Well done, you really cleaned it up nicely. Your dog looks like it wants to attack that big snake in your tank lol.
My 450 Build thread
- Thread starter TheWolfman
- Start date
Thanks, it was a lot more work then I anticipated. I have about 40 hours invested into cleaning up the acrylic. I probably would have cut that time in half if I wasn’t sanding by hand and if I had experience doing this kind of work. But you can really mess up the acrylic fast with a power sander and not knowing how much you are really sanding off the acrylic. Every panel on the tank was scored pretty badly the pictures don’t really show it.
I was able to get the sump moving this weekend. I designed the sump for easy maintenance and to have a large water volume/bio area.
To start I dismantled a 20 high for the glass. I tried for a few hours to cut the side panel out but to no avail. I ended up smashing the two side panels to get the tank apart.
Then I needed to cut the glass down to the appropriate size.
I decided to take the extra time to mask out the silicone on the baffles before I installed them.
The next things that I’m going to work on is, I’m going to make a shelf in the second compartment for some lighting defuser for my mechanical filtration, and drill the sump for a overflow. Stay tuned...
To start I dismantled a 20 high for the glass. I tried for a few hours to cut the side panel out but to no avail. I ended up smashing the two side panels to get the tank apart.
Then I needed to cut the glass down to the appropriate size.
I decided to take the extra time to mask out the silicone on the baffles before I installed them.
The next things that I’m going to work on is, I’m going to make a shelf in the second compartment for some lighting defuser for my mechanical filtration, and drill the sump for a overflow. Stay tuned...
Thanks for posting all your progress here. I find it extremely helpful.
Gotta love how glass does what it wants. I hate when you are trying to strip it and it won’t move, then when you don’t want it to come out, you end up with a flooded top floor of your house. (That only happened once so far lol)
Gotta love how glass does what it wants. I hate when you are trying to strip it and it won’t move, then when you don’t want it to come out, you end up with a flooded top floor of your house. (That only happened once so far lol)
I drilled the sump tonight and roughed up the overflow. I had to stand the tank up to drill it that was fun. I tried to cut some glass to hold the lighting defuser but the pieces that I’m trying to cut are too small and are just shattering. I might try some thicker glass if not I have some plexi glass I can use.
Attachments
I made some more progress last night on the build. I tried to cut glass to hold up the lighting defuser, but it kept braking every time I went to snap it, so I ended up using plexi glass instead. It came out nice, I think I’m going to make a sock holder as well and go back and forth between that and the lighting defuser and floss. I’ll see what makes sense long term. I also installed another baffle to hold more mechanical filtration. I plan on putting some foam in the baffle after the floss. I’m not sure if I want to put Glass or foam as my return baffle.
Decided to wet sand and paint the bottom of the tank since this is the only time I’ll ever be able to do it. I also decided to add an extra bulkhead to the overflow since I’ll be pushing the limits of 1-1/2 pvc. I installed the bulkheads for real this time and glued up the unions. I’ll be able to do the rest of the plumbing fr under the stand. The 220 is broken down and fish have been moved. I’m committed now, the stand gets built tomorrow....
