My 5' by 5' Drop tank!!

for the glass you'll want to check out a local window & door company. that can probly order precut glass from a their window manufacture they use.. I dont know if 1/2" tempered glass can be cut by them..they may have to be custom ordered it..square/rectangle shapes wouldnt be bad, but those L shaped side pieces may be a pain to get..all the glass pieces your probly look about $300-$500 bucks just for the glass..

at least the silicone and wood is cheap.

are you going to incorporate a brace on top for support?

good luck, and remember to post pics!

 

Tempered glass cannot be cut or drilled. It will shatter. You get a standard piece of glass with all the cuts done to it, then temper it.

 

Ya this is going to be a big build i don't know if we are going with this design or get a BIG Square tank xD but who knows only time will tell. We will continue to make the plans but we have to save up a lot of money or i will just save the plans in a Safe Box wait till i move out and get a job get enough money and build it !

 

Very interesting concept. I live in Broward and would like to see the finished product someday. My concern is the stress factor. That's a lot of weight in water.

 

Ya me and my dads buddy were talking about it and may have to do some type of reinforcing to the structure but we don't know yet.

 

Another option you have briefly mentioned would be just to get a large cube tank and build a shelf in it. You could make it air tight, but a simple PVC frame may be better and will allow the fish to hide if needed. I also don't know if 1/2" glass will be strong enough for the 5'x5' front piece. Before building anything like this, I would consult an engineer to ensure that when you fill it up, you don't have hundreds of gallons all over you house.

Another option you could consider is making a plywood tank and just having a front pane of glass or acrylic.

 

Yep but we just want to build i love to build so who knows we will get the whole thing tested.. to make sure we don't fail epically and lose lost of money

 

Hope you dont get caught collecting down there. I looked into it and without a permit all your allowed to get is a few polyps off zoanthid colonies (no rock at all, just the mat), and softies. If you get caught with any stonys, including LPS, its a big time fine. Granted there are permits you can get, but it would probably be cheaper to just buy off local reef clubs or LFS's.

Have you ever had a reef tank? If not it might be a good idea to familiarize yourself now on something smaller to get your feet wet to avoid some costly mistakes on your huge build.

~Will.

 

OMG NEVER!!! I WOULD NEVER!!

I would never ever collect any coral from the wild i am a Trained Rescue Diver/ Nitrox Diver and i work with REEF and Project Aware.. Only buy from Fish Stores the only collecting i do is Lobster =P Yummy

I have 2 tanks a 110 Gallon Reef tank and my 29 Gallon Biocube Reef tank.

 

Here is my Biocube i am trying to get more coral

http://www.3reef.com/forums/coral/corals-my-biocube-83754.html#post835962