MY DIY Tank!!

[pet]

Hi Alvy,

I'm curious to find out the thickness of silicone that goes between the glass at the joints, especially at the 4 corners adjacent to the base. I believe different glass thickness and size require different silicone thickness. BTW the black silicone is not recommended for longterm use, especially for big tanks clear type is prefer??? Would like to hear your view.

Thanks,

PET

[quix]

hi..the wood u use is for support while the silicone cures? or is there any other purpose...

[Wei]

Eh Alvy,

I think my t-shirt gone case liao man. The silicon like cannot wash off like that!

Lets pray the tank doesn't warp man.

Wei

[alvy]

wei: so sorry about ur shirt...i also hope it doesn't warp as what you describe about other reefer's 12mm glass tank that did!!

pet: i've used clear ones before..lemme tell you ...it sux when you have green and brown algae growing on it!!!can never get it clear again!!!also whilst cleaning the silicone, you risk tearing the joint!!!

anyway i'm using Dow corning...from wat i gathered from AT, it seemed to be quite durable!!i have an aquatechnic tank at home more than 10 yrs old, the joints are still damn good..in fact better than my diy tank due to better worksmanship!!!it is also using the same silicone!!

quix: the wood only supports the brace..i'll remove it very soon!!

guys..we'll have to wait until my tank cures and filled up with salt water before we conclude that home diy huge tanks are do-able!! i cross my fingers!

[Hon]

Alvy,

Do you have backup plan or remedy action prepared if the tank really wrap out?? *touchwood*

[alvy]

Hon: i need to see the extent of the warp..if it is too unbearable, i'll tear down the tank and temper or thicken (15mm) the panels!!Once tempered they shouldn't warp anymore and it's cheaper to do that when i dun have much lifestock and when i've not start on my cabinetry...also i'll have the chance to recorrect and perfect some of my messy siliconing(in the overflow area)!! tt'll probably cost me another 200 bucks!!but i'll set my mind at ease and it wun take me too much time!!! actually i'm not too worried now as i've seen bigger tanks using 12mm tt has not warp! but lemme just test out before i conclude on my remedies!!

[Achilles Tang]

hmm.... define warping... because of the length of the glass?

Without a centre brace... I see the possibility of it happening. But 12mm glass should be rather stiff, shouldn't it?

[BarraCudaTM]

I got a 4ft 12mm without centre brace, my euro brace is also 12mm

the middle of the glass will still wrap a little .. maybe 2-3mm

[alvy]

the main purpose of the centre brace is to pull the front and back glass panel together so that they wun bend outwards and break! with eurobracing installed, the centre bracing will have better tensile adhesion to do the above job...but euro bracing itself, due to the way it is attached to the tank prevents the front and back panel from bending..unless the euro brace buckle or the silicone gives way, which the former is unlikely, the front/back panel will remain straight! but these only applies to the top portion of the tank!!..the middle portion can still "bow" out as there isn't any form of tensile support! ..somewhat like a non flat old tv set screen!! this is the warping we are talking about!! 12mm is stiff..but may still prove to be inadequate when loading is extremely high!!tempering it may just do the job, but tempering glass is also problematic!! Though tempered glass has higher strength, it is very brittle!! there are cases i've read of in states, one of which that relates a reefer accidentally knocking a liverock onto a tempered front panel, a minute point on the rock(assuming really small surface area resulting in extreme high pressure) which punctures a micro fine hole in the tank, it shattered the tank instantaneosly!!! but for a normal glass panel, the micro puncture will merely create a scratch like point on the glass which will not result int immediate failure...it might not even crack at all!!but even if it is to crack..there will be signs of the failure and ample time to rescue the tank!!

[BarraCudaTM]

have you thought of laminating with polycarbonate? that will prevent the tempered glass from shattering

[alvy]

will definitely consider that if my tank really warps badly!!but strangely..did you say ur 4 ft warp?? my dad's diy 4L X 4W X 2.5H ft tank din even bend a bit!!!i tot 12mm already may prove to suffice the application!

[BarraCudaTM]

mine is a 4x2x3' tank .. quite high so it be the probelm

I have bracings both on top and bottom of the tank

the warping is not really noticeable unless you look very closely from the birdeye view

its a tank with a pot belly

[pet]

Best of Luck Alvy,

A gentle reminder to make sure your joint between glass panel have equal spacing, I believe glass of 15mm above will have less than 5mm of thick silicone between the glass @ joint.

PET

[alvy]

pet: not to worry..i've placed tiny pvc spacers which are 2 mm thick along the panel edges to ensure i get even spacing between the joints!! all joints are 2 mm apart filled with silicone!