Is a trapezoidal glass tank possible? (Slanted "look-down" panels on a large tank?)

[tonyespinoza]

Is a trapezoidal glass tank possible? (Slanted "look-down" panels on a large tank?)

Anyone know if it's possible to do slanted panels like this in glass (starphire)? This one looks acrylic. Anyone ever seen a trapezoidal tank? I could imagine some glare issues from overhead lights, but if that weren't a problem, it might be neat for a tank that's not situated too high (so you can look down into it easier).

Any thoughts on how much it might add to the cost, if any? Not sure if it's somehow physically less sound or if getting those pieces to seal properly at the joints would be hard with glass.

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[bag151]

how large of a tank are you talking about?

If you are talking small then yes because the silicone will have the tensile strength to keep the tank from blowing out in the bottom seam. In a normal tank you are transfering the water weight directly to the bottom pain and the force of water exerted on the glass walls is 90 deg from the water weight, in a slanted weight you wont transfer the weight at 90 but at some angle like 45deg. So you are using the water as a wedge to separate the side and the base pain. I would say silicone doesn't have the tensile strength and you would blow out the side of the tank. The larger the tank the more force exerted on the seam.

Glass you would have to water jet the edges at a angle to get a good flat seam to maximize surface area for the silicone. At least in acrylic you are chemically bonding the two sheets together so you get a very strong seam. It would most likely be pretty expensive if you could find someone willing to build it.

 

[tonyespinoza]

I wonder if AGE could do it using their method of "bonding" glass to an acrylic base... ?

I was thinking 250+ gallons...

 

[d-town tony]

I've thought of this before myself.

If you cut the glass and braced it right, I don't see any reason you couldn't do it.

The cutting and the bracing would be some pretty precise stuff.

Would you build a walk around, or have a 3 view side?

I've thought an open top pyramid would be really cool.

 

[amehel0]

you'd need to either get it poffessionlly chamferd at the base to support slanting or get out an angle grinder(still though one wrong move and yopu have to start over. eg ....the glass wont break but instead of the glass being cut on an angle it just chips away). then youd need the sides top be cut at the right angle. floor bracing would help a lot in the structural integrity

 

[FishtankAndy]

There's a fish store, in a suburb of Chicago, called Scotts Fish. They have a large (200gal at least) trapezoid tank, that they keep corals in, for display.

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work, building it just as you would any other large tank.

 

[Ed Reef]

I will not sleep well with a slanting glass panel for a tank 200g and above... what am I talking about?? I'm already not sleeping well with my current tank...

 

[tonyespinoza]

Emailed with Tom (AGE) today -- he said he's done it before and didn't seem concerned... We'll see how the quote comes out!

 

[tonyespinoza]

BTW, he calls it an "angled view"

 

[Ed Reef]

Going to be one COOL set-up...are you going to 'angel' the side panel or the front viewing panel??

 

[tonyespinoza]

i may angle both long sides of a peninsula.... if i can afford it... ;-)

 

[Ed Reef]

Should not cost much more as it's the same glass - only more skills involved?? I could be wrong??

 

[tonyespinoza]

yeah - a bit more labor to get the end cut to meet the acrylic bottom at an angle. but no - i'm hopeful that it's not a lot more.

i'm excited to see if i can make it work.

thinking dimensions (footprint) will be 60 x 42 x 30

 

[Ed Reef]

Let's us know once u're ready for a build thread as I'm taggin' along for sure

 

[mcliffy2]

Awesome idea...one thing to keep in mind is on a 30" tank, maintenance under the angled part will be a pain, especially if its eurobraced...I might think about doing 24-26" high instead.

 

[tonyespinoza]

yup - you're totally right!

 

[glassbox-design]

A LFS here in Chicago has a slanted front tank... On the front pane there is a straight section that's about 12in and then it slants at 45* for ~30in.