My 75 gallon derimming project.

[nalu86]

I started removing the rim on a 75 gallon today.
I got the top rim off and tomorrow I will start to remove the bottom rim.
I will cut 3 small pieces of glass and place them in the middle and sides so the glass won't bend.

It took me 30 min to to take the top rim off and clean the silicone.
Hope the bottom goes that fast and well too.

Here are some pics:

[Gatekeeper]

Wow. Did you do some homework on this before you did it? Never heard of anyone derimming a tank this size before.

Good luck, I hope its a successful project.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

[OverStocked]

I've never seen a tank over 40 gallons derimed... I wouldn't dare derim my 75.

Best of luck!

[Jason Baliban]

Might want to add one of these to your list as well...





jB

[rickztahone]

Wow, very daring. Do not de-rim the bottom though. Make a stand that will overlap the bottom and not be seen.

[Hoppy]

I would leave the bottom rim on. The tank now sits on that rim, but if you remove it, you may not have an even surface for the tank to sit on, depending on how the tank is made. I don't see much visual improvement when the bottom rim comes off.

[Cuchulainn]

Good luck Nalu86 With my 75g with a rim, it still bows out 7mm when full. The bracing you mention will help significantly, hopefully enough. Hope to see some pics!

[nalu86]

I will derim it for the heck of it.
I just want to see if it works, if it don't, I wasted $50 and I flood the garage.
I can still put some more glass braces in it on the bottom under the gravel.
I just want to try this, if it works for me, it works for everybody!
what do you guys think about the braces under gravel?

I think his whole project should work without braces. I had a 400 liter in Belgium without any braces and the glass was only 3 mm thicker... So I think this should work.

thanks for the replys

If it don't work, I have a break nearby to bend metal, so I can save the tank but I believe this should work if my math is correct!

[tcampbell]

The biggest issue if the height of it as well as the quality of silcon and workmanship when making a rimmless tank. Standard factory tanks are built cheaply assuming that the rim will hold it together, but rimless are not. what were the dimensions of the 400l tank you had? The height was the same? 3mm difference in glass thickness is a lot.
A 120X60X45cm tank can be built in 8mm glass (not extremely safe but it has been done)
A 120X60X55 build in with the same glass will fail!
A 120X60X50cm tank can be built in 10mm glass
A 120X60X55cm tank with the same glass will fail!
A 120X60X60cm tank can be built in 12mm glass
A 120X60X65cm tank with the same glass willl fail!

Height not lenght is a big factor!

Most manufactors state the braces on the bottom help in holding the bottom seam together but it does nothing to prevent the top side seams from coming apart with the accidental pressure of cleaning algae too hard, or poor silcon and/or workmanship. Your better of to atleast put small 45 degree triangle corner brace on the top of the of the tank (like eurobraces, but only in the corners, to protect the seams, though will do nothing for center bowing).

[Hoppy]

Originally Posted by tcampbell

The biggest issue if the height of it as well as the quality of silcon and workmanship when making a rimmless tank. Standard factory tanks are built cheaply assuming that the rim will hold it together, but rimless are not. what were the dimensions of the 400l tank you had? The height was the same? 3mm difference in glass thickness is a lot.
A 120X60X45cm tank can be built in 8mm glass (not extremely safe but it has been done)
A 120X60X55 build in with the same glass will fail!
A 120X60X50cm tank can be built in 10mm glass
A 120X60X55cm tank with the same glass will fail!
A 120X60X60cm tank can be built in 12mm glass
A 120X60X65cm tank with the same glass willl fail!

Height not lenght is a big factor!

Most manufactors state the braces on the bottom help in holding the bottom seam together but it does nothing to prevent the top side seams from coming apart with the accidental pressure of cleaning algae too hard, or poor silcon and/or workmanship. Your better of to atleast put small 45 degree triangle corner brace on the top of the of the tank (like eurobraces, but only in the corners, to protect the seams, though will do nothing for center bowing).

I think theoretically a narrow strip running the length of the tank, siliconed inside the top at the front and back, siliconed to the front and back as well as on the ends, will be far stronger. That would eliminate the bowing problem too. This would be a modified Eurobrace. Siliconing the ends of such strips would be very difficult, so you could use glass triangles that extend close to the center of the front and back, but only 2-3 inches along the ends, would work well too. To avoid the sharp end of the triangle the ends could be lopped off, probably a good idea for any triangular brace.

[jsuereth]

Also a note that length does matter for bowing. If you make a side too long without enough bracing, you're just as screwed as if you use the wrong thickness glass for the height.

The corollary is that you can theoretically brace every 3 inches and have an ugly looking tank with the thinnest possible glass.

Bottom line, make sure you test the tank for a while with water and check bowing to see how much stress you're putting on the glass.

[ridewake210]

Eeeek

[redfishsc]

There are a bunch of people in this thread that didn't bother to read the text. He says specifically that he's cutting 3 pieces of glass to use for bracing to keep it from bowing.

[Joe.1]

So what happened????

[nalu86]

Yesterday I had a hangover and today I cleaned the yard.
I will return to the project one of the next days.
If the project fails, I will post it for sure with pics.