Glass thickness for Rimless Tank

[A.G]

Hey Guys,

Any one could advise me on the proper glass thickness of a tank with the following dimension :

25.5" (65 cm) L
25.5" (65 cm) w
23.6" (60 cm) H

Low Iron glass ( starpphier) in the front,left and right panel. Rest is normal glass.

Thanks in advance.

[phantomg23]

id go with a 1/4" im planning on building my own tank too and will probably go with 1/4". I know a manufacturer and he told me once you get past 25, they use 1/2".

[Speedoking]

I made my own 24 cube. 24x24x16 and it is rimless using 1/4. I have had no problems. Just make sure you silicon it well and you will be fine. However that is just my .02 Good luck!

[phantomg23]

I made my own 24 cube. 24x24x16 and it is rimless using 1/4. I have had no problems. Just make sure you silicon it well and you will be fine. However that is just my .02 Good luck!

any tips on building?

[Speedoking]

When I built mine I had five pieces. 1-24x24, 2-24x16, and 2- 23.5x16. I places a 1/4 wide bead of aquarium safe silicon on the 24x24 base. Then with the help of someone we positioned the back piece, then applied a bead of silicon along the bottom base and the vertical edge of the standing piece. Then each of the 23.5x16 were placed. At this point use painters take tape to hold the sides up. Finally place the front piece in the same fashion. I let the tank sit overnight. the next day I placed a bead of silicon around the entire inside. Use more painters tape to make an outline for silicon placement, this will make it easier to clean. After I placed a bead within the rows I made, I took a plastic bag and placed it over my finger and i smoothed in the silicon to have a tight even finish. I let the tank sit for five days and then I leak tested it. Everything held fine! Hope this helps.

[dkeller_nc]

1/4" thick isn't going to be enough with that water depth unless you really want to cut it close with the safety factor (typically 3.8 for rimmed aquariums; rimless typically use a higher saftey factor).

The only way I'd go with something that thin is if the tank is going to be absolutely stable - that is, on an absolutely bullet proof stand that won't flex or wobble under even a hard shove, and the stand is going to be placed on a floor that's part of the concrete slab of a basement or a on-grade floor in the first floor of a house.

Here's a thickness calculator (at the bottom of the page, if you have excel):

http://www.livingreefs.com/glass-thickness-calculators-t21048.html

If you don't have excel, you can use the chart at the top of the page.

[A.G]

Thanks guys for all the feed back.

dkeller_ncو

I found 11.4 mm glass thickness which is 0.4" ( close to 1/2" ) Do you think that will do?

I could not find any thicker .

[cugly]

Thanks guys for all the feed back.

dkeller_ncو

I found 11.4 mm glass thickness which is 0.4" ( close to 1/2" ) Do you think that will do?

I could not find any thicker .
That would work u need at least 3/8 thick so .4 is just a little bit thicker. .prep really goodand double check before you silicone..goodluck..

[dkeller_nc]

Thanks guys for all the feed back.

dkeller_ncو

I found 11.4 mm glass thickness which is 0.4" ( close to 1/2" ) Do you think that will do?

I could not find any thicker .

Yeah, that would work. 3/8" would be enough as well, so long as the tank stand is quite stable (and you're not trying to run 4" waves in the tank!)

[Ron Reefman]

I made my own frag tank, 24" x 18" x 10" deep and I used 3/8" glass. It's pretty cheap and very important, why skimp at this point?