# largest possible rimless all glass tank



## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

It all comes down to the thickness of the glass and the silicone being used as the adhesive.


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## Sven (Dec 3, 2002)

So, how thick would the glass have to be.
Are there any extra strong types of silicone that you could recommend?


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

for that length I would say a minimum of 1" thick glass may have to go thicker even. Tank empty will weigh a ton.

That's alot of span to keep from bowing.


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

There are calculators around on this site somewhere. I would reccomend contacting a company that builds them honestly.


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## original kuhli (Nov 28, 2006)

Check out Eurobracing, it may be a good compromise...


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## Sven (Dec 3, 2002)

AAhh, that is what had been recommended to me, just didnæt know it was called eurobracing. here they usually only put the glass strips on the length of the front and back, but not the sides. 
If I'd eurobrace it´s been recommended to me to use 12mm glass. So without eurobracing, 14mm? 16mm?

How about the bottom, should it generally be thicker then the sides?


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## chuukus (Jun 17, 2008)

I just put these dimensions into a rimless aquarium glass calculator(aqua-calc)
80" long 24" wide 22" tall and this is what it reccomends
minimum side and front glass 11.30mm with min side deflection 0.36mm
minimum bottom thickness 15.70mm with min bottom deflection 0.27mm
desired saftey factor of 3.8 or higher is whhat they reccomend so I would use 3/4" glass at least 
Scolley has a link for aquacalc in his stickey at the top of the page you have to use jave to download it


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## rountreesj (Jun 12, 2007)

just use 1" or 1.5" glass...then you know you're good


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Sven said:


> I´m planning to build a tank that will be 200cm long, about 6'6" and 55cm tall, 22". It will be an open tank and most of all I whant to have it ADA style with no braces. It´s been recomennded to me to have glass beams siliconed to the top of the long sides of the tank to stop the glass from bending under the pressure of the water.
> 
> My question is; is the tank to big to be built without these supports? How thick glass would I need to be able to build a tank this size without supports?


3/4" is a min I'd use.
If you have over glue on the edges, you will also gain some strength, but it will not look as nice as some tanks that have the the no edge trim on th silicone seams. Trade off there.

6.5 ft x 22 tall is not much different than a typical 180 like I have.
Height adds a lot more stress to the bond.
Special silicone glues and all that, that's baloney, do not fall for any mumbo there. They are just pulling your leg.

This is going to be a very heavy tank, 4-5 people and some Glass moving suction disc(4 or so) will be needed.

3/4" will not bow, nor is that a huge issue at this thickness either.
even with a laser level, I cannot detect any bow on 3/4" over 6ft distance.

1" is extremely heavy.
It's over kill, but you might consider having that made on site.

This is my tank which is close to what you are after, it's 3/4" or 19mm.










ADA's is thinner than this and the silicone is cut to the edge, looks prettier, but...........you lose about 2-4mm of glue surface and no amount of special glue can make up for that area.

A few corner bracings or Euro style might be an added safety feature for you, but I'd not go more than 3/4" really.

12mm is out of the question.
16mm is also rather thin IME.
Go 18-20mm range. The bracing is more for insurance.

If you do 20mm and do not trim the silicone to the absolute corner, then you likely will not ever need euro bracing of any type.

Just make sure you never move the tank again


Regards, 
Tom Barr

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## rountreesj (Jun 12, 2007)

Tom, Does that tank have polished edges?^^^


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## Haagenize (Sep 30, 2008)

Edward from ReefCentral used to have a 300gallon Starphire tank thats 19mm








The dimensions were 72Lx40Wx24H, so it's a little shorter then yours but it's taller, and most likely going to be more in depth, so you should be fine ALTHOUGH, I think he had his starphire tempered


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## Sven (Dec 3, 2002)

Well the glass supplyer here can order 19mm glass for me and so I'll be going for that.

Another thing I've been worrying about is jumpers, and that's actually the only thing I worry about with an open tank, and I don't want to put anything on top of the tank or edges to keep the fish in. Although I don't plan on getting any famous jumpers, I'd like to stay on the safe side. How far from the edge of the glass does the water surface need to be in order to be pretty safe?

Also, is the risk of jumpers less in taller tanks?


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## Sven (Dec 3, 2002)

bump


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## jargonchipmunk (Dec 8, 2008)

the risk of jumpers is less if you cover the tank for the first few days you have the tank. apparently, the fish try to jump a few times, and get used to not being able to. Other than that, if fish are chasing each other out of the tank, you'll never be safe ;-)


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## original kuhli (Nov 28, 2006)

Can really recommend starfire, used it on my tank and there is a very real difference.


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## Sven (Dec 3, 2002)

thanks fot the tip jargonchipmunk.

I'll be splurging on ther starphire front side, although it's almost 4 times the price of regular glass here, has to be specially ordered.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

19mm will be fine for this.

I'd not worry so much about opti white glass etc, not worth it IME.
I have 3 tanks with them, 2 without.

If you have the glue trimmed too much, I think the longer term sealing at the upper edges on the front and rear panel suffer.

Also, if you bevel any edges, make sure they are not where the glue surfaces are.

This is not an issue of strength or bowing, it is an issue of how much surface area you have glued. Also, make sure the tank sits without water for no less than 3 weeks to fully cure on larger seals over 1/2" or 10-12mm.

A nice bevel is good on the top edges and the out side edges on the sides.
Adding a nice bottom frame is also wise, or reinforcement slats(say 5-7 cm x 12 mm thick) on the bottom inside(which are not seem as they are covered with sediment). The frame will help with the weight and sitting it on a stand etc

They need to bevel the edges frist then construct the tank, so they need to know which edges for each piece need beveled and which need left bare(maybe some minimal sanding etc).

So the "outside"(or just one side) sides for both front and rear panels.
Side panel only at the top(both sides), and the front ab rear panel tops on both sides(inside and outside top edge).

This will give you about 2-3 mm more surface to glue and still look nice.

Regards, 
Tom barr


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

I'm with you tom.

Personally I would choose something like this for tank height selection related to glass thickness (braceless) :

40-45cm = 12mm
50-55cm = 15mm
55-65cm = 19mm

It is true about the extra ton thick glass brings.
Recently I just set up a relatively small braceless tank measuring just 100x40x40cm built in 12mm glass. Man, it was heavy for the size.
My tank looks sturdy and has no real deflection at all and I can sleep easy


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## Sven (Dec 3, 2002)

Thanks for the advice all, I'm having an experienced guy do the tank for me, and I´ll mention the bottom frame. 
I'll only be beveling the sides that face up and the front pane. The other sides I'll just take the bite out with a knife sharpening stone (don't know the english word)


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Sounds good.


Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## original kuhli (Nov 28, 2006)

Wow, starfire three sides was about a 30% premium here...


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## jmhart (Mar 14, 2008)

original kuhli said:


> Wow, starfire three sides was about a 30% premium here...



sounds about right


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