DIY All Glass Tank, ADA style rimless, frameless, and finished!!! - 56K Warning

[scolley]

Gee. That's a great side benefit! I just wanted black to match my Eco-complete.

I'll get some water based acrylic. Thanks.

[bharada]

Steve, what are you planning on doing for a stand? Hiding a layer of foam will be easy if you add a band of molding around the stand top. Make the molding the same height as the thickness of the foam and you wouldn'd be hiding much of the tank at all (in case you like seeing the full depth of the substrate through the front glass).

[scolley]

If you look way back in the thread you can see pics of the stand. It's a Sedona, and has a nice little 2" lip around the top that will hide the 1/2" oak board, the 1/2" to 1" of Styrofoam, and the bottom pane of the aquarium. So no worries. Thanks.

[bharada]

I knew it was probably mentioned somewhere in the thread...but I was just too lazy to go look for it.

[Badcopnofishtank]

The tank I am replacing the glass on has a large brace on it (2 feet right in the middle of the tank).

I was thinking of replacing that brace with some smaller ones that won't be such a challenge to get the light through. Maybe two ten inch braces at 32 and 56 inches? I'll post pics as I go.

[scolley]

Originally Posted by Badcopnofishtank

The tank I am replacing the glass on has a large brace on it (2 feet right in the middle of the tank).

I was thinking of replacing that brace with some smaller ones that won't be such a challenge to get the light through. Maybe two ten inch braces at 32 and 56 inches? I'll post pics as I go.

You could replace the brace with glass. In fact, if you get a low iron glass you might be amazed how much light passes through it.

As for the 2 vs. 1 brace question, it's gotta be stronger that way. But where you put the bracing will obviously impact your lighting options, if you are considering lights that rest on the tank.

PS - PJANs tip on pulling up the masking very soon, before it start drying, was absolutely the way to go! I'm sorry I wasn't clear about that before I started on the bottom reinforcement.

[PJAN]

Originally Posted by scolley

You could replace the brace with glass. In fact, if you get a low iron glass you might be amazed how much light passes through it.

PS - PJANs tip on pulling up the masking very soon, before it start drying, was absolutely the way to go! I'm sorry I wasn't clear about that before I started on the bottom reinforcement.

Low iron glass versus normal glass :

difference is approx 300 lux. I measured this with a luxmeter in empty tanks ( my old tank has low iron glass ). I was supprised it was not very much.
Still I got the "feeling" that the low iron glass had a more "clear" overal look and I am still considering to built a new tank with low iron glass....mmmmm

Ah, pfff. One good tip at last. Now wait patiently till saturday!

Gr. PJAN

[scolley]

Well, I'm afraid I've been unable to get the Styrofoam this week. Maybe in a day or three. I'm definately not filling the tank again without it. So, bit of a delay. Instead I'll lay out my deflection measurement follies from the first tank filling last weekend.

The first pic shows the setup I used to measure the deflection. It's just a rigid metal square, duct taped to one side of the tank, with a very precise ruler taped on top of it. And on the opposite side of the tape is a red plastic toothpick, right up against the edge of the ruler. The ruler was taped down so that the "0" lined up on the edge of the red toothpick.



This is a pic of the initial position of the toothpick with no water in the tank. The angle of the pic makes it look like the "0" line was close to the center of the toothpick. Trust me, it was actually very, very close to the right side of the toothpick when viewed in line with the tank edge.

You can also see in this pic a major goof up on my part. I put the ruler down backward! When the tank expands, that edge being measured will move away from the "0", but it will move in the opposite direction of where the millimeter numbers are. Dooh!



In this pic the tank is approximately 1/2 full. Not much movement.



In this pic it's full, and boy, we got some deflection now! But how much??? My dumb error on the ruler placement made it guess work until later.



Here I just opened the last pic up in Powerpoint, copied part of the ruler image, reversed it, and overlayed it on the pic, lining up the "0" point.



