225 Tank build Pickupman66

[Pickupman66]

THis is a redo of the origional thread. makes better sense here than it did in my local forum. The tank was gifted to me due to its condition. it is a glass tank measuring 72x24x30 Inches. one panel was completely cracked and in need or replacement. the tank was in pretty sad shape and needs alot of TLC. Below are shots of it just after loading it into my garage.

I already cleaned out the mud and sand and bit of water in this shot.

Left End pane

to give an idea of how dirty it was.

 

[Pickupman66]

Sunday JUne 27th.
Today I removed the broken pane to make it safe for the boys in the garage. on the other side of this pane was a very thin glass wall that was used as the overflow. it was completely shattered. in addition, there were peiced of glass laminated between it and the bad pane. overall a nasty mess. Here you can see the aftermath of removing and then me cleaning the glass a bit.

There was a large chip in the front pane that was siliconed in. from the way it was done, this was factory. with 1/2 glass, I dont think this will be an issue.

 

[Pickupman66]

All clean.

Here is the cleaned product. still needs some finish work, but looking good.

I cannot get this of the tank. this is where the tank was siliconed with other panes of glass. the silicone is gone, this is some sort of hard water etching. any advice on getting this off?

You can see the fish now!

 

[Pickupman66]

So I got to thinking (with the help of several locals) that I would remove all the silicone from the inside of the tank. basically everything except that which is between each pane of glass. It was VERY easy to remove and the edges where the upright panes meet were really pushed back and small. just waiting for an accident.

 

[Pickupman66]

OK, now that ive gotten this thread up to date, we can begin from here. Here is what I am planning. I wil be putting in a glass holes overflow rated for 3000gph. I wont use that much sump flow, but will be somewhere close to 2000 hopefully. this overflow requires drilling 2 3" holes in the back of the tank to accommodate twin 2" drains. the return pump has not been purchased not has it been chosen. it will be plumbed back into the tank via 2 more 2" bulkheads on the back wall. all holes are drilled on the back wall.

I will be replacing the top frame as well due to one cross brace missing and the other uselessly broken. and in accordance to the above post, I will re-silicone the entire tank. I am considering useing black silicone. anyone have thoughts on that?

I was also gifted the stand and hood to go with the tank as well as a 72x24" pane of glass to be cut down to replace the broken piece. I also got a 36"x8' pane of starfire glass to be used as a new front panel if I so wish.

Here is the game plan on the overall build.
1. the tank will be in our dining room on a 10' wall centered. it will be plumbed into the sub floor and then about 20 foot runs into the garage where the sump will be. all equipment will be in the garage including return pumps. In the past I have done a closed loop and not used power heads. while this look was clean, I didnt have a whole lot of flexibility and I dont have the funds for two large pumps. so we are going to go with Koralis, Tunze or some other type of power head. I would lvoe some MP40's but they are way out of my league. I think 4 of them will be good and ill use penducters on the returns to increase flow. I am also cinsidering the back wall being rock as some others have. this will be a decision made later on as im not sure how I want to do all my plumbing yet.

More to come soon. the glass goes to the shop tomorrow.

 

[Pickupman66]

Well, the Local glass Company in South Pittsburg, TN did an AWESOME JOB! talk about a perfect piece of glass. Glass Man said it was going to be very hard to cut 1" off the piece I brought him, but he did it. Said he had to Grind the tar out of it when he was done, but it looks great. I cannot wait for the silicone to arrive tomorrow so I can get it put in! I still have the rest of that pane so if I screw it up, I can get it done again.

 

[Pickupman66]

OUCH!!! Bad News.Original source on the frame will not ship it to me. Good news. The best LFS in TN is going to get one. and in 3 weeks, I will have it. In the meantime, I will just have to twiddle my thumbs and get the new pane in. I have plenty of clamps, so I will get to water test it too while I wait for the rim.

AQUATIC CRITTER in Nashville, TN... YOU ROCK!!!!!

 

[chimmike]

IMO the eurobracing is far stronger than the plastic.
Especially if the tank is built of 1/2" glass like you say, the 1/2" eurobracing will be good.

 

[Pickupman66]

OK, got the glass test fitted today. there is a gap on each side that I can slide a box cutter blade thru. it is a bit wider at the top, but I can take my hand and very easily bend the front pane and the gap is gone on both sides. it is like that for at least 3/4 way down. do you think that a gap the size of 1 blade thick is too wide? I hope not as I really dont want to have to get another pane cut. am I screwed?

 

[ArmanS]

I am getting a 225 soon and the exact same measurements so I will be watching your build and taking notes in the meantime

 

[outy]

Good luck with your build bud!!!!!

I just started a 215 thread myself, my tank is just 1" shorter then yours.

kid in the tank pic coming lol

Have fun pichupman66

 

[Pickupman66]

June 29th

June 29th

OK. so we are getting a new pane cut now. this time at 23 1/16 wide. I screwed up and measured 1/16" wrong. Crud. guess the wife has a new glass pane to put her Uppercase Living expressions on!

