Big tank and vertical seams

[Belgian Anthias]

We wouid like to build this big tank in 1 1/2 "acrylic panes.
A smaller tank would give no problems, all seams can be made horizontally.
With this one this is practically impossible. Is there a possebility for making seams vertically?

[am3gross]

interesting... cant wait to see some replys!

[Cuby2k]

See the "Acrylics" thread. The guy is an expert and is very generous in sharing his knowledge.

My opinion, which is worth about as much as it will cost you: It would be better to form that bottom piece out of a single sheet to avoid seams.

That being said, my 'fuge is as ghetto as they come and I have overlaid cracks with other pieces of acrylic and the repair has held for over three years and a 300 mile move.

I hope you can make it work, looks like it would be a fun project.

[mm949]

my tank is 18' long and the faces have 2 seams and the top/bottom have one....depending on the height of the tank u should be ok....mines 2" thick body w/1" top/bottom....i got the tank second hand and its roughly 7 years old w/o any issues

[Acrylics]

Originally Posted by Belgian Anthias

We wouid like to build this big tank in 1 1/2 "acrylic panes.
A smaller tank would give no problems, all seams can be made horizontally.
With this one this is practically impossible. Is there a possebility for making seams vertically?

Not really, should all be made horizontally, easy enough though.
Treat it as one big tank that is ~86 x 90" (assuming this is the footprint) and then add in the "Ell" assembly, then hack off the remainder. Then glue the top & bottom on.

Only problems I see are the top bracing style and the fact that you'll have to cast 2 sheets together to make the bottom and perhaps the top as well. Other than that - simple tank really.

If you can bring it down to fit within a 6 x 8' sheet - you'll cut out the casting issues altogether. No one in this country makes a solvent cementable 8 x 8' sheet.

HTH,
James

[Belgian Anthias]

Originally Posted by Acrylics

Not really, should all be made horizontally, easy enough though.
Treat it as one big tank that is ~86 x 90" (assuming this is the footprint) and then add in the "Ell" assembly, then hack off the remainder. Then glue the top & bottom on.

Only problems I see are the top bracing style and the fact that you'll have to cast 2 sheets together to make the bottom and perhaps the top as well. Other than that - simple tank really.

If you can bring it down to fit within a 6 x 8' sheet - you'll cut out the casting issues altogether. No one in this country makes a solvent cementable 8 x 8' sheet.

HTH,
James

The drawing from the tank is as it would be made in glass with a bottom in parts.
We do not think the bottom will be a problem, neighter the top.
Making the L shape so all seams can be made horizontally looks to be verry difficult. Whitch panes has to be glueed first, and the two big front-panes to glue together in a 90° corner horizontally?
In glass this would be a easy jop because we can make the seams vertically.
Is it possible to glue acrylic panes vertically?

[Acrylics]

Is it possible to glue acrylic vertically? yep, but not with solvent cement. It is a very simple tank to glue horizonally, absolutely no need to glue anything vertically.
Are you a business doing this or is this your personal tank?

[Belgian Anthias]

Originally Posted by Acrylics

Is it possible to glue acrylic vertically? yep, but not with solvent cement. It is a very simple tank to glue horizonally, absolutely no need to glue anything vertically.
Are you a business doing this or is this your personal tank?

We have to glue the two big panes(+-90" x 48" ) horizontally? We could place one pane against the wall and the other on the ground and fix them 90°. After the seam is made, we have to place the other panes horizontally on it, so we have to turn the big panes whom have only +-1,5"( 35mm) seam and 90" high. I think it will be verry difficult not to break off the seam. Once the sidepanes on one side are glueed , we have to do the other side, so the seamed side will be hanging 90" above the ground. We
The aquarium has to be made in 1,5" panes ( 35mm) on site at my home. For the bottom and top brace we plan 1"(25mm) acrylic pane. Would this be ok?
If we can not find a sollution for our problem we have to make the aqua in glass. If we use extra clear glass this will be more expensine than acrylic.

[Belgian Anthias]

We could solve the problem and make all seams horizontally but we have an other problem. Aqua scaping! This is a big thank and we have to plan and build most of the aquascaping in advance. The top of the aqua will come 20" from the ceiling. So we planned to make the aquascaping before glueing the last side pannel. As vertical seaming of acrylic pannels seems to be not possible we do not see a solution to solve the problem using acrylic pannels. With using glass this problem is solved but we have to bring down the hight from 48" to 44" using 19mm ( 3/4") thick glass . 25 mm extra clear glass is to expensive over here. 19mm "diamant" is 525$/ m² plus 21% taxes ( Belgium).35mm GS acryl is +-420$/m² plus taxes. It makes a big difference;
Somebody knows how to make VERTICAL SEAMS with acrylic?

