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

[PJAN]

Originally Posted by Buck

Never mind the glass...Im still floored by the plumbing !

Me too !

Still wondering what will happen when Scolley is on holiday and asking if the neighbour could clean the dirty filter.... I think he's in shock for several days ( and calling a professional plumber perhaps)

Gr.PJAN

[cprroy73]

Very interesting project scolley. I can't wait to see the finished product.
Will you build me one next? . Seriously good luck with it.

[scolley]

Thanks folks. I'm not building anything next. For anyone. The wife's about had it with this one! That's why I'm going all out now. I could see this would be my last shot for quite a while.

Buck, I've not been completely forthcoming about everything in them thar plummin'. There's still a real interesting twist or two yet to be fully revealed around those pipes. I definately haven't discussed all of my plans.

Goodness knows if any of it will actually work though. But I'll be sure an share pics and lessons learned either way.

[Betowess]

Wow Steve, I hadn't been following this thread except when you first started it. You could write a book on this baby. It will be a wonderful sight to see, I'm sure.

[scolley]

Ready to go now... everything ready. The pic below is just a test, no silicone applied a "dry run" (yuk yuk yuk) as it were.

I used an iron patio table to use as a base because the clamps need to hang down a good bit below the bottom piece. This little round table allowed both sturdy support, and would not get in the way of the clamps. I draped a towel over it just so the iron table wouldn't scratch the glass.

You can see the short, silver cabinet builder's corner clamps in each corner, and two orange 25" J clamps to hold the side snug down on the bottom, squeezing out excess silicone.

Also you can just see the fact that I had to use wooden shims under the table legs to get it level. I verified the level with at carpenters bubble level.


This test showed that the cabinet clamps do not hold the glass perfectly square, but very, very close. When I do this for real I'll have to hold a carpenters square in the inside against the side and bottom, and pull the side and bottom together just a hair closer together with masking tape. You'll see it in the pic of the 1st side, when I do that.

After I took things back apart after this dry run, I made sure to use acetone to clean off the glass edges that were due to be siliconed.

And this is another shot at the masking. You can see it's not perfect, but I think it will still create some really nice silicone seams. The tape comes right up to the edge of the bevel. So the bevel, when both sides are touching, will fill with silicone, making the seam appear just a touch wider than it really is. But hopefully with a nice smooth edge.



I decided that I will use my 13 year old son to help with this after all. But instead of having him steady the glass (which did not work well in our trial run), I'll hold the glass in place while he puts on the clamps.

I've taped a sequence of events up on the wall for my son and I to read, to make sure we are real clear as to the order of things. It is:

1. Tools - are they all here?
2. Silicone - apply it
3. Glass - place it on the bottom
4. Corner - clean one just enough for corner clamp
5. Clamp - loosely attach to the clean corner
6. Corner - clean the other just enough for corner clamp
7. Clamp - loosely apply the next one
8. Align - check that edges are flush
9. Clamps - tighten the corner clamps
10. Big Clamps - put on the big J clamps and tighten
11. Excess - wipe away excess silicone
12. Square - put square in inside corner to ensure square and duct tape as required

We practiced this twice. Now nothing to do, but to do it!

[PJAN]

Hey Scolly,

I am just curious : how will you get the silicon between the glass?

Normally we put silicon on the glas ( say bottom) and than squeeze the other piece on it so it can fill completely. Than we put another extra stroke (?? in english...) in the inside, adjust the standing glass exactly 90 degrees angle and finish it nicely round.

Gr. PJAN

[scolley]

Good question PJAN. Just too late unfortunately...

I put a big, almost 1/2" wide (excessive really), bead along the bottom and lowered the side onto it at a 45 degree angle so one edge hit the silicone bead first. Then lowered it down to rest on the bottom, still at a 45 degree angle. I then tilted it up to a 90 degree angle (right angle), hopefully forcing out any air in the process. HUGE amounts of silicone squeezed out. We clamped it down, cleaned it up, and used a square and duct tape to achieve an d*mn near perfect right angle. Here it is...



