Making own aquariums

[jarret8x]

Silicone its much stronger than some people think it is. I know this from having to remove so much of it working construction.

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[rubinsteinnyc]

so i made the tank. GE I silicone black. it kinda got messy and the 17*7/8 was a BAD idea as they POLISHED it on the edges... i put it apart within 20min of completing it and will be getting two more pieces of 17.25inch

[rubinsteinnyc]

I never included a "gap" in my glass measurements on the ones I've built. I just ran a bead of silicone on the edges that would butt against glass. When these are clamped together, the silicone will ooze out and can be cleaned of, but you get a very tight bond. Then run your silicone around all the inside joints. good luck

how big were the tank and how thick was the glass?

[rubinsteinnyc]

so i am putting my education on hold and starting a business like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02iP4rx76-Q&NR=1

watch this stuff, its amazing!

[Skip]

you don't if you don't make fish tanks WARLOCK do you think 1/16 on each side for silicone is enough?

i dont know.. but i was pointing it out because, i figured you may have over looked that BOTH end parts when you wanted 1/16 gap.. not thinking it would be 1/2 of 1/16.. for each side.. lol.. thats all

[Skip]

so.. how is it going.. any pics..

[rubinsteinnyc]

This one is epic, tons of tips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY4gZl5c6PM

[rubinsteinnyc]

i dont know.. but i was pointing it out because, i figured you may have over looked that BOTH end parts when you wanted 1/16 gap.. not thinking it would be 1/2 of 1/16.. for each side.. lol.. thats all

i had 1/16 on each side. the glass is 18x17*7/8, should have listened to DISCOLICIOUS and not leave any "gap". No pix, put the thing apart, cleaning the glass soon. attempt no.2 maybe tonight.

[rubinsteinnyc]

glass cleaned... no will to attempt it again, gonna give it a shot with my buddy who has made a few tanks one of them is 120 gals. too bad the glass aint sparkling clean anymore ...

[MSD]

In my opinion most of the time it is cheaper and less of a risk to buy the tanks.

I could not agree more!!

[rubinsteinnyc]

cheaper doesn't mean nicer, 18inch cube is pretty damn sleek, lemme tell you

[discolicious]

how big were the tank and how thick was the glass?

The largest tank was 5 ft x 18in. x 25 in., approximately 125 gallons. The glass was 1/2in. Braced across the top in two places and 1in glass strips on the sides, front and back to support the glass lid.

3 30 gal tanks 24in x 12.5 in. x 25in. glass was 1/4 in.

used GE 1 clear silicone.

[rubinsteinnyc]

so you had NO extra gaps for glass for the 125 and the 30s? Any problems with them at all? how did you make the beads of silicone look pweeety? do you have any pix of your tanks? any tips on how to make the construction easier?

[rubinsteinnyc]

just an update:
made the tank on sunday, gave it two days to dry, filled it up with water yesterday and it's HOLDING THE WATER
maybe some pix soon

[Apistomaster]

