Building your own tank

Hi,
I was thinking about building my own frag tank. Just having the glass cut and putting it together myself.
I have a few questions though.
Is the only thing that holds the glass together silicone? and whats the best way to apply this? like does the silicone need to be between the seams as well?

Does the sides need to sit on top of the bottom?
What thickness of glass is recommended? The thicker the stronger?

Also, about what is the biggest size you would want to make if you were making your own tank? I dont want it falling apart.

 

FYI -- I went through the entire process of designing a tank for myself... looking at material and expenses.... reliability and quality concerns over my construction skills and knowledge....

You know what I concluded.... CRAIGSLIST....

I could get a used tank for less money and higher quality than I could do on my own. It just required patience to find it on CL.

Just a thought.

Mark

 

Yea ive been looking at craigslist but there aren't but a handfull of listing for aquarium stuff and 90% of them are freshwater aquariums which I refuse to use since I have no idea what kind of medications they have used in it and the other is for 100+ gallon complete systems.

 

If you want to do acrylic you can use weld-on 4 or weld-on 16 to 'weld' (it fuses them together) the pieces together... then use silicone to add another level of seal.

 

If you decide not to build a tank you need to check this thread out. You maybe able to get one similar to this for what it would cost to build.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-off-your-fish-tanks/xmetals-coral-bank-build-96809.html