Glass Thickness Guide

[Backfromthedead]

Hello sir. I was wondering if you could help me out with a dilemma? I have glass sheets that I received from someone on Craigslist. According to them they broke down a tank and wanted to sell the glass. The front and back sheets are 72x36, the sides are 24x36 and the bottom is 72x24. What concerns me is the thickness of the glass. It's 1/2" thick and I'm a little afraid to put this one back together. I've built tanks before as the largest one was 150 with the same thickness glass. This tank was also euro braced as well. I have all the pieces and I cleaned all of the old silicone off. Since I've learned about glass safety factor I've been stuck on whether or not to try putting this one together. That would be some serious water damage. I also have a brace from another aquarium build that I never started on. The brace is brand new and it's for the top and bottom. It's the plastic bracing that I bought from PetWarehouse. Do you or any of the great people have any advice as to what I can do with this build. As of now the tank would be 72(L)x24(W)x36(H) with the glass thickness of 1/2". Any advice on this would be helpful. I'm willing to get the glass cut if needed. Any advice on this is accepted and if anyone has the same dimensions could you let me know how it's working out or worked out for you? Thanks

I would suggest nothing less than 15mm(5/8") for all panels of a 72"Lx24"Wx36"H with a full eurobrace of at least 12mm(1/2"). If it's me I would want 19mm all sides and bottom with a floating bottom panel design. Ime the bottom and short side pieces are the most important, their thickness determines the surface area and therefore the strength of your seals throughout the tank.

What I would do, cut one of the 72x36 panels down to 72x24, then build yourself a 72"Lx36"Wx24"H tank. Then use the remaining glass to cut out a full perimeter eurobrace. This would make a much more versatile tank (superior footprint) and the 1/2" glass would be adequate for the shorter height. I would personally still want thicker glass for the bottom, but if you have a sufficient, sturdy stand and use a leveling cushion under the tank the 1/2" should work just fine...just be wary of pressure points with heavy objects.

 

[Backfromthedead]

As an amateur tank builder I kinda wish this thread was unstickied. If I had started building using these guidelines I think I would've had a lot more failed tanks. Seems to me like a lot of people have agreed with me over the years as well...

 

[Feezy3000]

As an amateur tank builder I kinda wish this thread was unstickied. If I had started building using these guidelines I think I would've had a lot more failed tanks. Seems to me like a lot of people have agreed with me over the years as well...

Thank you for your response. I have the plastic bracing that I purchased from Petwarehouse. Should I not use this as I have both the bottom and top? I also need to figure out how to get this cut. I don't want to mess it up at all. So the 72(L)x24(W)x24(H) would be a good idea for this? I think that it would give it a glass safety factor of 3.9. Again, thanks for your response. I also have a few pieces that was a tank that I broke down. I wont to use them to make 2 more tanks around the 100 gallon or more size. I want to do my first plywood build. The glass dimensions for these 2 are 48(L)x30(H). The original aquarium was purchased from the store with the dimensions of 48(L)x24(W)x30(H) which give it a glass safety factor of 2.5. I guess I'm a little confused about the glass safety factor as this was not a DIY Aquarium I had the tank about 12 years and in that time the silicone started to fail. My question is why is this tank not considered bad and the one I want to do is considered bad. By the way the glass was purchased and was a tank originally. It was broken down. I'm not trying to challenge what you're saying. I just find this stuff a little confusing at time. It has almost the same glass safety factor rating for the both of them. Thanks

 

[Backfromthedead]

Thank you for your response. I have the plastic bracing that I purchased from Petwarehouse. Should I not use this as I have both the bottom and top? I also need to figure out how to get this cut. I don't want to mess it up at all. So the 72(L)x24(W)x24(H) would be a good idea for this? I think that it would give it a glass safety factor of 3.9. Again, thanks for your response. I also have a few pieces that was a tank that I broke down. I wont to use them to make 2 more tanks around the 100 gallon or more size. I want to do my first plywood build. The glass dimensions for these 2 are 48(L)x30(H). The original aquarium was purchased from the store with the dimensions of 48(L)x24(W)x30(H) which give it a glass safety factor of 2.5. I guess I'm a little confused about the glass safety factor as this was not a DIY Aquarium I had the tank about 12 years and in that time the silicone started to fail. My question is why is this tank not considered bad and the one I want to do is considered bad. By the way the glass was purchased and was a tank originally. It was broken down. I'm not trying to challenge what you're saying. I just find this stuff a little confusing at time. It has almost the same glass safety factor rating for the both of them. Thanks

Ah yes, a 72x24x24 would work great with that glass, I have no concerns about the bottom panel at that width.

The trim is fine, but does not possess near the strength of a glass-on-glass eurobrace. Moreover, the structural integrity of ABS and other plastics degrades over time, especially when exposed to flourescent or sunlight. The 48x24x30 you referred to may have had a combination of weaknesses, including substandard glass thickness+degraded plastic trim bracing+cheap silicone (most mass-produced tanks share these qualities). Rebuilding that tank correctly with a proper brace and quality industrial grade silicone adhesive will make for a much more durable tank.

The reason I'm pushing so hard for the eurobrace is because when you trim the panels down to 72x24, you will have remnants of 72x~11-7/8. These are invaluable because you will need 72" pieces for the eurobrace, and you can simply trim them from the remnants. It is important to note, however, that using a full eurobrace limits you to drilling your tank for a sump or closed loop filtration, hang-on-back filters will not fit on this tank. If you still want the trim on there you can simply slap on top of the finished eurobrace.

