DIY Glass Tank: share your experience

[Chris Goetz]

I know a few people here have built their own glass tanks and am hopeful they will chime in and share their experiences.

I'm seriously thinking of making my next tank. It will likely be a 4'x2'x2' 120g or 5'x2'x2' 150g made of 1/2" with 2 or 3 sides being low-iron glass(starphire).

I currently have an AGA 210g that I'm going to sell to fund this project since it is just too big for my fish room/closet(5'x7'!)

Driving Factors:

Cost-I am mostly limited to what I can pull together from selling my existing setup. Knowing that, if I have to, I can also can get a standard AGA 120g for about half the price of making my own.
Time-I don't have a lot of time other than late evenings and an occasional weekend. It is much easier for me to set aside 1-2 hours an evening than 10 hours all at once.
End Result-Bottom line is it has to not fall apart. I've done some silicone work in the past and am pretty confident I can make clean looking seams.


Questions:

Polishing: Should I have all the edges polished? I think I do, but am not 100% sure.

Silicone: I've always used the GE brand, but I haven't used it since they started adding the BioSeal anti-mildew to their 100% silicone. I also really like the framed look of the black silicone. Where would you suggest I get this and how many tubes do you guess I'll need?

Top Brace: To be safe I want a top brace. I can have a single/solid piece of 1/2" laser cut and polished or use strips. The strips will likely be 1/3 to 1/4th the price so I'm leaning toward that, but it sure would be slick to have a laser cut glass top with a 2"-3" euro-brace. What would you do?

Clamps: I have a couple large(6') pipe clamps for wood working, would these work or would I need to buy/borrow another kind?

Time: How long will it take me to build something like this?


Chris

[mtfatwork]

It can be put together with the right ammount of people in about 2-3 hours probably. Clamps should be fine I would think, just make sure you have some scrap cardboard so you dont scratch the glass. I would personally go with the laser cut top piece, just cause I am a dork and it would be cool. As far as the sillycone I really dont remember exactly how much we used on Stuckeys tank. As far as polished edges, I guess it would depend on how rough the rough cut is. I would guess you would want polished edges though, if you are going starphire, wouldn't you like your seams to look nice and clean as well?

[rihanssu]

Chris, on my starphyre we did not have the edge polished.
for the silicone go to aquatic eco systems(online) and get it there. good silicon and its not going to hurt you fish.
go with the euro brace!! middle bracing sucks the big one and i will personally never go back if i don't have to. the pipe clamps is what we used but you may need some 6'' clamps if you do the euro bracing.
i think it took about 3-4 hours to do my tank that is 310 gallons

-matt

[rihanssu]

mary! stoping jumping in front of my posts! its not fair!!

[mtfatwork]

mary! stoping jumping in front of my posts! its not fair!!

lol sorry Matt, you want me to delete it?

[rihanssu]

not this time......

[Chris Goetz]

Chris, on my starphyre we did not have the edge polished.
for the silicone go to aquatic eco systems(online) and get it there. good silicon and its not going to hurt you fish.
go with the euro brace!! middle bracing sucks the big one and i will personally never go back if i don't have to. the pipe clamps is what we used but you may need some 6'' clamps if you do the euro bracing.
i think it took about 3-4 hours to do my tank that is 310 gallons

-matt


Thanks for the reply Matt.

If you touch the edges, are they sharp at all? I ask because I'll have one seam accessible from the family room.

Top Frame: so far for "one piece vs strips" it's 1 to 1 :)

Chris

[rihanssu]

no the edges are shaved but it looks like its frosted glass. not polished

[MPH]

I believe the edgework on Matt's tank were ground. In my opinion you don't want a polished edge. Having a ground edge gives the silicone something to hold on to rather than a nice smooth edge. If you can have the exposed edges polished that will look nice, so on the front and back pane. If I did it again I would just use tape to hold it together while drying. I am not too sure I like the clamping method; you have a more likely chance of squeezing out too much silicone. Hope that helps

Mike Huinker

[kvmn]

chris,,i am in shakopee if you need a hand,,,let me know,,,,anytime,,bro,,
i have a question for everyone too,,,so there is no place nearby or in minnesota that build glass tank??
if i thinking if i buy tank from ny or cali,,then it cost too much to ship,it,,,
some body here should build tank at home and make some good cashes,,
im looking to upgrade a biger tank here soon,,,hope to find a glass tank builder locally,,
thanks

[morty]

For sure you will want the exposed edges polished, because if a ground finish is what I'm thinking of then it can be a fairly uneven edge on thicker glass that can actually still be somewhat sharp. Personally I'd have all exposed and glued edges polished to give more glue uniformity.

