A new tank build
- Thread starter tthanatoss
- Start date
No new updates for a few days. I did manage to find a 4 inch hole saw to drill the four holes in floor of the tank so I can install lights under the tank. I got as far as laying the holes out but the wife gave me a rather extensive honey-do list that's been keeping me pretty busy. I think tomorrow I'll get a bit more done.
I put a few hours work in on the tank this morning. I ground off all the overhanging fibreglass and smoothed the few bubbles. Then I cut the holes for the floor lights. Almost broke my wrist a couple times. Believe me when a four inch hole saw grabs in the hole that big drill will twist the arms right off you and I'm no small guy. Anyway I didn't want to leave the floor of the tank bare wood so I thinned out a little resin with some acetone and painted a nice thick coat to give the wood some kind of sealer. Polyester resin penetrates wood not to badly as long as you sand it first with some coarse paper and then thin out your resin. I have to be a little stingy with the epoxy paint later as I only have about a quart and a half of it and don't want to have to buy any.
I managed to sneak back out for a couple of hours before dinner and got some more done today. Finished sanding the fibre glass and put on the first coat of epoxy paint. This stuff takes quite a while to dry but hopefully tomorrow I'll be installing the bottom sheet of glass. Once that is in place I can build the top brace.
Yea so I finally made a hard decision about what I'm going to do about filtration. Originally I had planned on putting it above the tank and having some kind of waterfall but I just couldn't imagine anything that wasn't bulky and difficult to reach as it would be 5 feet off the floor and at the back side of the tank.
So I'm going to build something under the tank, inside the stand, probably using my old 50 gallon tank.
I figured the best way to make way for the plumbing would be to replace one of the glass viewing areas with a piece of 3/4 plywood. So I chiselled out one of the moldings and cut plywood to fit the the hole. Then I laminated it with some fibreglass. After everything dries I'll go back and build a molding to brace the plywood from the backside.
So I'm going to build something under the tank, inside the stand, probably using my old 50 gallon tank.
I figured the best way to make way for the plumbing would be to replace one of the glass viewing areas with a piece of 3/4 plywood. So I chiselled out one of the moldings and cut plywood to fit the the hole. Then I laminated it with some fibreglass. After everything dries I'll go back and build a molding to brace the plywood from the backside.
