Theorycrafting a glass ledge inside of aquarium, help please

[DefectiveDonor]

So I have a 55 gallon tank for a reeves turtle with the waterline being only 6” deep. It kills me that I have 14” of wasted open air so I’m toying with the idea of putting in a second tiered shelf so she has more room to swim.
Im trying to figure out a good way to help brace the glass and evenly support the weight of the water.
Here’s a quick mock-up in pvc board, which is shorter than the actual swimming shelf will be(about 15” long, 12” wide, 6” deep).
The left hand vertical plan has changed to a 5” wide normal retaining wall with a ramp going up for the turtle to walk up. On either side of that will be a 2 inch wide, half inch shorter cut out for a waterfall effect so the water does not stagnate, and past those will be normal retaining walls. I’m planning on placing a compact water pump below to lift water up and continuously fill the area.

I’ve been looking everywhere the past week and have not come across anyone trying anything like this before, not even any posts about failures trying to do this.
Im doing this in glass rather than acrylic as I cannot figure out a safe way to either adhere the acrylic to the glass or prevent a place in acrylic box from being able to tip over.
Acrylic box mock up for proof of concept waterfalls.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SPR1968]

I can’t help with the question, but I can bump the thread to see if we can get you some assistance

 

[vtecintegra]

I can’t help with the question, but I can bump the thread to see if we can get you some assistance

Getting ridiculous. Fourth thread in the last two minutes I've clicked on where you posted the same thing.

 

[SPR1968]

Getting ridiculous. Fourth thread in the last two minutes I've clicked on where you posted the same thing.

Its with a view to helping get an answer. It’s generally appreciated by most original posters.

And clearly is works.

 

[Bruttall]

SPR1968 Def working Shaun, this is probably the 4th reply I made to a thread you bumped.

DefectiveDonor I think I can help. special bracing of the shelves is not required. I'll explain. You will use Silicone to "weld" the glass pieces together making sure you leave at least a 1/16th gap on EACH SIDE of the glass, the silicone has to go completely between the two pieces. If you look closely at the seam on your tank you will see what I mean. Just empty the tank, dry it off completely. Silicone your new glass into place. I use masking tape to help hold the glass in place sometimes, or blocks of wood for a shelf to hold it in place. Let the silicone cure for 24 hours. Here are a few pictures of a custom overflow I built. Sadly I did not use heavy enough glass on the bottom of the outside box and when I tightened up the couplers I broke it, twice... so I remade the outside out of plastic. You can pick that end of the tank up by grabbing the inside box, with no water in it ofc. You can buy Food Grade silicone at Home Depot and Menards. Make sure it does not have mold inhibitors. those chemicals kill aquatic life.

 

[DefectiveDonor]

I finished the shelf, but changed my plan at the last minute to let the turtles growth not affect the shelf being too low.
Unfortunately, I put the shelf far too high, and there is no room for the turtle to walk up it.