Tank Build Guide Tutorial on tank building with pictures Hide Content

I know alot of people as whats the easiest way to build tanks, or repair, so I thought while I was building one I would take some shots, and go through step by step how I do it, alot of people do it differently but either way it will answer some questions for someone who has never done it

1. Prep your area have your glass clean and close at hand


2. Make sure your hands are clean and your silicone is close by, have paper towels and a few exacto knives on hand. I normally pre-cut my tape and at the end I end up throwing out of tape, but I am never left cutting tape in the middle of a tank build.

3. Apply your first bead of silicone along one of the longer stretches. (front or back) have your helper put tape under the bottoms of the tank, unless you are using bottom trim, and it is not needed.


4. Place your first pain of glass on top of your bead, and gently even it out with the edge of your glass, run a razor along, cleaning it often with paper towel, then firmly push down and roll your tape over the edge to hold it into place, normally I use fiberglass tape because of its strength and little elasticity, but today I am using duct tape.


5. From here I normally silicone down the one side of the glass where your side panel will meet up, and across the bottom, where the side panel sits on the bottom. set it into place, even the glass out, razor it and tape again.


6. On a taller tank I wouldn't normally run across the front of the tank with silicone, I normally do the other side place the panel in then do the front with silicone, but because this tank is so short and easy to handle I saw no problems.


7.From here we place silicone down the side panels, and across the front,( again I cheated) but you see what I mean in the next 2 shots



8. Now to place your last piece of glass in. With bottom trim this is much easier and everything just sits into place, push the glass firmly and tape it, just make sure your not moving the far side of your tank, reaching across and lightly putting pressure on both sides while someone else scrapes silicone, and tapes is the best method, or applying top trim helps also
MAKE SURE YOUR HANDS ARE CLEAN! you want as little oils and stuff on the edges of glass.


9.Apply any extra silicone to the inside edges of your glass if needed, and quickly slick it around your tank, my method is never to stop in a corner always start a few inches before a corner, and go through it.

after its all said and done it should look something like this



And here is 2 tanks I had built a few months back with the same dimensions 48L x 29 w x 17 T roughly 100 deep tank. This tank is made out of 3/4 " glass I got a deal on it through a friend, but 1/2 " glass would do fine on a tank this tall


Anyways thats just how I do my Tanks I am sure other people will disagree with some things, But in the end its a good simple guide to building a tank

Keil

Last edited by Keil on Sep-5-2006 at 10:59pm

That's awesome! Thanks a lot for sharing that, it's going to come in handy in a few weeks time for me!

Out of curiousity, what size glass were you using for those tanks BTW? 1/2"?

Thanks again for posting that,

Are you using plate or tempered?

I was curious, I built my own fry tanks, well 1 tank with sequentialy lower dividers with filter in on one end, out the other for a waterfall effect. Worked great.

Oh back to the question, plate or tempered? I often wondered what is best, tempered is stronger provided you don't hit it with something sharp (ie lava rock dislodged by curious oscar), but it doesn't just crack....it explodes. Plate will crack (if you're lucky) before comming apart.

PS: I get 3/8's plate for about $4/square foot. Haven't priced half or 3/4's yet.

Good fun.


Ian

Last edited by thislilfishy on Sep-5-2006 at 11:11pm

Bottom panel is tempered, and all the sides are float glass, or plated. with a tank like this a tempered bottom is nice but not really needed, if the tank was 20" or taller I wouldn't think twice about using a tempered bottom

Keil

to give a real professional look to you seems i always used masking tape ~ 3/8 from the seem...then put the bead and while still wet peeled off the tape making a perfect line. many tanks made by maufactureers do not taper in the inside beads as this causes a mess and a lot more labour...however i think this is a mistake as a lot of the strength of the siliconed joint is derived from this process

D

I agree with the taping method, we use that on small framing jobs. Makes a nice seam, and like you say, is probably a better way of doing it. I'm considering making a custom tank for my needs, but the cost in glass is not much better then just getting a pre-made tank, other then you know it was done properly with no short cuts.


Ian

If I ever build tanks with black silicone, I do that method, but I normally use electrical tape so it won't rip if it gets wet. When I build tanks for myself I always go a bit overboard on the silicone, If I am building for someone else, I take a little more care with it and try and make a nice job of it, but you can't really go wrong with Transulent silicone

Keil

Glass shops usually have a pile of broken glass from windows they've replaced. They'll usually give it to you or sell it cheap. You can pay them to cut it for you, which is very handy for large pieces of thick glass, especially if you're a wimp about glass cutting like I am. They usually charge $2-3 per cut, IME.