DIY Glass 15H

[Rcpilot]

It's my first time building a glass tank and I may not get it perfect. Should I oversize to 9/32" or 5/16" thickness as a safety factor? I'm betting I won't get the seams perfect and the added thickness may help with surface area to bond.

I've been having trouble finding a tank that will fit under a stand. It's the lower tank in a vertical saltwater mixing station. I know a 10g, a 15H and a 20XH will fit. Both the 15H and the 20XH have the same footprint as a standard 10g tank. The 15H is 50% taller at 18 inches and the 20XH is twice as high, at 24 inches.

Both are hard to get and expensive. Figured I'd try and build one myself so I'm ordering a set of black plastic tank trim for the top and bottom, and I'll get the glass cut locally.

Question on the glass thickness. I used a glass tank calculator to determine the thickness. I'm building the 15H because the 20XH does fit, but theres no room to get an arm inside and I can barely fit a 1 inch PVC fitting over the rim once the tank is inside the stand. It's just too tight, and 15g of saltwater is more than enough for the DT I'm building, while offering that extra 6 inches of space to work with.

My pieces are roughly:
Bottom 20x10
Front & Back 20x18
Sided 10x18

Glass calculator says 1/4" thick.

What do you think?

 

[Big G]

I know that 1/4" is a lot thicker than the glass on my 20L from Petco's 1.00 per gallon sale. Makes me a bit nervous when handling the tanks. I'd go 1/4" nothing wrong with being on the + side of a design element and structure quality. Post a pic when done. ;)

 

[Rcpilot]

Thanks @ Big G

I was kinda worried about the depth (18") and the additional loads imposed. I just put together a glass overflow with 1/4" glass pieces. 2nd time, as I broke the first one tightening a bulkhead after it was all built and stuck to the tank. After building 2 overflow boxes with glass, I'm now pretty confident I can do it for a tank.