# How strong is the glass



## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

I have a 125G tank - the standard 6' length AllGlass brand. Last Fall I built an oak stand. This Fall I want to build an oak top. Here is my dilema. Do I need to support the lid from the stand or is the glass stong enough to hold the oak top. I have seen tops in the pet stores that rest on the glass, but they are typically thin and very light. Mine will be much heavier. I am in the design stages now. How much weight can I expect the glass to hold?


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

Good question. I have seen some heavy hardwood (oak and cherry) canopies on large tanks with thick glass, in the pet shops. However I think it is not just how much weight, but how balanced and even the weight is. The lid should be cantilevered so that the weight of the canopy doesn't shift much when lifted or lowered.

An extreme case of just how strong glass can be when force is applied exactly in line was when we were waiting at a red light with a 240 gallon tank sticking out of the back of our car. A group of teenage boys in an old car with a huge V8 engine, huge sofa type seats and tank-like construction plowed into us, hitting just the tank and shoving it into the front seats which then knocked our car a foot or two forward. Not a mark on our car, or on the tank. However there was a two foot by two foot square mashed into the teens' front grill and into the radiator, jamming it all up against the fan. We drove away. They had to be towed. The least bit of angle to the collision would have been a very different story.

I have also been in fish rooms where the aquarists had bridged smaller tanks on top of other ones and filled them, so that the bottom tank was acting as a "tank stand". Three ten gallon tanks balanced on top of a 55 had to have weighed over 200 pounds. Even though I have seen even more tanks than 3 tens stacked on top of bigger tanks, making it much more than the 200 pounds of tank held by the glass of a 55, I would try to keep the weight of a canopy way under 200 pounds total weight if it were mine.


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

opcorn:


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

I swear I only hit it once!


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## Awugod (Mar 10, 2006)

I built my canopies out of pine. I'm still not completely done with them, but the way I designed them is so that the sides of the canopy sit directly on top of the tank trim itself. I then attached a 2.5" piece of wood trim around the sides of the canopy itself. Reason is so that if bumped into the canopy will not slide and fall off the tank, it also looks nice too. I hope to get most of the work done on them today, if I can I will post some pics.


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## kerbchek (Apr 1, 2008)

Mcdaphnia said:


> An extreme case of just how strong glass can be when force is applied exactly in line was when we were waiting at a red light with a 240 gallon tank sticking out of the back of our car. A group of teenage boys in an old car with a huge V8 engine, huge sofa type seats and tank-like construction plowed into us, hitting just the tank and shoving it into the front seats which then knocked our car a foot or two forward. Not a mark on our car, or on the tank. However there was a two foot by two foot square mashed into the teens' front grill and into the radiator, jamming it all up against the fan. We drove away. They had to be towed. The least bit of angle to the collision would have been a very different story.


  That story rocks...


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## shutterbug (Nov 10, 2008)

Here is an idea no one posted.............How about building your canopy out of pine and then covering it with oak veneer?............Oak veneer can be purchased at Lowes or Home Depot and will save alot of weight being placed on top of your tank............If you go the veneer route, make sure you use a quality adhesive..........just a thought


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

I could be wrong, but I don't think that oak is THAT much heavier than pine. If you want oak, use oak. Cost, however, is another issue altogether.

The OP's weight issue is probably related to the design of the canopy, rather than the wood type.


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## becikeja (Oct 14, 2007)

I have decided to build the canopy out of oak, and install sides that go down to the base to support the lid. I have cut port-holes into each side. I am fortunate enough to have a workshop in the basement, so the speed of my project is slow. I started in August and was hoping to finish by thanksgiving, but that didn't happen. Now I am looking at Christmas. I will try to post a pic when I finish.


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