DIY star fire tank

[Werbo]

Originally Posted by Nizzmo

Maybe I'll just buy a new guitar and write a song about the fish tank I want to build. Might be easier

A song might be a good way to sum up this hobby

Probably a country song thou...

[kien]

Try PM'ing Reefwars/Denny or Dave@concept aquatics/aquariums. They build tanks and may be generous enough to answer this question for you.

Also.. this..

Originally Posted by Nizzmo

I'm terrible at DIY

[monocus]

use the aquarium glass thickness calculator for the thickness of the glass with a safety factor of 4-5.you might get some flexing of the glass without any bracing.if you need help,i've built a couple of aquariums and sumps from scratch,and don't mind helping you out.if your out by j&l and king eds,i'm located in between(5&10 min drive from both)

[Nizzmo]

Ya I'll keep you in mind! My buddy n I are going to try a 12" cube this weekend. It will only cost like $20

[spit.fire]

Ge scs1200 silicone

I've built a few tanks, all I can say is just because it doesn't fail during a leak test doesn't mean it won't fail down the road

[jostafew]

I've built some smaller tanks / sumps with good success and have had a couple bigger rimless tanks custom built for me. My 30x24x24 rimless (braceless) tank was made with 1/2" (12mm) glass all around, so dropping that down to 16" high will allow for a little thinner glass but since it'll be starphire you'll want to take that back up again. I would tend to look at 1/2" (12mm) if I were building a tank of your dims and material. Previous poster's suggestion for 10mm is probably be acceptable with a decent safety factor, but the tanks that have been built for me have always been built very well and tend to put a little more glass in them.

As for silicone, you definitely want to have the right materials. I don't recall the proper GE silicones to use, but some searching of the forums will find it. Beware of anything anti-bacteria or anti-mildew! I've always used the small packaged silicone from the aquarium stores for my smaller builds and had good success with that. More expensive than the bigger tubes for sure but when it's only a 10 or 20gal tank you don't need much! I was considering building my last shallow reef tank DIY but was having a hard time finding a glass shop that would give me 3/8" panels with polished edges (hard to snap a square edge on anything over 1/4"). If you don't mind, I'd like to know the name of the shop you're working with so I can get in touch with them on my next project!

I've had my last two tanks built by a local company called H2O aquariums if I recall the name correctly. I bought those tanks through Ocean Aquatics, but since they're out of business now I'm not sure who H2O sell through now. Let me know if you want to look into having a tank built I will try to get you in touch with H2O as they do excellent work.

[Nizzmo]

He works for the glass place... And we just getting it at employee discount. Don't think he can take TOO much advantage of that haha.
I've watched a few youtube videos and I think if I'm over careful with my thickness and properly silicone it I shan't need a brace.

Next I'll have to research how I will do the overflow for the tank... Should I just use black painted acrylic for the overflow. Can I silicone acrylic onto glass? I'll get back to you when I figure it out!

Thanks so much for your input guys

[Reef Puffer]

I built a hex tank with 5mm glass. It was about 90 gallons (20x18 inch panels) on a 3/8" base. I euro braced the top and bottom with a 3" rip of 5mm glass. The thing held just fine for the year i used it. I used ge door and window silicone (use the scs 1200 by ge for yours). So i guess what im saying is, you can do alot with pretty weak glas. I should also tell you that it was a fresh water system because (altho it held GREAT) i wouldnt trust my precious saltwater in a 5mm tank. Just wasn't worth it to me. Im sure it would b fine, i just didn't trust my kids not to hit the tank.

[monocus]

since your buddy is working at the glass shop-ask him to get a tube of nuflex 333 aquarium silicone from cascade.what i've been doing with my overflows is using a length of 4" pvc drilled with 1/4" holes 1/4" and 1" from the top and slotted with a dremel to make a long oval hole spaced 1/4" apart.works well with a stockman standpipe and doesn't take up a lot of room