# Sliding glass door thickness



## JoshH (Feb 13, 2008)

Hey,
I'm in the process of building a 29 gallon with sliding glass doors. What thickness should the doors be? The rest of the tank is made with 1/4" glass, but that seemed like overkill for the front sliders. Whats the thinnest people have used, around 1/8th?

Also, any ideas on different front opening designs than the usual sliding glass doors? The tanks dimentions are 30x18x12 or so, a normal 29 gallon. It would be cool to have a solid one piece front pane, but the tanks length would make that awkward. I wish there was a way of eliminating the seam that a sliding setup creates.

Thanks!


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## Taron (Sep 23, 2009)

This would be an idea you could use

lllllll llllllll
lllllll llllllll
lllllll + llllllll<---THE CENTER WOULD FOLD DOWNWARD AND BE HINGED
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll FROM WHERE THE PLUS SIGN IS.
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

I do this so I can create a waterfall and it allows for a false bottom and water retention. 

The dark area would be stationary glass that is siliconed into place and the clear part or blank part is where I would put my door that hinges outward and down. It is very easy to do and creates a much wider view of the tank. My friend does his similar to exo terra and makes two hinges from the sides and a bottom area. Below is the best diagram I have.

+ AND RIGHT AT THIS POINT HE PUTS A LOCK TO HOLD BOTH 
lllllllllllllllllllllIIIIIIIIIIIII PANELS OF GLASS IN PLACE OR
<---lllllllllllllllllllllIIIIIIIIIIIII ----> TO KEEP THEM FROM OPENING
lllllllllllllllllllllIIIIIIIIIIIII
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll <---STATIONARY BOTTOM THAT IS SILICONED
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

I know this diagram is ridiculus but its better then nothing right! PM if you have a question on one of the designs and I will try to snap some pictures in some spare time. Which is seldom if never.


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## Mworks (Mar 23, 2008)

Hi Josh,

I have a 34 high vert with a single glass sliding door in 4mm glass - works a treat. It's easy opening the door and for most of the time I only need to open it half way to do whatever.

Like you say it's so much more natural without the 'crossover line'!










Regards
Marcus


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## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

Marcus, can you show a pic that shows how the door works or looks?


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## Mworks (Mar 23, 2008)

Hi Chris

here's a shot from my construction diary of the door sliding open. The door just slides into two (top and bottom) normal 4mm slider profiles which I cut down to single u channels instead of the normal E profile.

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/at...-vivariums/4086d1241887531-my-new-vert-10.jpg

Regards
Marcus


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## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

Cool, and there's one on the left side of the sliding door and the door slides into another one on the right side? They're the same size channels?


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## Mworks (Mar 23, 2008)

No. the left hand side of the door has L profile siliconed on to it and yes the right hand side slides into another u channel. This makes the Viv FF escape proof!

Regards
Marcus


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## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

Nice, I got some 65 gallon tanks that I wanna cut the fronts off of and make some kind of door, either sliding like yours or two sliding doors, still can't figure out a good way to cut the fronts off though


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## Landon (Oct 13, 2009)

Hey Josh, I would think 1/8" would be perfect for sliding doors. It should be druable enough to handle some small impacts, but still light enough to not be any sort of hassle.

As far as making the front pane solid, have you considered having the tank open form the sides? I built a large display vivarium for a LPS, and wanted to have easy acces and a full un-hindered view from the front. We put doors on each end, and it worked out very nice. A sliding door like Marcus posted would be perfect IMO, on each end.


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## JoshH (Feb 13, 2008)

Thanks for all the ideas! Actually, I was originally planning on doing it the way Marcus did, but I got worried about such a long piece of glass hanging out of the track like that. I think I'll get a 1/8" or slightly bigger pane and just have one big front slider. Marcus that tank looks awesome!

ChrisK ~ The 29g I'm working on was a regular aquarium. I took the trim/frame off the bottom and top and removed the front piece of glass. I found it impossible to fit even a razor blade between the font and side glass, but I found a better way. I had some very thin aluminum flashing and cut a strip about a foot long and 3/4" wide. Then I put on some gloves, slid the middle part of the strip between the glass at the top of the tank, and held on to both sides. I was able to pull and slide the aluminum straight down and cut the silicone in less than a minute. It was in a similar manner that you floss your teeth. Much better that using razor blades.


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## Landon (Oct 13, 2009)

A good fishing line goes a long way in removing silicone/seperating pieces of glass.


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## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

Yeah some people said the smallest gauge guitar string works best, good thing I'm a guitar player  What I'm worried about though is taking the trim off the top and bottom since they're 65 gallon tanks, 1/4" glass and I'm thinking the trim on top and bottom might actually hold it together so I was thinking about cutting a section out of the front and leaving like 2" across the top and 4" across the bottom which basically would be the most difficult way but I can't think of anything else - I wanted to use 1/8" glass also for the door(s)


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