? for Glass tank builders

[SeaSydney]

Ok here is my current situation. I have a 56 gal cube tank -
30"L X 18"W X 24"H. It is constructed of 1/4" glass which is thinner than I would have wanted. It has a hard plastic moulded trim with center brace.

I would like to use this tank for a reef tank using a single 250 watt Mh bulb in the center mounted perpendicular to the front of the tank and 2 vho attinics. As you can tell by now that the problem is with the center brace.

My proposition is to remove the center brace by cutting it out and leave the rest of the brace intact. Secondly, I would get strips of 1/2" glass 2" wide and glue these all around the top of the tank so that the thin edge of each piece of glass is perpendicular to the side walls of the tank .

Would this compensate for the brace without compromising the structural integrity of the tank?

Sorry to be so lenghty but thought that as much details as I could give would be better.

thank you
Mark

 

[kycoralhead]

With a tank 24 " tall, you need some kind of brace. If you take it out you could brace it with a 12" wide piece of glass across the tank in the middle and use a strip on the front and rear of the 30" run the way you were talking about doing this and as long as the 12 " strip across the middle of the tank was siliconed to the strips across the back and front and the front and the front and back panel of glass you should be ok. An alternative would be to build a hood and place the MH light on an angle on one side of the divider and use a mirror or reflector to even out the light. Either way you are going to have a glass divider in the way or the regular divider in the way. Maybe a MH on one side and a power compact on the other! Let hear what others have to say. Just a couple of ideas.

 

[Anonymous]

at 2' height, and only 1/4" thickness of glass, my concern would be the bowing in the middle of the panes

the top bracing won't help you out much, there :wink:


i'd recommend using thicker glass