first big tank, now at home

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Ninjafish

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 11, 2007
125
1
0
st.thomas ontario
so i just picked up a 180 gallon aquarium. couple question now that i have it home and have inspected further.

1. there is no center brace. i know its old, and by the research i have done some older tanks do not need bracing. the glass thickness is 5/8'' its it better safe than sorry and brace it anyways? or just fill it and see what happens

2. the silicone on the inside seems to have air bubbles in it but feels rubbery still not dried out, but looks haggered. should i reseal it? (i plan on adding some trim on the out side since it will be only viewed from one side so you wont see the silicone on front corners)

3. the corner overflow is obviously blue, i plan on doing freshwater and doing black background. is there a way of change the colour ie. vinly or something? or just ditch and and build another. or go blue background?

4. also it seems the corner overflow was not silicone but it almost looks like a grey grout or something, is this anything to worry about?

anyhelp is appreciated! super pumped to shine this thing all up and get it going!


oh and third pic is not a crack, just a hair i believe

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If you have any doubts about the silicone, now is the time to fix it.
$10 - $15 for some good aquarium silicone, And a little time now.
Could head off a big headache later. As far as no center brace,
It shouldn't be a problem. Finding a lid for it, Might be another story.

Spike;)
 
Well personally I would redo the tank, cut out all the silicone and the overflow wier and reeseal it and get some black acrylic to make a new wier. At that point it would be easy and cheap to silicone in some glass braces. All that Is probably unnessasary but at least then you have peace of mind about the seals and center brace and you can have a black wier to match your black background. As you will probably add some trim to the corners (which would look nie IMHO) you dont have to worry as much about getting the neatest seams.
 
My 180 has 2 Braces! My friend had a mere 75 gallon without a brace and 5 years later, BAM!
I would DEFINITLY add a brace!
 
you could try something like this, they actually used ceramic bio-media to do it with.

fe018c90.jpg
 
alright, so got some progress. i got the corner overflow out, and most of the silicone from the inside. just have bits of film left to get out but ran out of sharp blades.

i do have a question though. i think to play it safe im gonna go with two cetre braces. when measuring for these, should a tolerance be left? or should i measure tight to both panes of glass. and if it is a tight fit im geusing sliding into place on top of a bead of silicone then just wiping up the exess?

i also painted the back black, and krylon fusioned the overflow black. ill snap some pics if i make it out to the garage today.
 
Tape the glass 3/8" away from corner on both pieces of glass in both corners run bead up i used the tip of a spoon to scrape excess and smooth then pull tape up and away from the corner this worked great for me.
 
thanks man, i wasnt sure how much to tape off actually.

i also just finished chopping the stand up. the height was a very short 20'', i plan on raising it to 31''. i cut all four legs (stand is full framed 2 inch square stock steel) and am getting my father (welder) to build me some 11'' legs of the same gauge steel with smaller square stock welded to the inside. so ill just plop this in the old holes and weld her up.
 
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