Anyways, Tonight I rolled the tank out of the garage and cleaned more of the silicone off. I also removed the top frame as it is broken and the replacement is on its way. Looks pretty cool rimless. I need to clean the glass more and will do so, but this is how it looked as of the end of hte evening. To remove the rim, I took a 12" flat head screwdriver (longest I had) and tapped it up under the lip on the outside of each pane. I did this very gently so as not to harm the glass. as it got close to the top, you could hear the silicone separating. once it was done I moved about 6" along and repeated until I had all the side silicone unseated. then I took the screwdriver and tapped it along the edge of the glass taking careful aim not to touch the glass to to sever the silicone and the plastic. this way I didnt rick chipping or cracking the glass. this tank is 6 years old. I cannot even find the brand on it. just a "C.L. 2003" sticker that was under the lip of the top frame.

My brother (mechanical engineer) is going to draw up the plumbing for the tank. Since it is in dining room and the sump is in the garage, we will have about 10 ft of rise and 20ft of run with a 90 degree turn in the middle, I have a bit of a water challenge. moving 2000+gph up that far requires something like a dart pump. they are quite expensive ($450+) In comes the Engineer. instead of 1 unit, we will install 2 or 3 Genx PCX-40 pumps (already have one off the old tank) in parallel giving me about 3000gph at 10ft (with three units). He will design the manifolds for me and the entire plumbing system to minimize the flow loss due to the head pressure and friction. This is AWESOME way to do it as I will now have redundancy on the pumps and can pull one at a time for maintenance and still have water flowing thru the system. I can also put them on timers and allow them to cut back in the evenings giving a gentler flow at night.

Anyways, Here are photos from last night.

 

[NeveSSL]

Wow! That tank cleaned up pretty nicely.

Does the new pane fit better?

Brandon

 

[chimmike]

the reeflos aren't that expensive, are they? That price ($450) seems kinda high. 10' of head isn't all that much for some of those!

 

[Pickupman66]

Brandon, yes, the new pane fit perfectly. actually a little tight till I got the silicone to lube it in there.

 

[Pickupman66]

Update for Wednesday June 30th.

Got the silicone today. Had the glass man add 1/8 to each length of the cut and then grind it down 1/16th to reach the perfect size. VICTORY!!! a tight fit all over. that said there was a 1/64th gap in one spot that went away with slight clamping. everywhere else was a perfect fit. Since the silicone came in, and the tank is cleaned, I just HAD to put it in. I was planning on this saturday while smoking some food for the neighborhood BBQ, but like I said, I got new toys and had to play with them! This is a Self project with a little input from the wife. she helped me line up the tape, and basically supervised. except when it came time to silicone. Overall it went in well. I got a good contact high off it even with the barrel fan running on high. I started off working from the inside out. I did it this way to make it easy to reach the seams to form them. worked out very good. after I was all the way done there, I layed out a good beat at the bottom and a thin bead on each edge of the existing panes for the new one. when I put it in, it was too tight for my tape job and I ended up getting it caught in the tape and had to pull it out and made a good mess of it. I rebeaded it and then folded it up. once up. I clamped the top. Finally the wife showed up and helped me line it up on the outside. once done I layed down an extra heavy bead at the bottom and both sides. smoothed them out as best I could without the tape as a guide and ran with it. once done, I pulled all the tape to reveal perfect seams in most areas. the bottom is very heavy on silicone but who cares, it is under the sand.

 

[Pickupman66]

all the excess silicone will be cleaned up in a few days once it is cured. none of it is anything a good sharp blade cannot cure. I feel very confident in the job I did. hopefully it all holds water. We shall see in a few days. I plan on putting some water in it on saturday. we will fill it a little at a time.

Now for the Toys! today I ordered:
1. used Reeflo dart pump. capable of up to 3000 gph.
2. used PFO dual 250 watt vho ballast with 2 sockets, cords and bulbs. it also came with a 36" reflector that I will cut in half so I can spread them out. now I need just one more set to complete the lights. I plan to use my vho's from the previous tank as the actinic lights. the bulbs I am getting are 14,000k.

More update later...

 

[Pickupman66]

ok. so it seems to be curing nicely. I have it sitting in the garage with the fan on to discipate the fumes. thats all I got for tonight! yall have a good one.

 

[Pickupman66]

Its alive!!!!! Its holding water!!!!

Its alive!!!!! Its holding water!!!!

WOO HOO!!! all that hard work may be paying off!. It is 1/2 full of water and no evidence of leaks! I have two papertowels under the tank right at the stand to find any evidence of leaks, but as of now, it is holding with NO clamps on the glass. Only two across the top of the tank to keep the glass from bowing. Im not sure if I will fill it up completely untill I get the rim. so without further a do here she is.

as you can see, I cleaned up the edges really close. im am Extremely happy with the looks of the black silicone. I will never go back to clear after this! Completely AWESOME!

So, for the Naysayers, You can completely replace a panel in a tank this large! Just take your time, make sure it is 100% free of silicone and get a perfectly cut piece of glass. She will sit this way for a week.

 

[andywe]

Awesome job Leslie!! Are you going to put the top cap back on? Usually those are structurally needed on factorybtanks....if not, are you going to add a euro brace or glass cross bar ace instead?