Question about glass for plywood tank

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LelandGray

Feeder Fish
Aug 14, 2019
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Hi everyone, first post here. I've been lurking for a while, admiring all your tanks, and now I'm finally in a position to build my own.

Moved into a new house in October, it's got an unfinished walkout basement that we're going to use as our fun/game/theater room and I want to build a plywood tank down there.

Being that the glass is going to be the most expensive part, I've been looking online for glass for sale.

Today I ran across a listing for a glass table for sale. The glass is 1/2" thick and is 72" x 32". I don't think it's tempered, but they're trying to figure out if it is or not. Is this something to look into? Would it work? What size tank could I make using it?

Thanks in advance!
 
LelandGray said:
Hi everyone, first post here. I've been lurking for a while, admiring all your tanks, and now I'm finally in a position to build my own.

Moved into a new house in October, it's got an unfinished walkout basement that we're going to use as our fun/game/theater room and I want to build a plywood tank down there.

Being that the glass is going to be the most expensive part, I've been looking online for glass for sale.

Today I ran across a listing for a glass table for sale. The glass is 1/2" thick and is 72" x 32". I don't think it's tempered, but they're trying to figure out if it is or not. Is this something to look into? Would it work? What size tank could I make using it?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I used a "glass table top" 30x60x1/2" for a plywood tank since it was much cheaper than getting a custom cut piece. Worked fine. Most of these come tempered. Just be sure to try and get one without any edge or corner bevels.

Im assuming your viewing window will have around 29-30" height and 70" wide. I believe 1/2" tempered will work just fine for that.
 
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Backfromthedead said:
I used a "glass table top" 30x60x1/2" for a plywood tank since it was much cheaper than getting a custom cut piece. Worked fine. Most of these come tempered. Just be sure to try and get one without any edge or corner bevels.

Im assuming your viewing window will have around 29-30" height and 70" wide. I believe 1/2" tempered will work just fine for that.
Click to expand...
Correct glass tables are usually tempered. 1/2" is good up to 24" of depth when not tempered. Tempered allows for a higher strength rating but unsure if its safe enough for 30" of water.
 
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I used 1/2 tempered on an 8x3x3. Not sure how safe it was but it didn't explode. I took it down when I moved. Still have the glass, I'll never use it. You're welcome to it off you want to build a tank.
 
You don't have to water fill the tank fully if you are worried the glass may not be thick enough. Just build the plywood frame taller to hide top portion of glass. Tempered glass is 5 - 10 times stronger than float glass if well made. Hopefully there is a standards label imprinted.

When using tempered glass, make sure to protect the edge from getting knocked as the edge is frail and even a small hit can shatter the panel. So design to protect all 4 glass edges or protectively wrap with aluminium/plastic angle trim.
 
If you can't find a label, tempered glass is significantly heavier than float. Some glass manufacture websites have glass weight calculators once you know dimensions. You would need to weigh the sheet though.
 
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