CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

I'm in the process of building a new BIG tank to replace some others I made that ended up going to other people.
I figured this time I want to try something REAL BIG I'm a little unsure on how thick I'll need the acrylic or glass (undecided which yet) to be for the front panel. Since I haven't tryed anything this big yet I'm not sure but I don't think I can just go by normal depth vs. thickness rules due to the volume and weight this will involve.

Anyone know an easy formula to figure thickness?
The tank I'm really considering building will be
(L)148" X
(W) 48 or 72 X
(D)48 or 30
(or = depending on cost)

This will (at max) be 2,214.23 gallons and about 18,600 pounds when full,which is why I don't think I can use the normal 30" deep ='s 1/2 acrylic rule and etc.. and I don't want all this to be a waste of time or end up on my floor.

Assuming this can actually be done for a reasonable price ,it will still be a little while before I start so feel free to add any input you may have.

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I found a formula,but haven't quit figured it 100% out yet
Anyone good in math know how to work this formula correctly?
(tried to paste the formula here but it doesn't post right)
AQUARIUM ACRYLIC THICKNESS CALCULATION

Every person I've seen with that big of a tank has used 1.5" thick arcylic. If I can find the site I will show you a pick of a gouy with a 2000 gallon tank that has 1.5" thick front panel. I hope this helps. If I find the picture I will post a link.

You must have alotta room . What kinda floor you planning on setting this tank on?

I've seen a few tanks say 1.5" acrylic but I've seen a few say 3/4"
and I've seen a 4,000 gallon online that was only 2"acrylic and that one was 7' deep
(I can't locate any acrylic right now over 1" thick either locally)
and
I've seen glass tanks say 3/8" if 24" high or less and I've seen some say 3/4" and theres a BIG price difference between the two about $3-$400 per 8'x2' sheet and about $5-600 difference in a 8x4' sheet.(depending where I buy it)

So I'm trying to figure out what I actually need before I waste money. and for now I think I'm looking more towards glass since piranha teeth can scratch up acrylic pretty easily.

You must have alotta room . What kinda floor you planning on setting this tank on?

Since I cut down on my reptile collection I have a space roughly about 14' X 20' that I now have avaliable for other things and it's a concrete floor in my basement which according to my landlord is either 12" or 15" so I "THINK" it should hold.If the floor goes,my landlord ok'd it so ,umm opps?

Well I got a hold of a guy I know that has a 2000 gallon tank. I'm waiting to see what he has to say about thickness needed.
Do you live in a large city? In my town there is a company that specializies in big tanks(1000+). My friend got his acrylic from there.
I've heard that it is bad to have glass in that size tank because if every thing isn't exactly what you think it will be. All you get is a lot of water on your floor and a lot of broken glass. This is just what I have been told.
Are you putting a collection of pygo's in it?

Are you putting a collection of pygo's in it?

It's going to be Piranhas but I'm not sure which yet.

Now I have:
6 - 3" gold spilos with 10 more ordered
5 - 1" black rhoms maybe more soon
10 - red bellies - 2-12" 2-9" 5-8"(new) and 1-4"(new)
Each has a reason I want to try them:
20 - 30 12" Redbellies would look nice shoaling!
15 or so 15" Gold spilos would look nice and not be real common
a few rhoms would be cool,since it's supposedly impossiable and beating the "piranha experts" to breeding them would be sweet

I live by a big city with a place that makes tanks just not quite what I want and ALOT more then I want to spend!
120x48x24 =$3,150
120x48x48 = like $5,300
and thats prices with no colored back,no plumbing and etc.. factory direct,from a store the prices would go up by $400 and up.
I'm possative I can make 3 tanks that size my self with glass or acrylic cheaper then it costs to buy one.


Some people I know swear against useing glass on big tanks to but with this tank I don't want to have to get in to clean the inside or remove scratches.
And the zoo (here anyways) has glass on all their tanks and it's alot bigger then anything I'll ever use and has constant banging from kids and big fish and holds up fine.
And I could use a magnetic scrapper to clean the glass without getting in and not worry about scratches so much

Glass will be heavy though,but I'm thinking about maintanace and cost more right now.

A tank this size isn't turning out to be a real easy project,which I figured it wouldn't thats why I started looking for information ahead of time.So I'm still open to and considering ideas.

