DIY Glass NANO , NEED LOTS OF ADVICE PLEASE

[Gixxerryder]

Ok Guys , here goes , i would like to build this...

As a nano ,

I plan to Route a grove in a piece of wood to use as the bottom brace for all the sides , not sure what to do for the top .

I Would like to make the Back and bottom out of smoked Acrylic , Is it possible to join glass and Acrylic together? if so how? I dont want the sides to be Acrylic because im a little abusive and i know ill scratch it.

I want to do the corner seems with Black silicone , does anyone know where i can find some?

Is there anyone , please anyone , who would be able to figure out the demensions for a Gallon mesurment? I want the tank to be about 12 inches deep and just a little taller , each leg of it would be around 18 inches long , want to do the corners hexed so there really wont be any right angle joins in it .

Picturing the tank being under 40 gallons but more than 20 .

Want the tank to be kinda short so the lighting is more efficient all the way to the bottom of the tank

Planning to make a very cool lighting hood for it that will house 3-4 PC bulbs over each side that will be between 36 and 65 watts. The top of the fixture will be made from Diamond studd steal and it will be shaped like a right angle with even length ends.

I havnt ever made a tnak before and i know this is going to be a hard one to start with but im willing to take a few tries at it . just need some advice on which roads i should take as far and materials and stuff

Thanks for any help you can offer. Really appriciate it , will keep everyone posted on my progress.

thanks
Phil R .

 

[Robin Goodfellow]

hi.
A quick comment. It is difficult to join glass and acrylic. If you want the back to be black, make the whole tank out of glass, and paint the back instead. This is a lot of work for a little tank, but at 40 gal, it is not really a nano...

 

[Anonymous]

Is this what you were looking for?

Here's some values:

Height Gallons
12-- 22.14
13-- 23.99
14-- 25.83
15-- 27.68
16-- 29.52
17-- 31.37
18-- 33.21
19-- 35.06
20-- 36.90
21-- 38.75
22-- 40.59
23-- 42.44
24-- 44.28

Okay, I was bored during a water change. Hope this helps...

Brett

 

[Gixxerryder]

Dude that is AWESOME !! Thanks so much , that puts me one step closer .

The reason i want to make the back and bottom of the tank Acrylic is because it wont be easy to cut the shape for the bottom out of glass and on the back of the tank i would like to have it drilled for over flow and return and its ALOT cheaper to drill acrylic than it is to drill glass...


Thanks for the help with the mesurments !!

Phil R.

 

[Gixxerryder]

Think I am going to do everything but the bottom glass and just do an overflow box or standpipe in the corner of the tank and drill through the bottom . This still leaves me with how to join the bottom and the sides... I Was thinking I could use a really good 2 part opoxy on the seams and go over it with silicone after it dries , That would give strength and seal right?

Decided to go with 19 inches Tall for a gallonage of 35.

Thanks for the help guys.

Phil

 

[Gixxerryder]

Wonder if i Route a grove into the acrylic for the glass to set into would it make it alot easier to join them?

 

[Anonymous]

*insert standard It's-not-gonna-be-my-fault disclaimer here*

Although you can attatch acryilc and glass together, you just won't get the adhesion of a glass-silicone-glass joint. Or an acrylic weld.

Many glass shops will cut the glass to the size you want. Then they can drill the panel while it is flat, and reduce the chances of cracking the pane.

There is only one tough cut in the whole drawing.

 

[Anonymous]

Here, it's rendered in scale at 19"

 

[Gixxerryder]

I'm going to call some glass places in the morning and find out how much its going to cost to have the cutting and drilling done .

Thanks for everything . It kinda looks a little tall in the rendering , Do you think i should go a little shorter and wider with it ?

Opinions greatly appriciated.

Thanks
Phil

Ohh , will a ceramic tile wet saw , like the ones you use to cut tile for home flooring applications cut glass?

 

[Gixxerryder]

What type of glass for this application ? 1/4 inch ? tempered or no?

 

[Robin Goodfellow]

hi.
Don't use tempered glass for the back panels since you going to drill it. I have stain-glass equipements, and I can tell you that you can cut the bottom out of glass pretty much in any shape you want. If I were you, I will go with all glass or all acrylic. If glass, I will make sure it is beveled and polished edges.

If you insist in have the bottom acrylic and the rest glass, instead of router the grove, glue acrylic stripes around the perimeter, unless you can get hold of thick sheet of acrylic.

ceramic tile saw will not work well on glass.

 

[Bleeding Blue]

So, I wish I had something more consructive to say, but Wow, I can't wait to see it finished. :lol:

 

[Gixxerryder]

So in the end the tank is going to be 50 inches accoss the back and 16 inches tall . I'm going to construct it completly from glass . Called the glass supplier near me and he is willing to do all the cutting for free as long as i buy the glass from him , He is also going to drill the holes for me for just 10 $ a hole . I plan to use 1/4 inch glass but im going to look into the one size thicker glass , if the final price is withiin $20 of the 1/4 inch im going to go with that .

Started thinking about how the stand is going to look and i think im going to just build a triangle shaped stand for it . The shape of the tank doesnt make a very good space for a fuge . im sure the fuge will be a triangle so it will look cool : )

Will get some pics posted soon as I have some cash to start the construction.

Thanks for all the help everyone has offered.

OHH! Im still searching desperatly for black silicone that i can use .. If you have any leads as to where I might find some please , please post them .

Thanks,
Phil

 

[Anonymous]

Kinda like this?

 

[Anonymous]

(it's about 36 gallons)

Brett

 

[Anonymous]

Okay, I was bored.

Stand is 30 inches, two inch platform, one inch top
Canopy is 10 inches tall

 

[Gixxerryder]

This is what im sending to the glass company near me for an estimate on all the cuts and glass and holes and .... well the whole shabang


The estimate they gave me over the phone was approx 4-5 $ per sq ft .
I figured about 34 sq ft for my project making it 135 - 170 for all the glass. Thats not tooo bad.

Anywho , Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

You might not want to build that... You're going to end up with a wet floor!

Here it is to scale.

You should change the back measurments to 26" and it will fix your problem! It will also come out to an even 33 gallons then. (32.96969697 to be exact)

 

[Robin Goodfellow]

hi.
Bingo, have you ever heard of an "open system" setup? That's what it is

Seriously, the graphic is very nice. I may want to ask you to help me in making illusration for some post...

 

[Gixxerryder]

HAHAHA I'm so embarased , See this is what happens when you work nights LOL . I need to call the glass shop , At least the glass will be considerably cheaper..

Smacks forhead>



Thanks Bingo