165 Marine Restoration

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RyanP

Gambusia
MFK Member
Sep 14, 2008
964
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I decided to move my thread from setup and filtration to here in the marine section since thats what the out come will be.

For those of you who saw my post
(http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/fo...d.php?t=296083) about a tank on craigs list that i found, I picked up the tank today. Good and bad news. Good news i was able to get him down to $50 w a brand new fluval 204 filter thats never been used. Bad news, it needs more work done than I thought. The trim along the top and bottom is cracked and discolored. The silicone along the inside looks sloppy, but it did hold water over night with no leaks. I kinda planned on resealing it anyway. Rather do it now instead of problems down the road with it filled. The glass on this thing is THICK. That raises the question: Why does this thing have a center brace? Is it because of the thickness of the glass or that fact that is not really that wide? The tank has to be over 10 years old. Its lasted this long without a brace, I guess its ok. The actual glass itself has no major scratches. This will be an ongoing project. Planning on totally resealing it and replace all the trim. The stand structurally is beefed up and will be ok but aesthetically it needs to be sanded and stained. Ill keep some updates goin on as I go through the process. I snapped some quick pics of it outside. Will it be ok outside as it sits for now? Im goin to put something over the top it to keep the weather off it. Ive got the stand at my neighbors house in his garage. Any links for trim and resealing would be appreciated. I put a quarter up to the glass for reference in that last pic.




 
I braved the cold outside and gave it a good scrub down. It cleaned up pretty good. The trim along the bottom was in bad shape, it peeled right off. Im wondering if i can email glass cages with the deminsions and they send me a custom trim kit for tank? The tank still holds water but after cleaning the silicone looks like crap. Im goin to reseal it with black silicone. Heres a couple daytime pics after i gave it a once over cleaning it.



 
Update: Fought the cold and got most of the old silicone out. Man was this stuff thick. Still have a little bit left. Goin to get the rest out in the next couple days and hopefully be able to tape it up and throw some new silicone back in this weekend.



 
I wouldn't be keeping it outside, some hillbilly might throw a rock through it.
 
Update on tank: So i stripped most of the trim off the tank and razor'd off the silicone that was under it and painted the trim. Still have a long way to go. Still have the rest of the silicone on the inside to do and the back and bottom trim to remove and paint. Then I will reseal the inside and reseal the the trim back on. So far so good, if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Im a newbie at this.
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Hey Ryan,

Nice pick-up. 50 is a steal!

Did the frame come apart on each side or did you break it? I can't tell from the pictures.

Now that you have the tank stripped down, you could pick up a thick piece of glass and center brace the top.
 
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