Odd tank build help

[Mark_C]

Going to build a tank from 1/4" glass.
Tank dimensions will be: 5' or 6' long, 8" wide, 12" tall.
I've watched a number of vids but have no first hand experience doing this.
Any experience or advice would be appreciated.


If interested heres details of the why:
We have a island jutting from a wall to separate kitchen from dining area and wanted to break it up a bit.
Will be freshwater with minimalist approach to decor - white substrate, center island of dark river stones, driftwood branch running length of tank.
Will eventually house a single beta or multiple neons, with a minimal cuc.
Mechanical hob filtration on one end, a 50W heater and a 525gph powerhead for circulation.

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

no experience but seem like a good build. Good luck man

 

[horseplay]

Mark - very interesting. A world of possibilities.

First for the tank setup. Most of the freshwater setups are horrendous. Wires all over the place. Multiple tubes in the tank. To avoid this you can build an all in one tank. It's super easy. Use a 4" sponge as a wall (I have the sponge you need in my free stuff thread) at the long end. Then drill a hole through the sponge and connect a tube to a small pump to return the water. You can put the heater of anything else behind the wall. Then you can use some black plastic or paint to cover the sponge and what's behind it. It will look like an all in one tank. To drill the sponge, soak it with water and freeze it. You can grow moss on the sponge as natural filtration.

I have done many different freshwater setups and I prefer biotope setups. I will comments in my next post.

 

[Mark_C]

Decided on final dimensions. 6' long, 8" wide, 10" high, approximately 21 gallons. Still going with 1/4" glass.

The big question now is bracing. I'd love to keep the top of the tank open, but I realize I may have to add a cross brace (or a few). Thaough I'm unsure if they would be necessary in a shallow 21g tank.

Joe, I'm very intrigued at the sponge idea. The end of the tank will be near the wall with access to a socket. I was planning on painting that back wall of the tank black and mounting the hob, heat, and pump on it. But I like the natural filtration and moss idea.

 

[horseplay]

Do you plan to build this yourself? Probably need a lot of practice before doing it for real.

If you get the right sponge you probably don't need to maintain it for years. I would have the return on one side of the wall producing a circular flow in the tank. You need to address flow problems with such a long tank. Maybe use a jet to increase the flow.

 

[jgraz]

Definitely put a few cross braces. That glass is gonna flex with no water in it.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[Mark...]

1/4" thick that big is scary...especially home made...

 

[myrjon]

imo id use no less than 1/2 inch . me doing things overkill i myself would so 3/4 . i would hate to do all the work and have it bow out real bad .or break.