Planning First Big DIY Systems

Ulu

Potamotrygon
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Dec 13, 2018
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The Sunny San Joaquin
Thank you for reading.

I have two more coats of black paint on the tank and it's looking great. I shot two tubes of compound down on the masonry to bed my stand, and I leveled it in place.

I tooled it off where it squirted out a little bit here and there, and it's looking pretty great.
 
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Backfromthedead

Potamotrygon
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Jul 12, 2017
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Fredericksburg va
Thank you for reading.

I have two more coats of black paint on the tank and it's looking great. I shot two tubes of compound down on the masonry to bed my stand, and I leveled it in place.

I tooled it off where it squirted out a little bit here and there, and it's looking pretty great.
Was that to fill in the gaps between the brick and stand? I imagine that will be quite a solid platform.
 

Ulu

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Dec 13, 2018
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The Sunny San Joaquin
Yes, I didn't want any rocking or tipping so once I got it leveled up on three shims I moved it off and shot the whole thing with compound and put it back.

The stuff takes about a week to cure completely so I won't pull out the shims for quite a while.

I was originally going to set it in grout but it does not dampen vibration. I used a medium modulus siliconized acrylic adhesive sealant as a bedding compound.
 

Ulu

Potamotrygon
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Dec 13, 2018
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The Sunny San Joaquin
I used a medium modulus siliconized acrylic adhesive sealant as a bedding compound & appears to be dry. It has been curing about 60 hours now.

I didn't have too much of a gap anywhere when I set the stand. The bed is pretty thin so it should actually be cured up well. If you make it 1/4 to 3/8 thick the instructions say it will take 7 to 14 days! I do not think mine is over 1/8" thick anywhere. Also I am not trying to suspend anyhing. Gravity's my insurance. ;)

I wanted to wait 72 hours on the compound so I suspect I will bring the tank in this evening and set it dry and check the level again. Depending on how everything came out I may need a little compound under the tank as well but I don't think it will be much if any.

I sealed up the entire stand with multiple coats of polyurethane varnish, so there should have been no warpage or anything after the wood glue cured.

We'll see how it really came out when I put the tank on it.

Since I've got clear urethane varnish on the top of the stand I will probably use a clear urethane as a bedding compound for the tank if I feel it is necessary.
 

Ulu

Potamotrygon
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Dec 13, 2018
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The Sunny San Joaquin
Well I brought the 125 into the living room today. I rolled it all the way around the house by myself with a dolly and sat it on the carpet. I spent some hours cleaning up the garage and putting away tools so my wife can park her car. She's much happier now.

This evening I will get it up on the stand.

I can't lift the whole thing but I will have help.
 

Ulu

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Dec 13, 2018
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The Sunny San Joaquin
After checking with some monofilament and feeler gages I have decided my stand is quite rigid, and the top is flat within about 0.010" in 6 feet.

But the tank is not. The bottom trim has some positive camber, measuring 0.035" net in 6'.
So there's about 1mm to fill at the worst.
Not sure if any camber in the bottom glass . . . will check tomorrow.

I did not expect this much camber. I will use a high modulus compound to bed the tank to the stand.

Also, my drain holes thru the house are about 1/8" too high, and they are not oversized in the least. I will have to enlarge them a bit tomorrow.
 
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Ulu

Potamotrygon
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Dec 13, 2018
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The Sunny San Joaquin
I measured the glass bottom of the 125 with a 6-foot straightedge and a feeler gauge and it is very flat.

If I set this tank the way it is it will only touchdown on the four corners of the thick plastic trim. I haven't put any water in it yet but I doubt that it's going to flatten out in any meaningful way.

I have two 55 gallon tanks setup like this and they only rest on the four corners. Another fish keeper with a 125 advised me that this was okay. So far no problems but it hasn't been very long. A few months for the oldest. I hesitate to set the 125 this way.

In fact what I want to do is flip the tank over, and sand off about one millimeter of plastic in the corners. I suspect it's ~2mm thick where it touches down. It feels much much thicker than the styrene trim on my other tanks and I do not believe it is ABS, but instead PVC plastic.

Because the tank sit's so close to the wall I am having a difficult time measuring the gap in the back but I can tell that it exists by sliding a paper through from the front.

This will make it too difficult to sand the trim into perfect contact with the wood in a most critical spot.

So I am going back to my original plan which is to set the trim in rigid bedding compound.

I think that this camber was built into the tank on purpose, and it has everything to do with the cheap commercial stands that they sell to go with it.

It looks as if this is a positive method of preventing the tank from rocking in the center.

The warranty instructions from Visio says that the tank must have full and continuous support around the rim.

20190718_161232.jpg
 
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Ulu

Potamotrygon
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Dec 13, 2018
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The Sunny San Joaquin
I haven't actually set the tank yet because I still have to enlarge the holes in my wall slightly. Right now there's an aquarium on each side of the wall.

I need to decide what I want to use to bed this tank and right now I'm leaning towards quick mix epoxy injection. It's clear and it can deal with the polyurethane and the plastic trim.

In the meantime I have purchased a new pump for my oscar tank and I really like it.

I was running a $40 pond pump from Harbor Freight and it was pushing through 200 GPH ( it was rated for nearly twice that.) But it was noisy and I didn't like it at all in the house.

This is my new Simplicity dc1000, and it is so quiet! Running at half speed it's producing more water and making almost no noise. I didn't use the little plastic base but instead I cradled it on a pile of pot scrubbers.
20190718_155919.jpg
20190718_155904.jpg
If I turn it up to 10 and crank open the drain a little bit, it puts through enough water to disturb my Oscar, and it makes more noise.
20190718_155945.jpg
I will probably run it on 60%.
He seems okay with that speed.
20190718_160015.jpg
 
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Backfromthedead

Potamotrygon
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Jul 12, 2017
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Fredericksburg va
I measured the glass bottom of the 125 with a 6-foot straightedge and a feeler gauge and it is very flat.

If I set this tank the way it is it will only touchdown on the four corners of the thick plastic trim. I haven't put any water in it yet but I doubt that it's going to flatten out in any meaningful way.

I have two 55 gallon tanks setup like this and they only rest on the four corners. Another fish keeper with a 125 advised me that this was okay. So far no problems but it hasn't been very long. A few months for the oldest. I hesitate to set the 125 this way.

In fact what I want to do is flip the tank over, and sand off about one millimeter of plastic in the corners. I suspect it's ~2mm thick where it touches down. It feels much much thicker than the styrene trim on my other tanks and I do not believe it is ABS, but instead PVC plastic.

Because the tank sit's so close to the wall I am having a difficult time measuring the gap in the back but I can tell that it exists by sliding a paper through from the front.

This will make it too difficult to sand the trim into perfect contact with the wood in a most critical spot.

So I am going back to my original plan which is to set the trim in rigid bedding compound.

I think that this camber was built into the tank on purpose, and it has everything to do with the cheap commercial stands that they sell to go with it.

It looks as if this is a positive method of preventing the tank from rocking in the center.

The warranty instructions from Visio says that the tank must have full and continuous support around the rim.

View attachment 1380474
Ime, the tank bottom will conform to the stand when its filled. All tanks, especially glass tanks, seem to flex at least a little bit between empty and full. The old 150 i have, with 5/8" bottom, seems to bow upwards nearly an inch in the middle when i empty it, but will settle into any flat surface once its at least half full. Scared me a bit when i first got it but now i think nothing of it.

In short i think your bedding compound may be unnecessary given the flatness of your stand and its unlikeliness to move at all, being so sturdy and well rooted.
 
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