I used Perennator silicone from Premium Aquatics, it's a top-notch German brand. One glue-gun tube was enough for my tank.

I would consider adding 2" inside bracing along the bottom seams, especially if you are using 1/2" for the bottom. As far as the one-piece top eurobrace, I'd be a little nervous about the corners cracking. Some bowing still occurs with glass tanks. Having a four-piece eurobrace seems like it would offer a little more strain relief. And would you be mounting the top brace inside the top of the tank or onto the top edge? If you mount it on the top edge, you can reinforce with additional narrower strips mounted inside, which might be important when not using any cross bracing. I guess some of these are things I'd do different if I was to re-build my own tank.

[MPH]

For sure you will want the exposed edges polished, because if a ground finish is what I'm thinking of then it can be a fairly uneven edge on thicker glass that can actually still be somewhat sharp. Personally I'd have all exposed and glued edges polished to give more glue uniformity.

A ground edge looks just like a polished edge except it is not all shiney and pretty, it is just missing the last polishing step.

[MPH]

I wouldn't worry about bracing on the bottom of a tank that small, overkill in my opinion. If you can get a one piece top brace by all means go for it, I think it makes things easier and looks nice. Here is a pic of my old tank, it was 60"x30"x24"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v175/hink1/equipment/DSCN1362.jpg

[Chris Goetz]

Thank you for the tips guys.

Another question on the silicone. Did you do the seams/joints and the corner filets at the same time or did you do the seams/joints and the clean up the corners and do them seperately?

I'm trying to make sure I know exactly what the plan is before I commit to doing it. It's a new concept for me I'm still struggling with. ;)

Chris

[morty]

I did the seams and fillets at the same time. I ran strips of scotch tape about 1/4" away from the seams on both inside faces of the corners. After applying glue and clamping, I ran my finger along the seams to form the fillets and then peeled off the tape. Seemed to work pretty well.

[kvmn]

i saw ,,,morty tank ,,,the seams is looking nice,,,like pro did it,,,i like the clear silicone better than black,,,

[morty]

kvmn, you're being WAY too generous :) The only part of the glueup that I would do the same is the fillets. There are a few spots where there's little bubbles in the seams from the silicone being clamped too tightly, not professional IMO. I wish I could do it over again, I'd take a different approach. Chris feel free to PM if you want to see it or want any more info.

[Chris Goetz]

FWIW:
I received a quote from Minneapolis Glass for the glass I'd need to build my 120g

$15.83/sqft for 1/2" Starphire with polished edges
$11.71/sqft for 1/2" clear with polished edges

The quote was for a standard 120g with one end and the bottom being float/plain glass and the other 3 sides being starphire. We didn't include the top since I was unsure if I wanted a single piece cut or to use strips.
Estimate was $492 out the door.

That seems decent to me and better than the other place I've heard back from so far, but I still need to contact a couple more places yet.

That's about double what a standard AGA 120 would cost me though so I'm torn. I'm tempted to do a 5x2x2 which would only cost me another $90 roughly.

Chris

[morty]

Comparing that to what I paid for my starphire 270g that's a pretty good price. IMO starphire doesn't make sense for thicknesses below 1/2", but at 1/2" or above I begin to notice the green-ness of standard glass.

(fwiw, if you could go any bigger than 24" front/back, I think you'd be happy at the end :))

[Chris Goetz]

Comparing that to what I paid for my starphire 270g that's a pretty good price. IMO starphire doesn't make sense for thicknesses below 1/2", but at 1/2" or above I begin to notice the green-ness of standard glass.
Good to know.


(fwiw, if you could go any bigger than 24" front/back, I think you'd be happy at the end :))

Me too, but I've already moved the door once so I could fit the current 24" wide tank in there and only have about 2" to spare(if that) and still get the door open 90*. The next, next tank will be 36" wide :)

Chris