Jestersix

top and bottom brace for tanks..

Knucklehead

Knucklehead

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Anyone know where i would be able to buy the top and bottom bracing to tanks? im looking to build my own tank. im gonna stay in the commmon sizes of tanks... just not sure how big yet is all. but if anyone knows where i can buy the bracing, i would greatly appreciate it..
 
Glass or Acrylic

The next BAR meeting will be having Gen from Kritter Products give a presentation on acrylic work.

Come check it out! It might give you some more ideas
 
What sizes of glass can you get? What about "low-iron" I've been mulling over building a new tank myself, but the biggest hold up... ok the 2nd biggest holdup (the biggest is how big I really want to go :D), is where to get glass and prices.

Not asking for a discount or anything mind you, just curious about what can be gotten.

Having disassembled a few glass tanks myself, I can tell you the "standard" bracing seems to be some sort of compressed plastic/composite material. I've briefly thought about using angle iron to do the job and just get it powder coated to hell, but I think the risk of a scratch and the salt chewing it all away from the inside has me hesitant to go that route. Other ideas is to use PVC sheets and attach them with, but I need to do some strain tests to with the Dow adhesive to see. But summer is approaching, and I'm not teaching school during the summer, only jobs I have is house hold jobs which the woman says I need to fix the house up... but hey I can do tank work too :D
 
i can get pretty much any glass you can imagine.... ill get you a good deal on glass, lets put it this way for glass, if i want to build a 175gallon tank, glass would cost me around 250.00 :p , thats with 3/8 clear temp bottom, with holes drilled for overflows, 3/8 annealed front, back, sides. with polished edges. if i need to get 1/2" its not much more for me.. from the looks of it, it looks like glass thickness will be determined on the height of the tank. the silicone part will be simple, i just need the bracing part...
 
Not trying to knock your idea - just curious

Why would you not use 1/2" glass?

My 120g (4x2x2) uses 1/2" glass on the sides, and it's thicker than that for the bottom.
 
i was just pricing out the glass my cost to get an idea of what i was looking at just price wise, and SFS wanted an idea of the cost.. my last post like i said i heard the glass thickness depends on the height? im really looking for the bracing top and bottom first, then i would move on to what is needed as far as glass thickness....
 
Ah ok, that price you mentioned, what is that a 6' x 2' pane? Where is the price distributed as far as cost of glass, cost of tempering, cost of holes, etc. I know some places get awfully pricy when you start putting holes in it (as it's an added labor that's apparently a pain?).. I'd go with a PVC bottom myself as I'm doing with this other tank I'm fixing, price wise, glass is probably cheaper, but ease of drilling holes is priceless :D (cost me about $80 for 24" x 32" x 1/2" grey PVC at Taps, which typically is more expensive, but they cut to size and I didn't need to pay for those cuts nor pay for a huge 4' x 8' sheet :D)
 
24x32 1/2" clear temp with flat polished edges i can get it for about 50.00... holes are no big deal... if you give me some sizes and holes needed ill shoot you a price... and it will be the lowest price you can get.. ill hook you up...
 
Knucklehead said:
24x32 1/2" clear temp with flat polished edges i can get it for about 50.00... holes are no big deal... if you give me some sizes and holes needed ill shoot you a price... and it will be the lowest price you can get.. ill hook you up...
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Yeah like I said, PVC sheeting is a bit more expensive than glass. However it is something to think about, I still need to decide how large I'd like to go so Doug can get his tank back. Plus I need to practice a few manufacturing techniques (i.e. how well the silicone holds!) before I make a really large tank. So don't you go leaving the club or moving or leaving your job any time soon! :D

Oh yeah and Bryan, 1 - 1/2" back is WAY over kill .. although I suspect it was due to the over-engineering done due to all the crap hanging out of holes.
 
Go to a LFS or someone's house who has it, just take some pictures of the top of the tank, IMO very simplistic in design. Just don't use over the counter (i.e. HD) silicone, I'd use something with a little more strength.
 
Basically 4 pieces of glass on the inside of the top of the tank. 4" of so wide. Have you ever seen eurobracing on an acrylic tank? Pretty much the same except with glass.
 
seminolecpa said:
Look in my tank journal. Mine is glass eurobraced.
Click to expand...

I always wondered how much integrity those actually ad? You can wiggle them a bit even.

BTW the OG owner of your tank just posted on RC the other day. I pointed him to your build thread :p
 
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