Tank building advice needed

[Alterego]

My original plan was to repair a 60g hex I had lying around, but now I've changed my mind and want to build a tank that would better suit my needs. I am planning on building an 80g rectangular tank out of glass, I know that acrylic is lighter and easier to work with but my brother in law owns a large glass shop and it would be substantially cheaper than the $500 they would like to charge me for the acrylic.

There are many calculators out there that will give me the minimum thickness of the glass needed for an aquarium of this size so I am not too concerned with that, the part that I am worried about is bonding the glass together. I have difficulties believing that those pieces of glass will stay glued together with silicone caulking under the weight of 80g of salt water w/live rock, sand, coral and livestock. The DIY stand I will be building will have a brace around the bottom 1/4 inch of the tank so that may help a bit but I still have concerns.

If anyone has any glass tank building experience or any links to detailed information I would welcome hearing from you.

Brendan