I've been wanting to build a salt water setup for quite some time as I'm a big DIY'er always have been and likely always will be, even if I win the lotto! I just love the whole building process. So I started laying out some idea's for a tank as we're moving soon and I should have the space to actually put one! I'll be building as much as I can likely, from the tank, to the sump system, lighting, even an arduino based control system. But for now here is what I drew up in sketchup real quick, I'm just curious if 1/2" thick will be enough? Would I need to brace it at 1/2" glass? I'm wanting to make this all out of low iron or starphire glass so if I could stick with 1/2" glass it would really save me a few bucks. My calculations bring it to roughly 152 or so gallons. It is a drop off tank, the stand will be constructed from 80/20 aluminum extrusions and then skinned in something either fancy wood or painted wood. Any insight or comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Designing/Building a DIY Reef Tank
- Thread starter Hdale85
- Start date
Depending on the safety factor you want, 1/2" will get by but won't likely get you into the 5's or higher which would be desirable considering your "drop tank" setup.
According to this calculator - http://www.theaquatools.com/building-your-aquarium - using your dimensions you have a safety factor of only 2.5 which is not great. Shoot for a safety factor of at least 5, you'll need 3/4" glass but that will get you into the 6 range.
Tanks of this nature aren't typically cheap by any means, saving a few bucks on thinner glass is probably not the best place to cut costs considering the risk it presents in doing so. Try to save $ in your peripherals if at all possible so that the most important part of the setup is as safe as possible.
According to this calculator - http://www.theaquatools.com/building-your-aquarium - using your dimensions you have a safety factor of only 2.5 which is not great. Shoot for a safety factor of at least 5, you'll need 3/4" glass but that will get you into the 6 range.
Tanks of this nature aren't typically cheap by any means, saving a few bucks on thinner glass is probably not the best place to cut costs considering the risk it presents in doing so. Try to save $ in your peripherals if at all possible so that the most important part of the setup is as safe as possible.
