what thickness glass?

[darklcd]

hey all I am just wondering if someone can helpe me out. I am looking into and tank for my daughters play room and I want I want to do is make a sort of a cube and retro fit an end table that I have and put it on there. The tank will be 22 or 23" my 22 or 23" by 30 or 36" I am not sure on the size yet cuse I am waiting to hear from a family member if I can get 23 by 23 on the end table that I am looking at and make sure that the tank won't fall off lol. What I am wondering is if anyone can think of what thickness the glass should be. I wanted to ask on here first to see if anyone has any experience with custom tanks and what I should go with I was think 1/4" glass would be ok but I am not sure. anyone got any ideas?

thanks

 

[Brenden]

Why not go with acrylic? If it will be in a place that it could easily get hit I would def go acrylic.

 

[LakeEd]

If I'm understanding your dimensions correctly, you are thinking about a tank that is 23" long X 23" depth (square), and then 30" -36" in height?

If so, at a 30" height, that would give you a 69-gallon tank, and you would want your glass 1/2" thick. At 36" height, it would be a 82-gallon tank, and you still would need glass thickness of 1/2" minimum.

If my height readings were correct (30"-36"), be aware that what you are thinking about is going to require VERY intense lighting to penatrate that deep if you are wanting this to be viable for corals!!!

And, you definately DO NOT want to only use 1/4" glass with the volum of water you are talking. One wrong bump, and it could easly crack under that pressure.

 

[scytale]

(I've never had a custom tank built but....) First question, are you sure this "end table" is sturdy enough?!!

a 2'x2'x3' tank = 12 cubic ft = 90 gallons of water = at least 740 lbs!!
(and that doesn't include the weight of the tank itself, plus the weight of the sand/live rock you'll want to put inside....)

You may also want to reconsider the height--30-36" is pretty tall for a tank.
You'd be surprised how often you need to reach ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM of your tank to "fiddle" with something...
(I know my arms are about 24" long, and even I sometimes wish my 24" tall tank was JUST... A... Little... bit... shorter!!!

Lastly, as I said I have no experience with custom built tanks (but I'm sure others who do will chime in...) but I believe a custom acrylic tank is usually cheapier than glass to have fabricated.

 

[Reefdaddy1]

Go here and input your demensions. It will give you all need to know.

http://www.garf.org/tank/buildtank.asp

 

[darklcd]

hey thanks for the link. it helped me out I am still not sure on thickness of the glass. if I have to go wtih 1/2 then ok I thought that my current tank was on;y 1/4" but I could be wrong.

As for the stand the reason that I want to use the end table is cuse it a good height and the wood is better then the wood that is in my stand right now so I thought that would work ok. as for the weight I am thinking that it will be around 950 lbs when I am done but I am going to brace the stand with 2x4s and with a few other things that I think will work. Like I said I am still waiting on a family member to get back to me shes a civil engineer I think thats the right one any way lol and I hope any way that if anyone can make it work she can.

 

[Detri]

My personal opinion is not go higher than 26" You could then get away with 3/8" glass. But I would still go with 1/2" glas regardless.