[BeanAnimal]

You will simply need to build some wooden bracing and use ratchet type straps to hold the assembly tightly together as you rotate it for solvent welding the seams. I would use felt or something soft to prevent the straps and braces from scratching the panels.

[Acrylics]

No need for bracing nor straps Bean. If the joints cannot handle being rotated, no way in hell they'll hold water.

James

[BeanAnimal]

Originally Posted by Acrylics

No need for bracing nor straps Bean. If the joints cannot handle being rotated, no way in hell they'll hold water.

James

Good point James... I never considered that context or reality.

[Belgian Anthias]

Originally Posted by Acrylics

Is it possible to glue acrylic vertically? yep, but not with solvent cement. It is a very simple tank to glue horizonally, absolutely no need to glue anything vertically.
Are you a business doing this or is this your personal tank?

You wrote"Yep". Could this mean it is possible? Not with solvent. With polymers?

[Acrylics]

Originally Posted by Belgian Anthias

You wrote"Yep". Could this mean it is possible? Not with solvent. With polymers?

Yep, with polymers but I won't recommend it at all. There is no way of knowing how much "bite" the polymers will have in the acrylic until it's all done and filled with water. Unless I know the mole wt (AKA molecular chain lengths) of a specific material - I will not recommend casting the joint. And even then, unless you're experienced doing it - no way I'm going to recommend anyone "figure it out" on $8k worth of material.
Different brands of cell cast acrylic of different mole wt, even from the same mfr but different batches - the mole wt can vary. The higher the mole weight, the more stress the material an take but also the less "bite" the polymer adhesive has into the material. I've seen tanks literally fall apart at the seams due to this very problem.

While it's possible to glue vertically, there are other issues associate with this, such as heat build-up. Since you will have to seal the joint off, there is no way for heat to dissipate other than into acrylic - not really a good idea unless you know exactly what you are doing.

I still am uncertain why you want to even go this route when the tank is so easy without this complication. It's big and it's heavy, but the tank assembly itself is easy to glue everything horizontally.

James

[Belgian Anthias]

Originally Posted by Acrylics

Yep, with polymers but I won't recommend it at all. There is no way of knowing how much "bite" the polymers will have in the acrylic until it's all done and filled with water. Unless I know the mole wt (AKA molecular chain lengths) of a specific material - I will not recommend casting the joint. And even then, unless you're experienced doing it - no way I'm going to recommend anyone "figure it out" on $8k worth of material.
Different brands of cell cast acrylic of different mole wt, even from the same mfr but different batches - the mole wt can vary. The higher the mole weight, the more stress the material an take but also the less "bite" the polymer adhesive has into the material. I've seen tanks literally fall apart at the seams due to this very problem.

While it's possible to glue vertically, there are other issues associate with this, such as heat build-up. Since you will have to seal the joint off, there is no way for heat to dissipate other than into acrylic - not really a good idea unless you know exactly what you are doing.

I still am uncertain why you want to even go this route when the tank is so easy without this complication. It's big and it's heavy, but the tank assembly itself is easy to glue everything horizontally.

James

We solved the problem assembling the tank. The problem aqua-scaping is wat we can't solve.
This is a big thank and we have to plan and build most of the aquascaping in advance. The top of the aqua will come 20" from the ceiling. So we planned to make the aquascaping before glueing the last side pannel. As vertical seaming of acrylic pannels seems to be not possible we do not see a solution to solve the problem using acrylic pannels. With using glass this problem is solved but we have to bring down the hight from 48" to 44" using 19mm ( 3/4") thick glass . 25 mm extra clear glass is to expensive over here. 19mm "diamant" is 525$/ m² plus 21% taxes ( Belgium).35mm GS acryl is +-420$/m² plus taxes. It makes a big difference.
The only company we found that claims it is possible is Innotec ( Dutch) that has a MS-polymer ADHESEAL. Using a seam of min 5 mm the seam would be stronger than the acryl. But for a big project as this we risk 5000l water flowing over the parket floor.
So,finally we have to take the decision to use glass because we have no other solution.

[Belgian Anthias]

Our problem concerning the aquascaping is also solved so we do not need to glue vertical seams. Thanks for the help.
we go for a acrylic tank now. So we will have other technical questions to ask. We better do that using Acrylics threat.