note.Satan's Goldfish;4142330; said:
6x2x2, yeah i'm sure it was five mm, maybe 6mm but def not 10mm, prob should have been?!
Probably a good fella to listen to then, if he knows how to keep water out then it's a good bet the opposite will work to keep it in! I was nervous as hell everytime the water level increased and the pressure rose on mine, just fill it slowly and have a clear plan in your head on the procedure to take if anything starts to go wrong. At least you have the ease of a fast opening valve near the bottom of yours for a very fast drain.mike huntley;4142925; said:
My folks stuck in Ireland cause of that whole little ******* Volcanic Ash issue, stuck for another couple of days in a confusing Apple computer hell.
done a test fill on the filter, got it to about a foot or so deep, approx. a third of its depth, then it sprung a small but constant leak along the outside edge/corner on the right hand side 
my worst nightmare has come true. draining it now, doesn't give me much confidence for the main tank now. maybe i will buy another couple litres of the epoxy and give it two more coats. 
all else fails, if it leaks when the main tank is done, think i'll knock it on the head and keep reptiles.......... but i won't let it come to that!
my worst nightmare has come true. draining it now, doesn't give me much confidence for the main tank now. maybe i will buy another couple litres of the epoxy and give it two more coats. all else fails, if it leaks when the main tank is done, think i'll knock it on the head and keep reptiles.......... but i won't let it come to that!Got more faith in you than that matemike huntley;4146458; said:done a test fill on the filter, got it to about a foot or so deep, approx. a third of its depth, then it sprung a small but constant leak along the outside edge/corner on the right hand side
I put something more inspiring in my reply on my thread, not going to write it again!
She'll be right.
You're telling me! lost my confidence now, well for now. i can get to it to fix it, just concerned about fixing it, if you know what i mean. i will definitely buy a couple more litres of the epoxy, to concentrate on the corners/joints in particular once again. Maybe i didn't leave it to dry long enough, it def was dry, rock hard to the touch. Have to wait til the end of the month though, I'm half way through fitting our new kitchen, after doing the extension and my wife, understanding and compensating as she is, would rather i buy a new dishwasher than spend money on the tank right now - fair enough i think, best not to rock the boat now, when i can get years enjoyment out of the tank later.spwd;4146593; said:
So, as it stands, i'll leave it to dry, prob not a bad thing, for the next two weeks and order the next batch of epoxy at the end of the month...
