Looking for Glass Cubes or Pieces

[StashuDave]

Anybody have any Glass Cubes or "pieces" for gluing to my corner tank? Or any idea where I could specifically get scrap type pieces?

What Am I Doing?- In an effort to keep my tank uncluttered, I'm looking for several (like 10) pieces of glass that I can silicone to the side of my 54 corner tank. I'm hoping to rest some rock on these "ledges" in an effort to decrease the amount of rock that I need to use, increase water flow and hopefully create some interesting aquascaping.

I'm assuming that I would really need pieces that are kind of thick, at least 1/2 inch in order to be useful. I'd like to silicone up to 10 of them before I fill it with water. Once I've established my rockwork the way I would like it, I could razor any extra pieces off of the glass, maybe not easy, but possible.

I'm open to any ideas here......

Thanks Guys

Dave

 

[RandyO]

Sounds crazy. You'd be better off with egg crate or acryllic.

How do you plan of suspending the glass? If it's just a right angle, with one edge glued to the side walls of the tank, IMO the weight of the rock will be too much for the glass. And falling glass with heavy rocks on them just sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[chrisguy]

Yesterday I started to type a response pretty close to what Randy posted, but then thought "Hey this is Dave, he knows what he's doing" so I didn't hit the submit button.

You can try a local glass shop to see if they have any scraps. I'd like to see a drawing or diagram of what you are thinking about doing.

 

[StashuDave]

The weight may be an issue, but that's why I'm looking for something more along the lines of a cube or square. I guess I'm envisioning a pice roughly 3 to 4 inches long, 2 to 3 inches wide and 1/2 inck thich. I'm picturing something along the lines of my Post it Pad on my desk and siliconing the large flat surface to the side wall. This would give a large surface area for the silicone to glass connection to support it. Also having several would help displace the weight over several points and I'm also thinking of only really using this for some of the flatter shelf pieces of rock, so most of the weight would still be supported by the rock below it. I guess I'll have to come up with some pictures of what I mean, I still think this is quite feasible, I just need to find some thick glass to experiment with.

Dave

 

[RandyO]

Well, that sounds a little more feasible. But it would be very permanent. And access to that area might be difficult to get to if something slips through the cracks. (My eggcrate racks at the shop come to mind) But at least those move and flex a little.

If your looking to reduce the amount of Rock at the base of the structure, a PVC skeleton, or something that can hold the rock up, but be moved around easily might be a better idea. Plus, you may be able to drill into the rock and slide the PVC right into the holes to create a more interesting, and stable structure. Rock can only sit on your glass idea. Think of how hard it would be to hide the edge of the glass if you wanted to make a cave. You would not be able to hang the rock over the edge unless you had the perfect rock that had an overbite on the end.

The glass idea your talking about will not give you much wiggle room for aquascaping, and it may turn into a frustrating puzzle of looking for the perfect rock to fit.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah Dave, I'm gonna have to agree with Randy on this one. If something knocks that glass (toppling frag, rocks, etc), the tank wall is gonna split really easy. Furthermore, if you're thinkin a piece 4x3x0.5" and resting a rock on that "table", there isn't enough silicone in the world to support that kind of torque that a rock would generate on it. You'd HAVE to have a vertical support underneath that glass table to hold it up, and that's gonna look tacky.

I agree with Randy, Carbon Fiber, HDPE, or Sched-80 PVC rod drilled through the rocks is likely a much better solution for you...

 

[StashuDave]

Randy,

I'm not trying to make glass shelves. I'm just trying to give a little ledge against the side walls to leverage rock against. Basically I'm trying to eliminate having 1 piece of rock right up against the wall. Waht I really need is to find someone with a broken old 150, the kind that's heavy as heck with thick glass.

As an example: to make a "cave" you would normally need at least 3 pieces of rock, 2 for a base and 1 to set on top as the "roof". I"m trying to eliminate 1 of the rocks at the base.

I guess I really need to try and post a piture of what I'm thinking about, guess I know what I'll be doing tonight.

Dave

The only piece of glass that I can think of that would work well for what I'm trying to do would be the scrap piece of glass from a hole drilled from a tank. I coud cut the circle in half with a tile saw, and that would leave me with 2 flat sides and still leave some decent surface area for siliconing and strength. Please tell me somebody else can envision what I'm trying to do?

 

[StashuDave]

Mike,

I'm not trying to use that piece as a table, I'm only going to have the 1/2 inch side sticking into the tank, not the 3 or 4 inch side. I'm trying to have just a little ledge for the rock to bite onto and not slide down the wall.

Dave

 

[SkiFletch]

Got it, makes sense now

 

[StashuDave]

Somebody gave me a great idea, glass tile. I'd be able to cut it as I see fit, I just need to see what they offer out there. Hopefully they have something that is either just clear or maybe even black to match my black pianted walls.

Thanks Guys

Dave

 

[puter]

Dave,

Probably smaller than you'd like, but I've gotten these
glass blocks before.

If you're not in a hurry, call one of the tank manufacturers. They'll have scrap pieces around they may be willing to sell. We were shipped some pieces when the Seneca Park Zoo tank needed to be reinforced.

Mark

 

[Piazzon12]

Ceramic tile would probably work well, or you could even buy a nice square of black marble tile and cut it up as you see fit... Ive also aquascaped with little ceramic pots that Ive cut in half, or cut holes in to make caves