200 Gallon rebuild

[drillr00]

Bought a 200 gallon aquarium on craigslist for $150 that came with 2 Fluval 403 filters. The aquarium on the bottom was cracked so I took the whole thing apart and put it back together with a new sheet. I hope it holds because this is the first time I've actually done this

I'm using GE RTV 108 silicon and I'm using the stand plans from mdstark.

Thing I made to get the glass

I plan on covering the whole thing is 1/2 inch oak, staining it, then adding some doors and molding.

When I assembled it, I noticed the sides bow out a little from the bottom glass towards the middle. Do you think this is going to be bad? I know the bottom sheet is square because that's the new sheet I bought and saw that it was square myself.

 

[drillr00]

I was just now looking at it and noticed that on the bottom of one of the short sides isn't straight up and down. It slid and is about 1/3 hanging off the lip. It's too late to move it because the silicon is already dry to touch. Does this mean I have to cut the whole thing again

 

[Muni]

Probably safer to redo it while you can safely. Better then a blowout in the house.

Look at it this way. You have experience now.

If the front and back panels try to bow into the center. You could use a spreader bar to hold them in place while the silicone cures. A piece of wood or pvc pipe cut to length. Just be gentle getting it in and out and your should be good to go.


Nice hoist set up.

 

[drillr00]

You're probably right...better safe than sorry. It took me a 4 days to get that old silicon off. I know old silicon doesn't stick to new but does this mean I have to cut everything again? Or do you think I'd be fine just cutting out that side panel.

It's the long sides that actually bows outward not in.

 

[Muni]

You would probably be fine just cutting that one panel and pushing it in and hit it with the silicone again. put the tank up on some sawhorses or something an use those rubber faced clamps to move the side panels in if needed.

Lift with your legs.... or your buddies back.

 

[xjosiahmicah]

tiight. im planning on building my own 200g too.

 

[bubbles123]

That hoist setup is genius. I've got a tank that I need to reseal also. I'll be watching for updates.

 

[drillr00]

Well I spent the whole day scraping off the silicon the best I could. It was still wet underneath so it made cleaning up difficult since it just smeared.

I gooped on a bunch of silicon and reset it back in so I hope it doesn't leak where the old silicon was. It was still tacky underneath the skin so I hope it binds to that. I'll let it sit for a couple weeks since it's cold in my garage then test it out.

 

[Muni]

Give it time to cure and you should be good to go.

 

[drillr00]

Went off to finish school so didn't have much time to finish this. Before I left though, I filled up the tank in the garage and it held water for a month before I emptied it.

Anyways, here are some updated pictures.