Two larger tanks out of one smaller one?

[Wasserpest]

Thanks for the input Doug! Always good to hear from someone who has actually undertaken a project like this. Feel free to share any other tips & tricks. Did your tank last a long time without leaking or other issues?

GARF recommends a 46" long glass panel for a 48" long tank, but I agree, it might be better to have a little bit more room to play with silicone.

What is the reason to fit the side panels inside the front and back, just visual appeal?

[Sponsors]

[doug105]

The Tanks I built lasted as long as I needed them to! One of them, after using it for a few years, I gave to the lfs to use as a grow out tank.
The other I used as a reef tank, also for several years, then later grew out some discus in it. Later gave it away.

I'm no structural engineer but I think the reason for building it that way is for
strength.

I have also seen one built that was about 8 inches wider on each side than the front glass, and the nice thing about it was that the side panels weren't very visible, with some tall plants there, the sides seem to disappear completely.

The great thing about the tanks is it's easy to drill holes for plumbing in bulkhead fittings or overflows, etc.

One other suggestion is to make sure you get Black or very dark blue pigment for the resin lay-up so you do have to worry about "painting" it later. Saves time and money.

Doug

[Craigthor]

One thing to remember alot of the NEW 55g tanks are all made of tempered glass as to reduce the thickness. I've heard about the results of trying to drill tempered glass at the local reefers meeting. NOT all 55s will be tempered but alot of them are starting to come that way.

Craig

[lauraleellbp]

My AGA 90gal is only tempered on the bottom; not sure how prevalent that is, however?

[Wasserpest]

Originally Posted by Craigthor

One thing to remember alot of the NEW 55g tanks are all made of tempered glass as to reduce the thickness. I've heard about the results of trying to drill tempered glass at the local reefers meeting. NOT all 55s will be tempered but alot of them are starting to come that way.

Craig

Originally Posted by lauraleellbp

My AGA 90gal is only tempered on the bottom; not sure how prevalent that is, however?

I don't remember if there was a sticker that said something like bottom tempered... Need to do some research, because if the sides are tempered too I will not be able to cut them. Looks like pretty thin glass, so maybe it is tempered. Can anyone else with a regular AGA 55gal tank confirm either way? I bought that one at the $1/gal Petco sale a year and a half or so back.

[lauraleellbp]

The sticker on my AGA can't be removed; it's actually between the glass and the support... just FYI?

[Wasserpest]

Good to know. I remember my 36 Bow had that sticker, just unsure about the 55.

ATM this tank is filled, so I can't look it up easily. If it is tempered glass then I would need to go with plywood wider than 4ft which would bite because of the height (would need two pieces). I was thinking to make the front out of one piece, so I won't need the diagonal support braces as pictured in the OP.

Doug105 - thanks for the tips & tricks! Did you use the West System epoxy?

[lauraleellbp]

I think AGA just got bought out by Aqueon, too- that may make finding that info difficult?

[Wasserpest]

I talked to someone at Aqueon, and they were extremely helpful, but could not tell me 100% either way.

Their box kits are usually tempered all around, while their single tanks are only bottom tempered. Now I bought that tank at Petco as a single tank off the shelf, however, they are sold to Petco usually as kits... so no way to tell for sure.

The customer service rep also mentioned that tempered glass panes are usually beveled, which mine are...

And finally, she told me that for 55 gal tanks they use 1/4" tempered and 5/16" regular glass. Now if my tank wasn't insulated at the ends I could easily measure that, but I don't want to pull off the styrofoam sheets just yet.

Looks like tempered though... so I would probably not be able to cut it, and would have to cut a lot of plywood. Probably just means that I have to do the front and back out of two pieces. Also means that I could increase the length of the setup quite a bit, allow for an integrated filter/overflow compartment, etc.

[doug105]

I did not use epoxy resin. I used polyester resin. If I remember right, it was
"surfboard" resin. Lot of surfboard manufacturing in my area and you just go by
a factory with a couple of empty gallon jugs and say "Fill'er up!'.
They pump it out of a 55 gallon drum. The same would apply to "boat" resin.
The fiberglass was probably 7 or 8 oz. woven cloth.

Doug

[Wasserpest]

From what I have read, epoxy resin is much superior to (and way more expensive than) polyester resin. GARF outright recommends against using polyester resin. I wonder why.

Need to look around in Monterey. There's got to be a couple of boat repair shops and such.

[htn86]

I never thought of that before. What a great idea and make sure you keep us updated if you planning on doing it

[Wasserpest]

Couple more questions for those who have been there to plan this a bit further...

1) Regarding the Epoxy, would something like this be a good choice for this sort of thing? It is cheaper than the West System epoxy, and claims to be good with a single layer application, which sounds wonderful.

2) The need for a fiberglass cloth... if you don't plan on smacking huge rocks and corals into the tank sides, is that really required or a bit of overkill? Not that overkill is bad...

3) How much of an overlap of the glass and the front plywood is needed? The more overlap, the less visible glass area obviously... Is 1" sufficient?

4) Finally, when choosing plywood, there is cheap (~$20, probably pine?) and expensive (~$45, oak/maple/birch) available. Is the cheap kind usable, maybe for the back, or is it better to go for the harder wood?