building a tank from scratch

[supernareg]

as u have heard, i want to make a weird looking tank. L shaped to go into the corner of my room on my desk, plumbed down to a 20 gal sump. the tank should be about 2-3 feet in length per side , 6-7 inches wide and about 7 inches tall. open top.

how much would it cost to buy the glass pieces seperately and silicon them together?

does anyone have any experience doing something like this?

 

[ycrazyy]

I read your other thread yesterday and was actually thinking about it last night because I thought it would be a very cool idea. The only issue you MAY have is getting someone to cut the bottom L piece (an inside corner is not an easy thing to cut in glass). If you are just going to use 1/4" glass, it should not cost you too much. If you polish the edges it will add a bit though, but I recommend this as then your edges are perfectly flat and your silicone seals will be that much stronger. I have built a few cube tanks myself and it is not too difficult, but I would practice your silicone skills before you dive into the final project, otherwise you will end up with gunky / bubbly seals that won't be as strong as you'd like and may leak.

 

[yardboy]

Of course the easiest way to find that out is to call a glass company. Panama Glass, here in Panama City Florida, said they could not make a square inside corner. They'd drill it round and then cut the edges. Maybe a dremel to square up the round part, but they suggested acrylic instead.

 

[ycrazyy]

yardboy is correct that you cannot simply "cut" a square inside corner. The way it is done is with a 1/4" drill bit and then you cut to that hole. Unfortunately, you cannot simply stop a run in glass wherever you want. However, you would barely notice, if at all that it was not a perfectly square corner and IMO it would actually help you by leaving you a tiny space to fill up with just a tad bit more silicone as it would be one of the weaker spots in your tank.

 

[yardboy]

Ya know, I didn't even ask them how big of a hole they'd drill for it. I pictured a 1" hole or something equally silly. A 1/4" hole would be esily workable.
When it seemed to be derailed though, I wondered if you could use two pieces of glass for the bottom, butt joined together with silicone?

 

[supernareg]

the way i plan on making the bottom piece of glass would be to rectangles...

1 would be longer than the other, and the shorter one would connect to the long 1 at the end and make the L shape. i wouldnt get 2 piece of glass that are 45* to each other and silicon that together.

 

[mister crabs]

call or email glasscages.com and get a price to have it built....acrylic would be best bet

 

[ycrazyy]

Being in the glass industry, I'd strongly recommend against using 2 pieces of glass on the bottom pane. Silicone is strong, yes, but if you move that tank (even just to put it in or adjust it a bit) you run a big risk of tearing the silicone. IMO it would just create a lot more problems than it would solve. Like I said, it's definitely possible for a skilled glass shop to create the L piece for the bottom. Your thread has gotten me very interested in making a tank like this and I actually have my shop foreman looking into it now

 

[oddiseus]

You could cut two rectangles and two squares and interlock them like bricks. I would put a bunch of silicone between the two locking pieces that way if you go to move it you don't run the risk of breaking the seals. and you end up with a 1/2" bottom. Wouldn't be too expensive either.

-Odd

 

[mbunaman]

www.tglass.com can do it my buddy had a L shape cut for a custom glass project he was doing. But they are in chicago maybe you can see if they can ship.

 

[r00onmac]

DONT USE TWO BOTTOM PIECES!

experience tells me that it will cause problems later... i built a cube tank and used two bottom pieces and figured i could just silicone them together and silicone a brace piece over the seam but it really didnt work... and i even scraped it off and tried again and it leaked worse...

and if it doesnt leak sitting still anytime you lift the tank the seams will "give" a little and leak...