I tried editing my original 450 gallon plywood tank build thread here but for whatever reason I wasn't able to change the title on it so I am creating a new thread to track the build progress on my 300 gallon acrylic aquarium I picked up yesterday.
I left off my 450 gallon plywood build thread with changing direction and using the materials to build a stand and saving up to buy an acrylic aquarium. So to that end, during some quiet time on Friday I googled dimensions for an 8 foot aquarium stand to get a feel for how tall I wanted to build to build the stand. I randomly came across an add for an acrylic 300 gallon aquarium for $500. Seemed like a great price on a large aquarium. On a whim, I texted the number to see if it was still available. I got a response that it was, so during lunch I drove from Phoenix over to Mesa to check out the tank.
Upon first glance the tank looked fine. It was dirty and would need some elbow grease to get it looking like new but it was doable without throwing too much money into it. Dimensions weren't exactly as I would have liked, 8ft Long x 2ft Wide x 2.5ft Tall. Would have preferred to have it wider than taller and also the overflow box was right smack in the middle of the tank as opposed to the corners or back of the tank. Still not a deal breaker, especially for $500.
Now here comes the kicker, this aquarium used to be a saltwater setup. For those of you wondering why that matters, it was designed with 2 plenum boxes, one on each side, as part of the biological filtration system. So in addition to the welded acrylic to the bottom creating the plenum area, there are also 4 holes drilled into the bottom of the aquarium that will need to be sealed. I guess that was part of the reason why the aquarium was such a bargain.
I talked to the guy, who suggested routing the acrylic down and then using bulkeads to seal the holes. I gave it some thought and figured I would have better luck dremiling then sanding until the plenum boxes were removed. Didn't seem like an impossible task so I decided to take the chance and bought the aquarium and loaded it up on the back of my truck. As an aside, I love having a full sized truck. It has allowed me to impulse buy stuff like crazy over the years.
To be continued in post #2.
I left off my 450 gallon plywood build thread with changing direction and using the materials to build a stand and saving up to buy an acrylic aquarium. So to that end, during some quiet time on Friday I googled dimensions for an 8 foot aquarium stand to get a feel for how tall I wanted to build to build the stand. I randomly came across an add for an acrylic 300 gallon aquarium for $500. Seemed like a great price on a large aquarium. On a whim, I texted the number to see if it was still available. I got a response that it was, so during lunch I drove from Phoenix over to Mesa to check out the tank.
Upon first glance the tank looked fine. It was dirty and would need some elbow grease to get it looking like new but it was doable without throwing too much money into it. Dimensions weren't exactly as I would have liked, 8ft Long x 2ft Wide x 2.5ft Tall. Would have preferred to have it wider than taller and also the overflow box was right smack in the middle of the tank as opposed to the corners or back of the tank. Still not a deal breaker, especially for $500.
Now here comes the kicker, this aquarium used to be a saltwater setup. For those of you wondering why that matters, it was designed with 2 plenum boxes, one on each side, as part of the biological filtration system. So in addition to the welded acrylic to the bottom creating the plenum area, there are also 4 holes drilled into the bottom of the aquarium that will need to be sealed. I guess that was part of the reason why the aquarium was such a bargain.
I talked to the guy, who suggested routing the acrylic down and then using bulkeads to seal the holes. I gave it some thought and figured I would have better luck dremiling then sanding until the plenum boxes were removed. Didn't seem like an impossible task so I decided to take the chance and bought the aquarium and loaded it up on the back of my truck. As an aside, I love having a full sized truck. It has allowed me to impulse buy stuff like crazy over the years.
To be continued in post #2.
