# diy aquarium build bracing?



## vindi93 (Oct 30, 2015)

hi well here the story goes, i decided i wanted a bigger tank. However i wanted a specific size 1200mmx 600mm x 600mm. after talking to my father he said he deals with a glass company all the time. so he asked them, i asked for low iron glass. The glass i ended up with for nothing as they sent it as a sample :=) however all the panels are tempered. Normally this is frowned upon for aquariums due to it exploding if something goes wrong. The thing is what are the chances of it actually happening? The glass thickness is 10mm the question is will i need to brace it or would 10mm tempered glass not need bracing at the sizes i mentioned above?


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

Many tanks are made of tempered glass. Tetra 55 gallon tanks have all panels tempered and can't be drilled. That is just one example. Tetra has other sizes that have non tempered and tempered.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Glass Thickness

Here is a chart that can help you figure out if 10mm is OK for the tank you have in mind. 

Looks like you are on the edge of safe- maybe not. 
I would brace it! 

Another aquarium glass thickness calculation chart | - Making custom fish tanks at your home

Here is another chart that says it could work, but brace it!


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## vindi93 (Oct 30, 2015)

i have included a picture of my tank i have put wood around the top, question is do i have to use glass as a brace or could i use some aluminium z channel and screw the one section into the wood and silicone to the glass inside the tank and then weld some aluminium angle to brace it?


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

The brace should go across the center, or in some other way add support so it does not bow out in the middle. They way you have the wood still allows it to bow out that way. If you added a cross piece in the middle, that would do it. 

Material could be whatever you can work with, however, wood does not work as well when you are pulling on it (as in this application). The fasteners tend to tear out along the grain. If you made a cross piece of metal you could attach it to the wood.

Or just silicone some glass front to back across the middle.


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## Bushkill (Feb 15, 2012)

The glass being tempered makes this an interesting scenario, but at that height, I have to agree with bracing it in the middle with a 3 inch wide strip of glass. If you do some research on Eurobracing, you'll see the wood trim isn't necessary unless you choose to keep it.

Just a question about the design: I noticed the corner overflow. What do you have in mind for this tank? Looks interesting!


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## vindi93 (Oct 30, 2015)

It's going to be a tropical tank. I will put a drawing of how I was thinking of using the ally.


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