The Craig's list 210 gallon project

rgcopeland

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 5, 2014
11
0
1
United States
Well, other than the introducing myself post this is my first post on MFK. Much to my wife's chagrin I've been searching for a deal on a monster fish tank. I finally came across a listing for a 210 gallon tank on Craig's List for an unbelievable price of $225. I was off like a shot to close the deal.

Unfortunately I didn't bring anything for the tank to rest on in the back of the truck and on the trip home I managed crack the bottom of the tank. Well on the discovery of the crack I turned the air blue for a moment in the neighborhood with my expletives. But then sat down a logically thought it through and remembered a 6' piece of 1/2" glass that got on Craigslist Free Stuff and few years ago thinking like any fish nut I could use it in a future tank build. It would fit perfectly on the bottom of the tank and was 19" wide so it didn't cover the holes drilled in the bottom for the overflows. I planned on using 1/2" cabinet grade plywood to fill that in.

So moving day came last Sunday, Father's day. My 22 year old son and his friend who is like one of my adopted son's came to town to help dear old dad out. Now I am a DIY kind of guy and had moved big aquariums before but this one was a booger. I rented an appliance dolly and thought we could strap it down and move it like a refrigerator like I have moved 125 and 180 gallon tanks in the past. But given the 30" height of the 210 it was too much weight tipping back and moving it. Still, we made it up the two front steps, into the house but didn't feel safe taking it down the 8 stairs to the basement. So we abandoned the appliance dolly and laid it flat and slid it down the carpeted stairs. Once at the bottom of the stairs we were able to stand it on end and slid it on the carpet to it's final position.

Before we put it on the stand I put almost a caulking gun cartridge full of silicone on the bottom tank after I scrapped of all of the old silicone a cleaned it with rubbing alcohol. I pressed the 72" x 19" x 1/2" glass and the cabinet grade plywood insert for the overflows on the outside bottom of the tank while it was standing on end and then we lifted the tank on the stand. I did this for a couple reasons. I only had the help for one day and I wanted to laminate the glass with silicone using the tank's weight to press down on the silicone.

So, now I have a 210 gallon tank with a laminated bottom 1 inch thick. There are also 3/8 glass reinforcement strips siliconed around the inside edge. Today I siliconed a 36" piece of 1/4" glass on the bottom of the inside of the tank totally sandwiching the cracked bottom between silicone and glass.

Tomorrow I'll take some pictures but have one of us celebrating a successful move.


 

rgcopeland

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 5, 2014
11
0
1
United States
Adding a couple photos of my repair work. Here is a shot of the bottom laminated 1/2" glass and 3/8" inside re-enforcement.



Here is a view from the top showing the crack in the bottom and the 1/4" patch silicone in and sealed.

 

rgcopeland

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 5, 2014
11
0
1
United States
Got the plumbing done and the sump set up.



Next work on the lights and gravel this weekend. I plan on wrapping the stand in cabinet grade plywood and put two access doors on the front.
 

rgcopeland

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 5, 2014
11
0
1
United States
The sump came with the tank. Not my design but I'm going to work with it. I need to get the bio balls above the waterline. Yes, that is dacron filter floss. I will be using that as my pre-filter but I will have to sandwich it in between some plastic egg crate. The force of the water pushes down on two areas making them go down while the other fluffs up. Not very efficient...
 
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