It's easy enough when you know how. Toughened is knock resistant, but has to be cut by a speciallist. Toughened also cannot be drilled as it shatters. Plate is what Big C recommends, and being a glass cutter whom builds all his own tanks, should know what he is talking about. If you might want to use it for marine later, plate will be a must, as you will likely want a sump, which usualy needs drilling if you want it neet
6mm would be fine, but I'd go 8mm for your first, as there is a larger gluing area, thus more strength while you are practicing your gluing technique
To get a neat finish, apply masking tape to limit where the silicone can go
You want about 4mm on the inside seams realy, but more would be better.
Building your own if you aren't in the glass cutting trade has purely project value, unless it is an unusal size. Four of my "builds" have acctually be re-builds, when old structural silicone started to give way, and I just stripped the tank down to individual panes. Only my new marine tank will be a full new build. Got a shock when I got a quote for the glass though... Like double that of getting one built by a pro, but then the company my LFS deals with does 15ft on-site tank builds mostly, so my little 2fter would be nothing. Took 6 weeks for my 4 foot to arrive from them, so I dred to think how long the 2 ft would take, hence why I am building it myself
Those 90 degree clamps are invaluable BTW
If this is your first build, I'd take up Big C's offer of a cutting list. TBH though, being a fairly standord tank, you'd be best buying it pre-built off the shelf from a financial outlook.
HTH
Rabbut
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