EXPERIENCE with building custom tanks?!

Ryan Rioux · Jan 26, 2017

Wondering if anyone has had any experiences with building custom tanks regardless or size . Looking to start getting into messing around with building some tanks . Where is the best place to buy glass ? 3/8" to 1/2" thick glass . Anyone have any photos of there tanks they built , and sealed with silicone . I've also heard glass can't be bought at Home Depot or Lowe's .

Rick.45cal · Jan 26, 2017

I'm interested in this too, so I will be tagging along for the ride.

Acro maniac · Jan 26, 2017

Fallowing

Daniel@R2R · Jan 27, 2017

Hmmm...not sure but maybe the #reefsquad can help

ss95003 · Jan 27, 2017

Pretty sure you can only get picture frame glass at the box stores. thin stuff. I have got glass cut at a local glass/ mirror replacement place before for baffles in a sump. that would be a start, but problems I see with that are expected tolerances and quality of grind. I know a lot of the custom tank builders order there glass already cut. I would search the yellow pages in your area and go talk to them about expectations.

Ryan Rioux · Jan 29, 2017

ss95003 said:
Pretty sure you can only get picture frame glass at the box stores. thin stuff. I have got glass cut at a local glass/ mirror replacement place before for baffles in a sump. that would be a start, but problems I see with that are expected tolerances and quality of grind. I know a lot of the custom tank builders order there glass already cut. I would search the yellow pages in your area and go talk to them about expectations.

Tons of glass places around me locally . I've just read a lot of things online about it actually costing as much to build your own as it does to bug already made. I would use a thicker glass reguardless of size of tank. I don't want to go to big , maybe 40 gallons. 1/2" thick glass . I would probably do the same. Order the glass already cut to size for all sides on the tank. Make sure the edges are also all taken care of .

ss95003 · Jan 30, 2017

I think if all you are looking at is cost I am sure you can buy a tank that size for cheaper then you can make it. But it would be a mass produced tank that would be standard clear silicone and not 1/2" glass. I doubt you can buy a custom tank for what it would cost you in glass. It all depends on what you want and how confident you are in your DIY skills. If you want black nice silicone with the new high flow silent overflows and you have the skills glass is your only real cost. If you don't have the skills and you are picky about quality you may not be happy with your end product. Need to do a lot of research on how to build to, it's not just slap glass and silicone together, you need proper gaps. All custom tank builders started somewhere though so it can be done. Probably be wise to build maybe a nano or something see if you can do what you expect, sell it local at cost or less just to get the practice.

ps2cho · Jan 30, 2017

I looked into it before and the cost of the glass was very expensive. It wasn't worth it.

Rick.45cal · Jan 30, 2017

Some of us build things to build things. Economic viability doesn't always factor into these things. Artistic expression trumps all other reasons not to build.

So I guess my question is "where do you start?"