I have built well over 100 all glass aquariums.
I have made them as small as 4.5 gal to as large as 90 gals.
I am most comfortable about build aquariums up to 60 gals.
I began building my first tanks in 1968 and I used Dow Corning Sealastic, later owned by GE.
I never allow for any gap for the joints. The actual structural seal is incredibly thin.
To end up with very neat looking finished tanks you should use masking tape to allow for the extra protection of an inner intersection "back up" leak prevention seal. The glass edges for the butt joints should only have the edges of the cuts lightly sanded. This allows for a maximum area for the structural bonds and helps prevent the propagation of stress cracking. The exposed edges may be rounded a bit more for safe handling and working with the tank over the nearly infinite potential working life.
I never built a perfect cube shaped tank but I designed for larger surface areas than were available commercially. For tanks up to 14" tall and 36" long you can actually get away with using only 3/16" thick glass but if you want a tank that is 18" tall you must use at least 1/4" plate glass. For tanks up to 36" long I do not use a center top cross brace. I just glue a strip of glass 1" X up to 36" along the front and back to add to the stiffness. Over 36" Long I recommend stiffening strips 1-1/4 wide and a glass cross brace of 4" X 3/16" glass as wide as the interior glued to both the under side of these stiffening strips and the butt joint where it connects to the front and back glass panels.
I built these tanks free hand. It is very helpful to have an extra pair of hand during the assembly. If all your glass panels are cut to exactly the correct size and are perfectly square, the tank ends up also being perfectly square.
The interior silicone seal adds nothing to the structural strength of the tank so when you mask the border limits 3/16" is plenty. As each panel is put in place use 3 pieces of masking tape around each out side corner to maintain the alignment and tension until the silicone sealant has cured. For the interior backup seal remove the masking tape immediately after you have completed smearing the bead. If assembled correctly the structural joints will not have any bubbles. To get this result you must bring the pieces together perfectly at your first attempt. You can see where having an assistant is literally very handy using this method. I do not use any top edge stiffening strips on smaller tanks 3 to 15 gallons.
I had access to a great deal of very cheap scrap glass when I was building my hatchery and quarantine room tanks so each tank was much cheaper than any commercial tanks but back then aquariums were mainly still steel frame construction. I made two main sizes as my standard tanks. My small tanks were all 10 gal with the same dimensions of a standard tank but they were 20 X 12 X 10 Tall inches with no stiffening strips. My other standard tank was a 25 gal tank which was 30 X 16 X 12 Tall inches. I did use 3/16" X 1" X 30" front and back panel stiffening strips.
I built quite a few 53 gal tanks using 1/4" plate panels.
Size: 48" X 16" X 16".
I used 3/16" X 1-1/4" X 48" stiffening strips and a 3/16" X 4" X 15-1/2" cross brace. This is about the upper limit for using 1/4" plate glass. I did make one 75 gal tank out of 1/4" plate glass that was 60" X 18" X 16" tall. I used 3/16" X 1-3/4" X 60" stiffen strips and a 3/16" X 6" X 17-1/2" cross brace.
For long tanks over 36" you must use at least 1/4" plate glass panels. I do think an 18" cube could be safely built out of 1/4" plate. I think the modulus of elasticity of 1/4" plate is high enough to resist the load imposed deflections.

I have always built my all glass tanks with "floating" bottoms; that is where the ends and bottom panels are all the same width and ends are inset 1/4"(the thickness of the glass).
The front and back panels are full length. This design assumes a perfectly smooth, flat and level supporting base with sufficient support to resist any deflections imposed by the weight of the water.
I acquired a bunch of tempered glass shelves of 3/16" X 16 X 8 inches. I used these as the fronts and backs and had to buy new 3/16" glass for the bottom and end pieces.
I built 4.5 gal breeding tanks out of the scrap shelves. I built a dozen of these about 7 years ago and they are still in use.
Sometimes it is reasonable to build custom size and shaped tanks if you get a good enough deal on the glass but it is difficult to find suitable scrap glass now.
Large tanks carry higher risks of failure so one has to weigh the liabilities and costs carefully.
You have to be confident that you are skilled enough to tackle building very large tanks.
It is generally better to choose a commercially available aquarium with dimensions that fit your desires when you want a large aquarium. If you have the skills and do your home work large wooden tanks are not very difficult to make. I recommend using glass viewing windows because plastics do not form strong enough bonds between epoxy coated wood and silicone sealants. I built 6 such tanks. They were all for a space where I could set up 3 each of tanks that were 3' X 3' X 2' tall. I was able to use 1/4" plate glass for the viewing windows. These large, near cube tanks held 134 gallons.
The height of a tank is the most important design factor followed by its length.
Ever one foot in height must support 62.4 lbs per cubic foot of water pressure.
2 feet tall = 124.8 lbs/cu. ft. and so on.