DIY tank... as in from scratch. (LED's in the future too)

[shroutk3]

Hi everyone, awhile ago I acquired several tanks with shipping damage for free from a LFS. What I have now done is harvested 4 complete panes of glass from a 29 that had a broken side panel.
Measurements of raw panes:
Front/Back Panes- I think 6mm 18''x30''
Bottom Pane- 6mm 12.25''x30''
Side Pane- 5mm 11.75''x18''

My idea is to make a shallow frag tank and sit it next to my current 40 B display. The stand I have to work with is 18x18 on top, but I was thinking of making something around 16x16x10 or 17x17x10.

I'm planning on lighting this tanks with LEDs, and using it to house bta's and ricordeas- the two things I seem to grow well.

Right now I have a couple of quiestions:
1. Is that glass thick enough? Will I need bracing.
2. Panes on side or on top? The original 29 was on top- I feel like this is the easier way, but may not be the strongest way. Planning on getting some GE RTV 108, so it will be good silicone.
- I need to make this decision so that I can figure out a cut list for the glass shop.
3. Will 9 CREE's be ok? I don't plan on keeping sps on the sand in the far corner- planning on a central island area with some frags near center- sand at perimeter.

Anyways, I'm hoping to document this process start to finish as I had a lot of trouble finding somebody who has done something similar.

Thanks for any help

Tim

[rkaragozler]

do you have 2 pieces of the 18x30

[shroutk3]

Yes two pieces of the 18x30

I was thinking that I could get 2 or three of the future sides out of each- not sure how exacting I can expect the cuts. Maybe 9 inches in height would give me more wiggle room. I think the bottom piece would need to come from one of the front/back pieces.

Tim

[rkaragozler]

can you give me the thickness of the glass in inches?

[shroutk3]

5 mm is 0.1968 inches
6 mm is 0.236 inches

Thanks for the help

[shroutk3]

To the top. Maybe I couldn't find many threads about this because nobody builds a tank from scratch lol. Any help would be appreciated.

Tim

[rkaragozler]

sorry it took so long had to do some fraging for a friend
normally when i purchase glass for building sumps and tanks they ask how thick.
usually its refered to as fraction and not metric. like 1.8, 3/16, 1/4.
here is a layout of your cut out to your specs
you would only use the large pieces.
http://i775.photobucket.com/albums/yy32/rkaragozler/shroutk3.jpg

[shroutk3]

Oops. The 5mm is about 3/16. The 6mm is 1/4. So that cut list would be for sides on top of the bottom correct? Would I need bracing for those specs?

Thanks again,
Tim

[rkaragozler]

those are all your cut specs.
just change 15.528 cut to 15.5
I would recommend some sort of bracing even if it is 1" wide around the perimeter.

[shroutk3]

So with this shallow depth, is sides on top of bottom an issue? Will I need eurobracing either top or bottom? What about just triangles of glass in the corners?

[shroutk3]

Ok, I got the glass cut- decided to put sides on top of bottom. It's easier, and with a tank this shallow, I don't think pressure will be much concern- I'll be using the RTV.

When I was cleaning up the edges I noticed a few inconsistencies in the break. There are two places that have little pits (almost like incredibly small clam shells at the edge) One is from the factory edge, one is from on of my edges.
-Is this something to worry about? Should I just place these spots on the inside/outside of the tank? Am I going to need to get panes recut?

Any help and/or experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Tim