Strip old tank glass, rebuild in a new size?

Hi, I'm looking to buy a 5ft tank, but it's 8mm glass and 700mm high. I'd be happy with a 5ft that's 500mm high. Now I know there's the option of only keeping the water level at 500mm, but that's not great for a display tank.

So, opinions - do you think it's worth it to buy the tank, strip all the panes of glass out, cut them 'shorter', and then silicon them all up again to build a 5ft of 500mm high?

A secondary question that I've never had answered - aquarium glass thickness calculators - is that assuming bracing or no bracing?

 

Is there any particular reason for wanting only 500mm? The extra height means extra volume, which is always welcome in my books.

If you want to "cover up" the excess gap to the top of the tank, you could DIY a hood that has panels going down that far. I think that'd be simpler and less risky than stripping, cutting and siliconing a tank.

 

I want to use the existing 8mm glass at a safety factor of 2.5 - the aqua tools calculator gives this for a 5ft tank as 500mm water height. That's my only reason. But again, if this calculation doesn't allow for bracing, then maybe the 700mm height is fine with the bracing.

But yes, modifying the hood may be possible, I haven't seen the tank in person yet.