Considering that the red toothpick was initially lined up so that the "0" was very close to the right edge, I'd say this is just less than 3"mm deflection, or just less than 1.5 mm deflection per side. That's quite a bit more than the glass thickness calculator predicted. But it is still barely in the "safe" range. I think I better put the tank somewhere where it is not likely to be accidental smacked by one of my rambunctious boys!

[PJAN]

Well, it's almost the same as my tank with 1.5 mm deflection per side.
I think it's perfectly safe.

My old big tank ( 140 x 80 width x 60 height in cm) had also deflection on the 80 cm-side and about 1 mm. The front & back glass had rims but not the sides.

Gr. PJAN

[scolley]

Well, I filled it back up today. No leaks. Yet.

This was six days for the new, mother-of-all-silicone-seams to cure. Looking at the seam through the water, I think I can see that six days was not enough time for such a large seam to cure. Some of it is quite clear, other bits, particularly where it is thickest, is cloudy. I assume that is a curing issue, and will now continue to cure now underwater.

Contrary to what I previously posted here, and said in PM's to people, I ultimately chose not to provide any more padding, any more rigidity than it had last week. I could very well live to regret this decision. But it struck me that re-testing in the same conditions was a good stress test. I'll improve the padding when I haul it inside. That way it will be in the house with an even higher level of confidence.

Assuming of course it doesn't spring another spontaneous leak anytime soon.

[joan]

Good luck, Steve! As always, keep us posted.

[scolley]

Well Joan, it didn't take long! Maybe 3 hours. Take a look.



It's that darned back panel again. I believe I mentioned a few posts ago that putting on the back panel last uncovered a problem with alignment. And as such the masking didn't line up right, and the two back inside seams had very little lip, or edge to them. In some places none.

My conclusion is just that the back was indeed a problem. And while it does adhere enough to hold on structurally, the seams and the seals were problematic enough to not hold water.

At least I can say that the mother-of-all-silicone-seams along the bottom held.

So, I'm going to abandon the idea that the tank will have barely visible seams from any angle, and accept that this tank has a "back". So I'm going to let this dry out, and lay down some major seams on the inside of the two back vertical seams where the back connects with the sides. I'm going to leave the nice thin, well masked seams on the front alone for now.

So, set back at least another week. Well I suppose that give me time to test all my eco-complete while I'm waiting.

[Buck]

I think it's the dang ducks doin it bro...when you aint lookin they are peckin' at the seals

Sorry man, I just dont know what else to say... LOL... but my fingers are crossed for a successful repair job... dont let it beat ya !

[joan]

Originally Posted by scolley

Okay, nobody let my husband see this picture!!! He keeps looking nervously at the 54G plexi I'm currently leak testing out on the deck and then asks me yet again how many gallons it is. I'm having trouble convincing him that, yes, I've looked into it and that bowing on the plexi tanks is normal. (FWIW, the bowing doesn't thrill me either but, hey, it was free. At least I've confirmed my instinct that it's nothing but glass tanks for me.)

Sorry the back didn't hold, Steve. Big seams on the back isn't such a big deal, although I can certainly appreciate the desire to have minimal seams from all angles. Well, here's hoping third time's a charm for you!

[scolley]

Thanks folks. Steve will not be beat. Not by a little glass and silicone anyway!

Just another little slip in the time schedule. I am kind of bummed on that, as I really had hoped to have something in time for the AGA contest this year. At this point, the chances having something of substance by Sept 15th seems slim. But that takes the pressure off. Maybe an nice mature tank for AGA 2006!

I've been kinda thinking about printing two pics of the tank leaks, the one side leak and a good one of the bottom leaking. Then taking the pics, having them framed, and hang them somewhere in the house. We have a good bit of art on our walls, so this would kind of stand out in contrast. So when people visit, and inquire about them, I would get a real kick out of casually saying, "Oh. That's just a couple of shots of the aquarium in the family room I when I was leak testing it."

It would be worth it just to see the looks on their faces!


Good luck with the plexiglass Joan!