Since I finally found the Umbee's and MAYBE some Astronotus crassipinnis & Astronotus orbiculatus I might build more then one big tank so I can divide a few and run them on cental filters so I can afford to set them up and run them without needing to have more wireing ran from outside to in my house

here's the 5 new 8" pygos (reds) I got off of pfish last night not to skitish and pretty nice looking so time to get crackin on the big tank so I can get stuff stabalized or moved around a little
(not my pictures)I'll have to get some pictures later

Called again and tryed to special order 1.5" thick acrylic and still can't get any and I deal with GE polymer (big company),and "due to liabilities" they "can't anwser any load bearing questions" And glass places won't anwser any weight tolerance questions either

I tryed the glass and tank calculator again and if I use (L)96"X(W)148"X(H)24" It says I only need a 3/8" glass or 1/2" acrylic front glass peice? for 1,476 gallons

or if I go up to:
96 X 1,000 X 24
even just to see what it does, it still says 3/8" glass? This is still where I'm lost is glass supposededly that strong? I doubt it! I wouldn't even attempt a 9,974 gallon tank with 3/4" glass but the calculator still claims it only needs to be 3/8":confused:

It appears to be working though? because if I change to 48"x1,000"X30" it goes up and says you need 1/2" glass for 6,234 gallons.

Maybe with glass,depth is the only real important factor? But I still don't think so.If anyones built a tank with glass 800 gallons or bigger? I like to know what was used and what the results were.


Now I've got all the wood,5 gallons of epoxy paint and no clue on the rest what kind of business isn't allowed to anwser a customers questions? sheesh

stilllearnin....what state are you in?

ohio

I believe its more of a height thing. With depth also calulated in. If you think about it, it is quite simple.
No matter how long you make it, the braces are still in the same spot(covering top and bottom). So the longer you make it the more bracing you have on it, but if you go higher you don't gain much bracing but you gain a lot more surface area.
I think depth need to be considered because the deeper you get the more pressure there is, with glass I think this is more of a factor because you have to worry about the glass flexing and then breaking. If you went with acrylic this wouldn't be as much of a problem.
As of what I have been told, never looked into it. That once you get over 200 gallons. Acrylic and Glass start to even out on price. I think that at that size they would be pretty much equal.
I wouldn't trust that calculation it seems off that you would need the same thickness with such different amounts. If I were would you I would call all the place I know that do or have big tanks and ask what their opinions are. Then take the median of their answers and go with that.
The reason I say this is because you aren't getting many responses here. You also might want to post at predatory fish because I know theirs quite a few people on there with large tanks. You get a very good answer from them.
Never got a response from my freind on the thickness so I can't tell, sorry.

Oops read the last post about you not getting responses from the companies. NM, the part about calling around.

Heres a link to a guy that has a 1700 gallon tank. I believe he has his E-mail on there. You could send him an e-mail and get a great response. He could even supply you with plans.

http://www.predatoryfish.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=12;t=26135



Heres another link that is on big tanks. Try PM some of these people and see what they have to say

http://www.predatoryfish.net/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=1;t=23245;hl=big+tank

stilllearnin....check out this link. It has some links to some acrylic sites. Dunno if this will help you any, but have a look.
http://www.reefcentral.com/diy/Default.htm

I finally!! Got someone at LOF to figure some glass and acrylic thickness's for me and here's what I was told in case anyone else decides to try to build a large tank.

Glass: (plate glass not tempered)
height x width
36"X 76" would need to be 3/5" thick
24" X 76" would need to be 1/2" thick
24" X 72" would need to be 3/8" thick


Lexan
height x width
36" X 76" would need to be 3/8" thick
24" X 76" would need to be 3/8" still

Common acrylic ("not reccomended")
height x width
36" X 76" would need to be 1"
36" X 72" would need to be 3/4"
24" X 76" would need to be 5/8"
24" X 72" would need to be 1/2"

Suposedly the 36" heights are only good up to 30" wide MAX
and the 24" heights they said "should work fine" up to 48" wide.

Also keep in mind these are supposed to be the min..,thickness's they suggest.They also said once you go over 76" or 36" they would reccomend DOUBLEING the thickness for every 12"you exceed 76" or 36" if a single peice was being used. And these thickness's were calculated assuming there will be braceing every 24".They also said this will be assuming (they liked that word) the glass or acrylic being used was flawless.



But like they told me "do it at your own risk"

Just a thought, but have you considered a plywood tank with glass front?
http://www.garf.org/news18p2.html#plan
http://www.athiel.com/lib6/tank.htm

http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/panis/plywoodtank.htm
http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/panis/plywoodtank2.htm