diy tank

[sir_dudeguy]

I built a tank a while ago. its 60 in. long, 12 in high, and 9.5 in high. When I built it i put the front, back, and side pieces of glass so that they rest on the bottom. Is that right? They werent supposed to go around the bottom piece were they? Also, there is no frame around the bottom. I read somewhere that you should not have the bottom piece of glass resting on anything, like the flat surface of a stand or table. Is this true? it said something about it might break.
One other thing. If i had the tank for cichlids, would i need a sump? if not what filter should i use. the tank is 28 gallons.
thanks in advance.

 

[fishfreek]

I belive most glass tanks have the bottom glass sitting inside the front, back and sides. The top and bottom frames are there to help support the glass panels from the outward stress of the water.

 

[Toirtis]

Tanks should have the bottom pane inside the perimeter of the side panes. And yes, having the bottom directly on a surface is not usually recommended, but you can allievate the risk by having the tank on a slab of stryofoam isulation.

You would no need a sump for cichlids, a HOB powerfilter or small canister would be fine, but you will be very limited as to what cichlids you could put in such a small tank.

 

[seabisquit2]

±It is my recommendation to use tempered glass. This would relieve the worries of fractures. I saw another DIY aquarium plan that showed the front back sides resting on top of the bottom.

 

[Scottcenfla]

Although tempered glass has a much higher tensil strength (10x in some cases), it does not fracture, or let me state it another way. It does fracture, but when it does, it explodes and does not crack and drip a slow amount of water like your generic plate glass does. Both tempered and plate have safety factors that really are confusing with the graphs and charts online. Glass, just like a gold chain, is only as strong as the weakest link, it has weak areas.

Tempered glass, under a serious load, need only be lightly struck with a hard object in some cases and it will blow out as it is very brittle. Plate glass will actually bow and expand, even then when the strength is at it's limit, it will crack and not blow out. Hence dripping water.

There isn't a problem with having the sides of the tank resting on the bottom piece of glass, it isn't recommended, but you can make it work just fine. Just make sure you either support the bottom glass ONLY at the outside edges under the sides, or as mentioned above, toss a 1/2" piece of insulation board under it to even out the weight distribution.