Tank Design Opinions

[smiley]

Hey guys,
After a recent meltdown, we are building a new tank to replace the last one.
The last tank was a 24x24x12 with 1/4 glass and an internal coast to coast overflow.
I liked the setup and ease of the build, but I wasn't very happy to be taking up tank space with the overflow.

This is what I came up with tonight to move it to the outside, it's probably been done before since options are limited on doing external overflows with glass.

But, I'd like to get as many opinions on it as possible before I start building it and find that it's too weak. If theres a better way to do it I'd love to hear about it or see it, I havent been able to find much information on doing external overflows on glass so I'm really just trying different things that seem simple to have cut. Thanks in advance. :smile:

 

[ronnie]

I've cut slots in glass with a rotozip and tile bit before for external overflows. Works well. That would be another thought, and probably simpler than what you have drawn out.

 

[smiley]

I thought about doing that but was kind of uneasy about trying it. I only found a few bits of info about doing it, how close to the edges can you take it? I'm trying to stay with coast to coast, but I suppose an inch of so on each side wouldn't be too bad. I've decided to up the thickness to 3/8" instead of the 1/4" I used on the last tank to ease our mind of the occasional bump that may occur. Should I build the external with 1/2" or is 3/8 going to be enough? I also read that the inside corners are strongest when they are rounded, shoudl the outside corners be rounded also or is that just for cosmetics?

 

[Sasquatch]

rule of thumb is no less than 1/2 the diameter from an edge, if its in a corner it should be offset so on edge has more meat.
will you be putting teeth on the overflow edge? a suggestion about the overflow box would be to add an opaque cover to block the light maybe

 

[smiley]

rule of thumb is no less than 1/2 the diameter from an edge, if its in a corner it should be offset so on edge has more meat.
will you be putting teeth on the overflow edge? a suggestion about the overflow box would be to add an opaque cover to block the light maybe

Your talking about how close you should be when drilling holes, no?
My concern is with how much I should leave on each side of the weir if I choose to cut it out of the back glass as seen below.

As far as the teeth/opaque cover, that's pretty much exactly what I built for the internal overflow we had, 1/4" teeth on 1/2" centers, blacked out.

On the new cover, I'll be going with a single tooth cut horizontally the entire length of the weir.
It should prevent snails and fish from making it in and keep the added surface skimming of being toothless. Snails able to pass through the 1/4" slot would no doubt pass through a vertical tooth in the same fashion.
Aside from difficulty of the cutting, I can't really see any other drawbacks.

Anyone had any ideas on "how close is too close" when it comes to cutting a weir into the back glass?
Also, when you perform cuts like this, do you slowly increase your depth until your through the pane, or do you go full cut depth from the start?

Just thought about something else, would there be concerns with putting the back panel on the inside of the sides, instead of on the outside like the front panel is?