The first step when cutting glass is to ensure completely 100% no doubt that the glass is NOT tempered. Cutting non-tempered glass can be done in your backyard utilizing a DIY wet saw setup (or if you happen to have a waterjet laying around, use that!). My rig consists of a circular saw with continuous rim diamond blade, several clamps and guides, and a garden hose. I have to do some cutting this weekend for some upcoming builds so I'll try to snap some pictures. The process is explained in many threads in this subforum, try searching for some, I will too.

But if you can find a glass shop in your area who will cut them and not break the bank, that is a good idea too.

Lastly, it would be a great idea to build a couple smaller tanks before attempting a 72x24x24 as your first tank. I've got 4-5 years of amateur tankbuilding experience and I'm just now getting confident building 100-200 gallon tanks.

 

[Feezy3000]

Ah yes, a 72x24x24 would work great with that glass, I have no concerns about the bottom panel at that width.

The trim is fine, but does not possess near the strength of a glass-on-glass eurobrace. Moreover, the structural integrity of ABS and other plastics degrades over time, especially when exposed to flourescent or sunlight. The 48x24x30 you referred to may have had a combination of weaknesses, including substandard glass thickness+degraded plastic trim bracing+cheap silicone (most mass-produced tanks share these qualities). Rebuilding that tank correctly with a proper brace and quality industrial grade silicone adhesive will make for a much more durable tank.

The reason I'm pushing so hard for the eurobrace is because when you trim the panels down to 72x24, you will have remnants of 72x~11-7/8. These are invaluable because you will need 72" pieces for the eurobrace, and you can simply trim them from the remnants. It is important to note, however, that using a full eurobrace limits you to drilling your tank for a sump or closed loop filtration, hang-on-back filters will not fit on this tank. If you still want the trim on there you can simply slap on top of the finished eurobrace.

The first step when cutting glass is to ensure completely 100% no doubt that the glass is NOT tempered. Cutting non-tempered glass can be done in your backyard utilizing a DIY wet saw setup (or if you happen to have a waterjet laying around, use that!). My rig consists of a circular saw with continuous rim diamond blade, several clamps and guides, and a garden hose. I have to do some cutting this weekend for some upcoming builds so I'll try to snap some pictures. The process is explained in many threads in this subforum, try searching for some, I will too.

But if you can find a glass shop in your area who will cut them and not break the bank, that is a good idea too.

Lastly, it would be a great idea to build a couple smaller tanks before attempting a 72x24x24 as your first tank. I've got 4-5 years of amateur tankbuilding experience and I'm just now getting confident building 100-200 gallon tanks.

Thanks again for your comments. I've built a 75 gallon tank before but never one this large. I used RTV silicone and I haven't had any issues. You brought eurobracing as the glass that I have was the pieces for this already and it was eurobraced. If I didn't mention it earlier this was once an aquarium that was broken down. It's just that I was/ am a little hesitant about putting this one back together. If I had not done more research this tank would be together by now. I just started hearing more about glass safety factors and wanted to know more about it. I really appreciate the information that you've given me. I would just try to find a glass cutter near me and have them cut it. I just don't want to bother with that. I do have the diamond bit drills pieces to drill holes in the tank. I want to use the Bean Animal Overflow design for my filtration. Anyway, thanks again. I thought that I was going to have a Monster tank in the beginning but I'm not going to risk that potential water damage. Not worth the risk. Thanks my friend. It's going to be 72x24x24. That's not a bad size lol

 

[Backfromthedead]

Thanks again for your comments. I've built a 75 gallon tank before but never one this large. I used RTV silicone and I haven't had any issues. You brought eurobracing as the glass that I have was the pieces for this already and it was eurobraced. If I didn't mention it earlier this was once an aquarium that was broken down. It's just that I was/ am a little hesitant about putting this one back together. If I had not done more research this tank would be together by now. I just started hearing more about glass safety factors and wanted to know more about it. I really appreciate the information that you've given me. I would just try to find a glass cutter near me and have them cut it. I just don't want to bother with that. I do have the diamond bit drills pieces to drill holes in the tank. I want to use the Bean Animal Overflow design for my filtration. Anyway, thanks again. I thought that I was going to have a Monster tank in the beginning but I'm not going to risk that potential water damage. Not worth the risk. Thanks my friend. It's going to be 72x24x24. That's not a bad size lol

Nice! There are much more experienced and knowledgeable builders on here that can help too. Don't forget to make a build thread, keep us posted on the progress.

 

[Feezy3000]

Nice! There are much more experienced and knowledgeable builders on here that can help too. Don't forget to make a build thread, keep us posted on the progress.

I'm going to keep looking but it seems that a lot of the content is no-longer available as they're outdated and had possibly been removed. I'm going to find a glass cutter near me so that they can get this thing cut for me. I'm so ready to get this tank built.

 

[Feezy3000]

I'm going to keep looking but it seems that a lot of the content is no-longer available as they're outdated and had possibly been removed. I'm going to find a glass cutter near me so that they can get this thing cut for me. I'm so ready to get this tank built.

One more thing. I also have stands that I'm going to build along with the plywood. Here are some pics. One will be my quarantine aquarium and the other will be my large plywood aquarium. I designed these on Sketchup.

 

[simo2004]

HI all

hope you ok I know this is a old thread but needing some info..

Tank size I'm looking at is 2m long 1.5m wide but I'm unsure how high I can go in 19mm .. Tank will have a steel ring around the top and bottom.

I've gone 800mm high in 15mm glass before but not sure on 19mm glass

Thanks in advance

simo

 

[M1A1]

If you were comfortable with 800mm in 15mm glass then 1000mm in 19mm glass is the same safety factor, ~2.6.