I have a friend who has a 110 built into his wall, and I *really* liked it. But I'm on a limited (like 0 dollars) budget. For 5 or 6 months I've been scouring craigslist and freecycle for a large tank. Finally, I found a 150 gallon with a broken center brace for $90. It was too good a deal to pass up so I convinced the wife that I should buy it. I ate Ramen noodles for lunch for 2 weeks afterward, but the tank was mine.
Now, I had a huge tank with a broken center brace. I test filled it, and the glass bowed 3/4 of an inch away from the end of the frame.
I took this picture while it was draining, with about 1/2 an inch of gap and the tank half full.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=527384&stc=1&d=1283350987
I went to home depot and bought a stainless steel L bracket and a handful of stainless steel screws.
I cut one side of the L bracket off at about 1".
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=527385&stc=1&d=1283351104
I had PVC cleaner and white 100% silicone. I scraped the hard water deposits off, and sanded the frame with 80 grit sand paper. I cleaned the area thoroughly with PVC Cleaner (probably unnecessary, but its what I did). I covered the whole area with Silicone, pressed the L bracket down into the silicone and screwed the long side L bracket to the cross piece, so the short side was holding the cross piece to the side of the tank.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=527386&stc=1&d=1283351104
Waited a week for it to dry, and test filled. It held for about a month, until last sunday afternoon.
The same buddy who inspired all of this called me in a panic. His in-wall tank popped, and he had no place for his fish. I drove to his house with a bunch of rubbermaid tubs. He swore up and down he was getting out of the hobby and gave me his 2 AC110's and heaters and lights, filter media, all of his fish, a 3 gallon tub of cichlid chow, and all of his various odds and ends, with me begging to pay him something, which he refused.
Here's how the fish rode 45 minutes to my house:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=527387&stc=1&d=1283351104
I filled the 150 in my garage with the hose and a bunch of buckets of hot water, connected up his 2 AC110's (hoping the trip didn't kill too much of his bacterial colony) plugged in the heaters and powerhead. I added some stress coat, PH+ (his tanks run at 8.2 ph becuse of crushed coral substrate. My water is about 7.5 from the tap, and I have no crushed coral), dechlorinator (which I almost never do), and a bottle of "quick start". Its amazing how much chemical it takes to treat a 150.. My wife was unhappy @ me using entire $15 and $20 bottles of chemicals!
3 days later, the fish are relatively happy, swimming around on my garage floor.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=527388&stc=1&d=1283351104
Now I have to build the stand, cut the wall, drain the tank, figure out how I'm going to lift it onto the stand, get it up, re-fill it, add substrate and hiding places, and on and on and on.
All in all I think he gave me well over $500 worth of fish and gear. I hate to see someone leave the hobby, but I understand his frustration, he's got a good bit of damage to sheetrock and carpet.
Edit: removed image tags from HUGE images. Will work on that for when I get home.
Now, I had a huge tank with a broken center brace. I test filled it, and the glass bowed 3/4 of an inch away from the end of the frame.
I took this picture while it was draining, with about 1/2 an inch of gap and the tank half full.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=527384&stc=1&d=1283350987
I went to home depot and bought a stainless steel L bracket and a handful of stainless steel screws.
I cut one side of the L bracket off at about 1".
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=527385&stc=1&d=1283351104
I had PVC cleaner and white 100% silicone. I scraped the hard water deposits off, and sanded the frame with 80 grit sand paper. I cleaned the area thoroughly with PVC Cleaner (probably unnecessary, but its what I did). I covered the whole area with Silicone, pressed the L bracket down into the silicone and screwed the long side L bracket to the cross piece, so the short side was holding the cross piece to the side of the tank.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=527386&stc=1&d=1283351104
Waited a week for it to dry, and test filled. It held for about a month, until last sunday afternoon.
The same buddy who inspired all of this called me in a panic. His in-wall tank popped, and he had no place for his fish. I drove to his house with a bunch of rubbermaid tubs. He swore up and down he was getting out of the hobby and gave me his 2 AC110's and heaters and lights, filter media, all of his fish, a 3 gallon tub of cichlid chow, and all of his various odds and ends, with me begging to pay him something, which he refused.
Here's how the fish rode 45 minutes to my house:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=527387&stc=1&d=1283351104
I filled the 150 in my garage with the hose and a bunch of buckets of hot water, connected up his 2 AC110's (hoping the trip didn't kill too much of his bacterial colony) plugged in the heaters and powerhead. I added some stress coat, PH+ (his tanks run at 8.2 ph becuse of crushed coral substrate. My water is about 7.5 from the tap, and I have no crushed coral), dechlorinator (which I almost never do), and a bottle of "quick start". Its amazing how much chemical it takes to treat a 150.. My wife was unhappy @ me using entire $15 and $20 bottles of chemicals!
3 days later, the fish are relatively happy, swimming around on my garage floor.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=527388&stc=1&d=1283351104
Now I have to build the stand, cut the wall, drain the tank, figure out how I'm going to lift it onto the stand, get it up, re-fill it, add substrate and hiding places, and on and on and on.
All in all I think he gave me well over $500 worth of fish and gear. I hate to see someone leave the hobby, but I understand his frustration, he's got a good bit of damage to sheetrock and carpet.
Edit: removed image tags from HUGE images. Will work on that for when I get home.
