ATM I'm beginning a major project that kinda randomly fell into my lap. I'm building a Rimless Bottomless 100g tank setup. I came into possession of a huge 75g 1/2" glass old school tank. The rim is broken in many places so I figured I'd just go rimless. The thickness of the glass should off set the lack of top rim. Then to make this a little more interesting I've got a custom Lexan 20g Tall rimless tank with .35" thick Lexan tank. My plan is to invert it and use it as a bottomless insert to this entire setup. Finally dressing it up with a custom return line from the 30g sump. I will create a 5g retaining pool on top of the 20g which is feed with water from the sump then the water flows down either skinny side of the 20g creating dual waterfalls to return water from the sump to the main tank. Sounds good online looks awsome on paper and is perfect in my mind but will it work? I'm looking for input from all the DIY experts. I'll post pics as this projects progresses. Also I'm looking for 3m Black Quartz in Cleveland Ohio to fill out the bottom of this tank so all help is welcome.
Rimless Bottomless 100g tank setup
- Thread starter deepfathom
- Start date
OK so below are some pics of the 75g That I've removed the top rim and am currently leak testing. I've still got some silicone to trim but so far its holding. I filled it full and am going to let it set for the weekend and see how it holds up. If all goes well then come Monday I'll leak test the inverted 29g tall Acrylic tank and then create the vacuum and continue filling and leak testing both to see if both tanks will hold up to the pressure of all that water and weight together. My biggest fear is a mix between the extra water weight on the bottom of the 75g and the lack of rim causing the glass to shift and the silicone to give out and monster leaks to flood my porch. This is going to be the big test if all goes well I will have approximately 100g total tank space. With the 75g rimless base and a rimless 29g acrylic bottomless tank as the top portion of this setup. Any suggestions or ideas please hit me up this is all trial and error never tried something this elaborate before.
You are a brave soul running that 75g without a brace! Those braces are there for a reason. Maybe the 1/2" glass will help keep it from bursting, maybe. If this were going inside a house, I'd at least add some kind of bracing. Even some little triangle glass pieces at each corner for strength.
Ya I'm debating on adding corner bracers but this tank is a beast the glass is insainly thick. The bottom pane is almost a full inch! Its rediculous. But your right about the bracers and the fear of it exploding on me. I do plan to leave the bottom frame on so I'm hopping thats enough to hold. Also I'm not overly worried about the 75g being rimless on its own I've reinforced alot of the silicone with extra layers, I'm more concerned with what happens when I cram an additional 29g of water pressure in it plus ass all that extra weight distributed accross the bottom of the tank. I do have a single sheet of 0.5" Tempered Glass that will fit in the bottom of the 75g to help displace the weight of the 29g and the supports it will be sitting on. So lets hope it all holds or I may have a waterfall off the porch and just have a nice little 29g tank lol. I'm still working out the details on how i plan to create the vaccum in the small tank atm I plan on use a shop vac hooked to an extra long hose to create the vacuum.
Mission Update:
Today I finished the 29g acrylic and began testing the entire setup! I used wine bottles for supports an they worked perfect. They are just temporary till I find a better option but i really wanted to test this today. So here we go Pictures are below. I set it up on the porch and the biggest issue i encountered was finding a way to create a vacuum in the 29g tank. So after attempting to use my spare vacuum cleaner i realized this wasn't working at all and went to plan B. I put a siphon hose i had laying around that was used to clean gravel in up side down into the tank so that the small end was above the water line in the 29g tank. I then inserted a pen into the siphon end so as to hold open the over flow flap. I then began to inhale all of the air out of the 29g tank lol. The trick is not break the vacuum as you suck the air out of the tank and create the vacuum that now hold the water in place in the 29g tank. As basic and low end this seems I works lol. Check out the pics and I'm all for input or questions. Next week when I'm off duty I'm breaking it down and moving it indoors to the stand and filtration setup that awaits it.
Empty tank Setup:
Fill Complete both the 29g and the 75g are both filled and holding water:
Today I finished the 29g acrylic and began testing the entire setup! I used wine bottles for supports an they worked perfect. They are just temporary till I find a better option but i really wanted to test this today. So here we go Pictures are below. I set it up on the porch and the biggest issue i encountered was finding a way to create a vacuum in the 29g tank. So after attempting to use my spare vacuum cleaner i realized this wasn't working at all and went to plan B. I put a siphon hose i had laying around that was used to clean gravel in up side down into the tank so that the small end was above the water line in the 29g tank. I then inserted a pen into the siphon end so as to hold open the over flow flap. I then began to inhale all of the air out of the 29g tank lol. The trick is not break the vacuum as you suck the air out of the tank and create the vacuum that now hold the water in place in the 29g tank. As basic and low end this seems I works lol. Check out the pics and I'm all for input or questions. Next week when I'm off duty I'm breaking it down and moving it indoors to the stand and filtration setup that awaits it.
Empty tank Setup:
Fill Complete both the 29g and the 75g are both filled and holding water:
Now i've seen everything! lol... that is pretty interesting. So that 29 is filled up? Couple of first reaction thoughts I had... how the heck does one filter an upside down tank? You just gonna run some canister hosing up in there? And what are you gonna use in place of the bottles? It seems that it would be fairly easy for one fish to bring down the whole thing...
I'm going to rock in the bottles for now so that they cant move around. Also i tryed moving those bottles around by hand the weight of that tank kinda keeps them stuck in place. Unless Ive got a monster cat thats pissed off at life I'm feeling that they wont be going anywere. I'm looking at trading the bottles out for heavy clear lead glass sculpures like an extra tall margaritta glass. The game plan is to put Black lights under the tank so they show through the glass stands that hold the 29g, to light the tank at night. Also I currently have a few 2-4inch gold fish swimming around in there to see how they take to the enviroment. They seem to be getting along well. Also for filtration I have an overflow system I pulled off a broken 150g setup. So my game plan is to run a power head up into the 29g to pull water from the main tank and push it up into the 29g so that there is plenty of water flow throughout the entire tank. I really want to throw a bubble wall in the 29g but I havent figaured out how to deal with the air pocket that would build up in the 29g. I'm all so working out details on pumping water up from the sump and turning the top of the 29g into a holding pool then have the water, waterfall down the back of the 29g for astetic reasons. This hole project is kinda a build as I go so I'm open to ideas. Hoping to have it fully running by the end of next week. With the exception of the waterfall idea I dont for see this as a problem. Wish I could find black sand for it but for now I'm going to use black gravel i have laying around. This hole tank setup with the exception of the 29g acrylic tank was all put together from found or salvaged parts for free so I'm really happy with it.
