TOTW 5-3-05 Information Needed for DIY Glass Tank Design

[Steven Pro]

I am looking for books, articles, online calculators, anything that shows how thick the glass needs to be for various size aquariums. I want to build something custom that has base dimensions of 48" wide by 96" long, but I don't know what height and what thickness glass I need. If anyone knows of any references, that would be greatly appreciated.

[MISTERFIXIT]

I am looking for books, articles, online calculators, anything that shows how thick the glass needs to be for various size aquariums. I want to build something custom that has base dimensions of 48" wide by 96" long, but I don't know what height and what thickness glass I need. If anyone knows of any references, that would be greatly appreciated.

Hey ,
GARF.COM has a tank calculator in their diy column


Marc

[Steven Pro]

Thanks! Someone else also pointed me to the GARF calculator and a spreadsheet on aboutsaltwater.com Unfortunately, the two don't coincide. GARF says 1/2" would be ok while the spreadsheet says to use 3/4". I am going to lean towards the more conservative estimate and get price quotes for 3/4". At the very least, I will feel fairly comfortable with 3/4".

[Reefland]

Steven,

I know for Starphire tanks, the builders require laminated Starphire to be used for tanks that are 40" wide (from a previous thread here on RL). Starphire glass is 12mm wide (1/2") so for a tank 96" x 40", 2 laminated sheets totalling 24mm (1") is required. Since Starphire only comes in 12mm (19mm was available several years ago), I don't know if they would recommend 19mm thickness for a 40" wide tank (like the one mentioned in the in the thread on Reefland I was referencing) if it was available and besides, adding the additional 8" might bump the requirement to 1" anyway.

What you might consider if locating a manufacturer that has the Diamante glass available in 19mm (3/4") and see if they would recommend this thickness for your dimensions.

P.S. I was doing a bit more searching and found some information on Wayne Shang's 96"x48Xx36" Starphire tank. His tank was manufactured by LeeMar and was built with 19mm glass. His tank was built about 4 years ago and it was mentioned that LeeMar had a hard time finding the 19mm thickness. This was right at the time that PPG Industries stopped producing the 19mm.

I guess 3/4" will be just fine for your application since the length and width is the same as Wayne's 718 gallon tank.

[ricksreef]

here's another chart to add to your list.

http://www.thekrib.com/TankHardware/...thickness.html

[greyhares]

I remember that tank well. Any tank with a 96 X 48 footprint needs to go with 3/4" glass unless it's a flat that's maybe 14" high. Lee-Mar is now using the Diamante glass for the largerts tanks.

[scubadude]

Try this one out too Steve

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/..._Aquarium.html