1/4" thick enough?

[WoodRiverTroutBum]

I am going to be building a sump for my tank and the plan is 16x16x16. Half will be a refugium, and then I will have a little more that 25% for the skimmer and a little less for the return. There will be 3 baffles between skimmer and return plus the center divider for the fuge so I am sure that will add a decent amount of support. I may end up going 17x17x16 just to get a tiny bit more room. Do you guys think 1/4 will be enough with no bracing? I suppose i I build it with a tight fit in the stand I could just shim all the corners to help support it. Here are a couple pics to show my plans. I may get a price on acrylic but I am thinking glass will be cheaper and I have never worked with acrylic.

 

[MrX]

http://www.theaquatools.com/building-your-aquarium
This calculator for a tank 16x16x16 (CMs = 40.64x40.64x40.64) gives it a safety factor of 6 or so when using 6mm glass.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/pl...bles--Diagrams/Glass-Thickness-Calculator.htm
This says for a tank 2' long by 18" you can use 6mm glass (6 millimeters = 0.236220472 inches) with a safety factor of 2.91. If you go up to 9mm glass the safety factor is 6.56.

Assuming you put it together right and don't bang things into it you're probably ok.

Make sure to use aquarium safe silicone and not something with mold/mildew chemicals in it.

I used GE Silicone when I was starting work on my 40B as a sump. I had siliconed in the bubble tower pieces and was worried they wouldn't hold. Turns out I changed plans and wasn't going to use it as a sump. Those pieces were in there let me tell you!!! Took me two hours to get them out!

 

[WoodRiverTroutBum]

Thanks X! Hoping to get this built next week. Dying to run my new BM skimmer!

 

[gunnyreefer]

I built my sump out of 1/4 glass and it works great. Whole project for under $100

 

[WoodRiverTroutBum]

Awesome Gunny, I think that is about what this will cost. I was quoted about $70 for the glass just for the 16x16 cube so in total will probably be around $100. Not too bad I don't think considering I don't have many options for such a small space and I would like as much volume as possible along with a fuge.