Doesn't look like much, but more to follow tomorrow.

BTW - if anyone is wondering about the funky arrows and initials on the masking tape, it has a reason. The edge work was not perfect (good, but not perfect) and upon inspection of the glass, I made decisions like "OK, this piece will be the front, but this edge is better and should face outside..." and such. The initials just help me remember what piece of glass I'm looking at (front vs. back, inside vs. outside, up vs. down) and which way I thought it should point. The brown paper is just because I was running low on the more expensive colored masking tape.

[PinkRasbora]

Wow that is so awsome. Very nice. how long are you going to let it dry? just over night?

[scolley]

Yup, just overnight. Tomorrow I'll put on at least one side, maybe two.

Nater3 has an excellent example of a really nicely trimmed all glass tank in this thread. In it he explains that he pulled up the masking tape before the silicone dried.

I suspect this is by far the best way to go, if you can. But I've got so much masking tape that I think pulling up just some of it will be a mess in itself. So, I believe I'll wait until it is all dry, then carefully cut the masked edges with a razor and pull up the tape. After this much work, another hour of tedious work is meaningless.

[PJAN]

Scolly,

ehh... anyway.... I remember now that the glass is pushed against the bottom, right?

But looking good man

You make me nervous when I see such a project.... wish I could give you a hand.

So one concerning note :

The heavy front-glass ("I.F." standing up) is very heavy and will break the silicon if you release the clamps and push the glass a little.
After glueing another side-glass, the whole thing has more stability. So please be carefull if you have any plans to remove the clamps e.g.

Gr. PJAN

[scolley]

Thanks for the warning PJAN. I'll only be taking 1 corner clamp off to put the first side on. That will leave the other corner clamp, 2 j-clamps, and 2 straps of duct tape. Hopefully that, plus being real careful, will be good enough.

[scolley]

Had some stupid problems with the next piece, the first side piece.

I only have two of the corner clamps (kind of expensive), and needed to take one off to put the side on. So I had intended to use that corner piece to hold the side at right angles to the bottom - no can do! If you look at the pic closely, you can see that the left edge (on the bottom, where is was to go, stands off from the left edge of the side - so the corner clamp, if put on that bottom left corner, won't reach the side piece. Duh!

So I moved it to the top corner, and put in three J-clamps on the side. But without that corner clamp where I had intended it, and with the horizontal J-clamp pressing down on the side pane - it kept trying to slide off. So I assume that the bottom edge of the side pane is not at perfect right angles to the side of that pane of glass. There was a good bit of sliding going on with this piece, and if it leaks or blows-out here I think we will know why.

I pulled up a lot of the edge masking on the first piece after it had cured for about 18 hours. Wow. Awesome edges. And did not require a razor - just pulled right up. I'll get pics. I'm trying not to get too excited about it, because that's just the first edge, and on the bottom at that. Still lots of time for me to mess edges up. But if they do all look like this - Wow! I've never seen such nice edge work on an aquarium. Sounds like a boast, but it's true. I suppose spending hours masking can indeed pay off. You'd have to see it!

[scolley]

[PJAN]

Looking very good !!!!Tank is looking huge on the picture.

Last piece of glass... first put silicon on it and push it from 45 degree angle to 90 degree angle. Forgive me my concern...

Normally you have to wait 5 - 7 days before putting water in it.

Good luck!

Gr. PJAN

[scolley]

Thanks. But it's only a 75g, not a 90g (or 120g?) like yours PJAN. But with 1/2" glass I think it could have been.

Thanks for the cautions. I've heard 2 days delay before a water test. I don't think I can wait 7. Hopefully I'll get the last piece on tomorrow. And then do the water test next Saturday - a 5 day delay.

Too cool. Boy, I really hope this thing doesn't pop.