dsandfort
Premium Member
I'm getting ready to build a plywood tank stealing various ideas from this and other forums. But, I have a question on glass. There seems to be a magic 30" height for large glass fronts based on my reading.
I want a tank 96" long and 42" front-to-back. I also want 28" viewable height. So, I figure that I want a 4" lip on the botton of the view side to seal the glass to and hide most of the sand cross section. I want 3" lip on top to seal the glass to. That means I need a piece of glass 35" x 96". But I also plan to cut the rear overflows so the water level does not exceed 32" (including the depth of sand). Roughly 3" of glass will be above water level.
Based on 1 glass thickness calculation I found, this means I need glass thicker than 3/4" but not as thick as 1". Since the only load that will be on the glass is compression, and it will have at least 3" of silicone support all the way around, I'm feeling OK with 3/4".
Comments/Suggestions/ideas?
Thanks in advance.
Del
I want a tank 96" long and 42" front-to-back. I also want 28" viewable height. So, I figure that I want a 4" lip on the botton of the view side to seal the glass to and hide most of the sand cross section. I want 3" lip on top to seal the glass to. That means I need a piece of glass 35" x 96". But I also plan to cut the rear overflows so the water level does not exceed 32" (including the depth of sand). Roughly 3" of glass will be above water level.
Based on 1 glass thickness calculation I found, this means I need glass thicker than 3/4" but not as thick as 1". Since the only load that will be on the glass is compression, and it will have at least 3" of silicone support all the way around, I'm feeling OK with 3/4".
Comments/Suggestions/ideas?
Thanks in advance.
Del