Building a tank questions

[kryppy]

I am going to fabricate a new tank for my black grouper.

I was thinking if I split a 4x8 into two halves, it will make the
sides. Split another for the bottom and small sides.
I am going to drill it, then have it tempered.
My question is, what thickness of glass should I use?

I plan to fabricate top and bottom "trays" from angle iron, and
possibly up the four sides all welded together. I could also attach
bands across the top to help take the load off.

Will 3/8's work. :)

I'm also curious how to calculate how many gallons this monster will
hold so I know if my slab will support it. haha

Thanks for any advice.

[Benjamin]

kryppy,

Presuming you mean split it lengthwise... your aiming at roughly a 2'x2'x8'
tank... so 24x24x96 = 55296 divide by 231 will get you just a little under
240 gallons (239.3766......). Yours will be slightly smaller than that
though as you will have to account for the material loss on the cuts and the
overlaps onto the bottom. You can use the same formula to calculate the
actual though. As for the thickness I don't know off hand without looking
it up, but I bet someone here knows of the top of their head.

--
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"kryppy" > wrote in message
...
>I am going to fabricate a new tank for my black grouper.
>
> I was thinking if I split a 4x8 into two halves, it will make the
> sides. Split another for the bottom and small sides.
> I am going to drill it, then have it tempered.
> My question is, what thickness of glass should I use?
>
> I plan to fabricate top and bottom "trays" from angle iron, and
> possibly up the four sides all welded together. I could also attach
> bands across the top to help take the load off.
>
> Will 3/8's work. :)
>
> I'm also curious how to calculate how many gallons this monster will
> hold so I know if my slab will support it. haha
>
> Thanks for any advice.

[Chris Gentry]

"kryppy" > wrote in message
...
> I am going to fabricate a new tank for my black grouper.
>
> I was thinking if I split a 4x8 into two halves, it will make the
> sides. Split another for the bottom and small sides.
> I am going to drill it, then have it tempered.
> My question is, what thickness of glass should I use?
>
> I plan to fabricate top and bottom "trays" from angle iron, and
> possibly up the four sides all welded together. I could also attach
> bands across the top to help take the load off.
>
> Will 3/8's work. :)
>
> I'm also curious how to calculate how many gallons this monster will
> hold so I know if my slab will support it. haha
>
> Thanks for any advice.

According to the glass thickness calculator
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/aquariumdiy/l/blcustomtank.htm
The minimum you should use is 9mm or just under 3/8 of an inch for a 2' X 2'
X 8' tank. So a direct answer would be "yes" 3/8" would work.
However, I'm paranoid and couldn't settle for less than 1/2" on my own tank
if I was building one that size.