Disaster Struck

[samyboy]

so im just about to verge upon making my own tank i have glass panes of 61 x 61cm (2 x 2foot) so nothing over 61cm......

now the question is do i make a cube which gives me 227litres (50uk gallons / 58us gallons) or do i cut the glass and create a tanks with different dimensions, oh and ive allready managed to cut myself just cleaning the glass down.

basically list your tanks dimensions (nothing over 61cm)

thanks Sam

 

[Marcos]

Can you get any more glass? making it a bit longer instead of two feet high would give you more surface area. As others have said, it's probably not any cheaper building it yourself (unless you can get the glass for next to nothing) but possibly more fun!

 

[samyboy]

in the end i halfed its height and kept the length and bredth the same so were no 61 x 61 x 30.05 giving 24uk gallons

the glass was from an old green house so it was totally free

ok the seams arent perfect and some of the edges are serated but aslong as its water tight when its dry ill be happy, the fish will have more room to move at least, just need a bigger filter now

 

[Marcos]

Serated edges?!! Well done for giving it a go though.

 

[samyboy]

yeh the glass cutter was playing up, ill try grind/sand them down or something if not, plenty more glass

 

[Neal]

Just so you know, 4 x 2'x2' won't make a cube. Well, it would be similar but it wouldn't be a perfect cube. You have to think about the thickness of the glass too. So it would be something like 2x 61cm and 2x 60cm depending on the thickness of the glass.

Neal

 

[andywg]

Just so you know, 4 x 2'x2' won't make a cube. Well, it would be similar but it wouldn't be a perfect cube. You have to think about the thickness of the glass too. So it would be something like 2x 61cm and 2x 60cm depending on the thickness of the glass.

Neal

Let's be honest, if you are going to quibble over cube rather than cuboid on 1cm, then you might as well go the whole hog and say that to an atomic level each length will be slightly different and so there are no true cube tanks around.

 

[Marcos]

I seriously doubt his glass is 10mm thick! (unless his greenhouse was bullett proof?)

 

[samyboy]

nope think its about 5mm, all is going well the silicone is drying nicely and the edges are easy enough to sand down, i think im going to use it as a cold water tank to begin with that way if anything goes wrong the fish can quickly be put into the garden pond (ill probably nick them out there in the first place ) next step is to build some sort of hood.

 

[windsor-aquatic]

If the tank had been made at 610mm high it would have required 10mm glass all round, and braced around the top.

 

[Neal]

Lol, was being a little bit cocky I suppose. It's because we've been doing woodwork at school and i'm used to talking about wooden cubes. *Looks for more excuses*. I love cube tanks anyway, and tbh I wouldn't really care if it was a few inches out, just thought i'd try and pick something to flame about, as usual!

Neal

 

[samyboy]

If the tank had been made at 610mm high it would have required 10mm glass all round, and braced around the top.

*gulp* its about 5mm but i do plan to brace it all round

 

[samyboy]

disaster.......

after leaving it for 48 hours for the silicone to cure i decided to fill the tank, i braced the top bottom and edges with electrical tape and began to fill the tank when full i removed the hose and left it to check for leaks, about 10 minutes later water starts to gush out a corner i immediatly push my thumb over it to see how bad (it was leaking bad) *CRACK* the front just gave way and 24gallons poured down the drive and how glad am i that i decided to check it in the garage doorway and not in my bedroom

for the time being ill give up on building my own tank although i quite fancy trying the whole process again halfing all the dimensions down

 

[Colin_BC]

Ouch.... That sucks, but be thankful you didn't get sliced up when the glass gave way...... Smart thinking doing it in the garage!

Colin

 

[Marcos]

We live and learn, at least it cost you next to nothing.