building big tanks

8" wide braces sound good. Are you saying that the chloroform is weaker than weld on?

 

this i do not know ??? the chloroform works by melting the acrylic and allow it to merge,then the chloroform evaporates leaving only the acrylic joined but..... and this is a big one sometimes when the chloroform evaporates it can SOMETIMES leave air bubbles in the joint, which in a tank of 7X3X3 would be Disastrous "new extra ft breat since i can afford it now"

 

Ouch. I wouldn't mess with that on such a big tank. Perhaps you can try some of our sponsors and see if they will ship you some weld on?

 

i biult a tank the 3m x 1m x .800 out of 19mm glass and it weighed a tonne. it will never be possible to move it!! we built it as one would normally build the tank (not float base style) and were very worried about the upright pieces of glass cracking the base due to the weight!! i will be building tanks this size float base from now on....

used 40 tubes of silicone and spent a week on the project it worked out to R15550 rand for the customer......

 

One of my buddies just built a 2000g plywood tank. U shaped. One side is going to be for SPS 12FEETx36", the other side is 12FEETx24" and is going to be for softies, the bottom of the U is going to be for LPS and its 11FEETx30". Its going to be 42" high but not that much water. He is using 4 tunze 6200's and 2 6100's, with a total of like 20,000g of flow. So he is leaving room at the top for waves, haha.

 

im also thinking of doing the GARF plywood tank build.i have a 3/4x4'x7' sheet of glass that will be cut down to 32 1/2 h.tank will be 8'x3'x3'.ive looked at lowes and cant decide if i should use 3/4 oak or what?its going into a wall so bracing the exterior with a band of 2x4's at top and bottom for added safety wont matter.i like the idea that i will be able to drill my drain and overflow bulkheads exactly where i want to.

we started with a 30g(4yrs ago) then a 55g then a 75g acrylic,next a 90g and finally a 125g.the 90g is a semi-reef and the new 125g is an agressive only.having gone up in size basially every year and always upgrading equipment for the added size has really put a dent in the ol' pocket.going to a 500g should crave the urge i think

 

I would recommend staying away from the Garf design. Its not that sturdy. If you are interested in Ply tanks here is the defacto source on the internet fingerlakesreef.com :: View Forum - The Plywood Section......

Happy reading.

BTW good luck with the big glass tank. If I was going to use 19mm glass I would make sure to use Starphire (low iron) for the viewing panes. As I think you will get plenty of distortion with green glass. Another option to consider is to use a thick piece of sheet PVC for the bottom. This will make drilling easier and its less prone to crcking....One of the big custom manufactuers is doing this now....I can't remember which one though.