Someone Selling Me A 5x3x3 "tank" For $25

[NonstickRon]

Ok. I've recently started in the aquarium hobby. I currently have two successful (mostly) tanks, a 10 gallon and a 6.75 gallon bowfront. I've been since dreaming of a big tank setup and yadda yadda yadda. I'm sure you know the story. Anyway...a buddy of mine has been into them in the past and my own vigor has been revitalizing his passion for it. He went to a place to see about getting a glass top cut for his 20 year old 29 gallon tall...and the guy offfered to sell him two 5ftx3ftx3ft glass enclosures...that were originally meant to be display cases. He said the glass seems too thin, hes not sure but he thinks it was either 3/8ths or 1/2 inch....but that its tempered glass. What thickness would a tank that large...that will hold 3k lbs of water apparently...have to be if it were made of tempered plate glass?

Just know that normally this is not something I could afford with my expenses and family and my current income. However, this guy is willing to let us have TWO of these things for...$50. I'd want to cut holes for an overflow to a sump I imagine. We'll probably use the second one as a backup in case we destroy the first one trying to cut holes in it. Uh...can I even cut holes in tempered glass?

I need all the help I can get here.

 

[squeakytoy]

If it's a half inch thick, it should work. Check to see how the bottom is joined to the sides though. I am not certain, as my acrylic is different than my glass, but with glass tanks, I believe the bottom needs to rest inside the sides, where the acrylic sides rest on the bottom. Not sure though.

However, If you decided to only fill to the 24 inch mark, you could get away with 3/8"!!! SOLD! Just think of it as allowing for jumpy fish having room to breath...


*edit* also check for braces on the width to prevent flexing.

 

[squeakytoy]

LOLOLOL! I just had an evil thought. Put the two side by side and turn one into a aggresive pred tank, and then use the other for about 3-4 hundred neons, and watch the fun begin! oh yeah, and cover the pred tank!

 

[NonstickRon]

So apparently I can't drill tempered glass for an overflow. I'm thinking of trying to plan out building my own gigantic canister filter out of a 5 gallon bucket and a pond pump.

 

[shelaghfishface]

what a find!! thats fab... heres a guy building a filter a big one too http/www.fishforums.net/content/Hardware...anister-Filter/ maybe have a read and see what you can come up with??

 

[NonstickRon]

what a find!! thats fab... heres a guy building a filter a big one too <a href="http/www.fishforums.net/content/Hardware...anister-Filter/" target="_blank">http/www.fishforums.net/content/Hardware...anister-Filter/</a> maybe have a read and see what you can come up with??

Thats awesome. Thanks. Apparently, to answer my own question, you cannot drill tempered glass. It will explode due to internal pressures being compromised. Therefore a overflow/sump is out of the question.

 

[squeakytoy]

Depending upon what you need to do with it, how much length you need, you could just install a bulkhead (33 inches tall for the overflow??) about a foot from the end. It would give you about 8 gallons of space to use for the bio material and you wouldnt have to worry about hoses going in and out of the tank. It would become a self contained unit.

Or better yet, got the full height on the bulkhead, but dont use tempered glass, and you COULD drill for your hoses, and still keep tank volume up. Just a thought

 

[NonstickRon]

Ok...my buddy went down and got exact measurements. He had just eyeballed the glass enclosures previously. They're much smaller and thinner than he thought.

4ftx2ftx3ft - 1/4 inch tempered glass

I'm starting to talk myself out of the project...can 1/4 inch tempered glass possibly be enough thickness for a 180 gallons?

 

[squeakytoy]

nope... no chance. Height is what drives the thickness, more than the total capacity. Sorry... Would have been nice to have a couple of monster tanks.

 

[NonstickRon]

 

[squeakytoy]

change "nom nom" to "boo hoo"? at least for the moment

 

[NonstickRon]

Oh wait... How is glass laminated? Could I cut apart the two enclosures and laminate the panels and make one tank from them?