Since I can't sell these darn 10 gals

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
T

ThePBM

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 26, 2007
602
1
0
Hawaii / Wisconsin
I was pondering the possibility of making a tall tank with them.
Take a bottom panel off of one 10 gal and silicone it on the topside of another. Of course, having removed a side panel from that second tank. Essentially ending up with a standard 10 gal that's standing on its side. Still using 2 pieces of trim, except they're on the sides.

I wasn't sure if i should keep the trim attached to that bottom panel that i'd take off, or if i'd silicone just the glass panel to the inside of the second tank's top trim pieces.

I'd like a tall tank to just grow some nice stem plants, as well as giving me something to do.
Anyone see anything that i should be worried about? my one concern is that the new 'base' panel will have the 'side' panels on the outside edge, not on top of it. i'd appreciate thoughts and such from anyone who's experienced with making tanks. i've never done it before.
tia.
 
actually, on second thought-
if i didn't use any trim, siliconed just the glass panels together, would it be strong enough to hold together? i see frameless glass aquariums much larger than a 10 gal would be. is a good siliconing strong enough? if so, i would dismantle the 2 10gallons completely, clean of all old silicone, and be able to have a base panel with the sides on top of it as should be.
 
it could be done if you securely silicone them properly with no flawss...if their is and you add water...it would callapse...
 
I wouldn't put much faith in a glass panel with a silicone seam down the middle. I also believe that the glass used for a 10 gallon wouldn't be thick enough to handle the extra water pressure generated from the taller tank.

If you did it, I would recommend integrating some kind of support structure.

Did you consider putting them side to side or end to end? If you did that, then you could put a piece of plywood underneath the combined tanks to support the bottom.

You wouldn't need to completely remove the trim pieces either. When I flipped my 55 gallon on it's side (moved the front panel to the top and laid the tank over), I just used a small hand saw and trimmed back the trim pieces holding only along the moved panel.
 
i see a lot of people having like 6 or 7 10 gallons all bare with sponge filters in them on a shelf for fry tanks. perhaps you can do something the same way and if you don't have fry there are quite a few fish that fit in a 10 gallon tank that are pretty cool.

you could try a leaf fish or some pike killis.

just some suggestions since taking apart 10 gallon tanks and putting them together in wierd configurations doesn't really sound like you would really gain anything.
 
i have 6 10 gallons, and 2 of them are in use. one's growing out java moss with a crowntail in there with some cherry shrimp. the other one is growing exotic plants and has about 60 some cherry shrimp in there (newborn juveniles mostly)
i'm not looking to use any of the other 10 gals. i had all 6 running at one time and that was so much stuff with so little in them. i've since upgraded to larger tanks so these tanks are taking up space. i've been trying to sell them for months at $5 per, and still i've only sold 1.

so that aside, i'd at the very least reclaim some space if i dismantle these tanks so they only take up as much space as their panels do.

and side by side or end to end isn't what i was hoping for, since i wanted to grow out tall plants. like i said, i have larger tanks (breeders) so i'm looking for something tall.
 
One other thing you could try would be to stack the tanks as you previously described, then build a wooden frame around the whole thing. Not sure about your wood working skills, but it could end up looking like a picture cube if you put small cross braces periodically across it.

Hope this quick Paint sketch shows what I'm talking about. Stupid computer can't convert .bmp to .jpg for some reason.
 

Attachments

Your idea is cool, but the problem is that you could be looking at a bad situation as your glass prob wasn't designed to be used for the depth that your going to have most likley, what are the demensions of the tanks and the thickness of the glass...
 
ah forgot about the height thing. i also have a 20gal long not being used, because i have no space for it. it's got 3 5gal tanks sitting inside of it as well (i have 4 empty 5 gals). had no luck selling any of them.

for now i'm just going to take apart 1 of the 10gal tanks. a friend gave me this particular one and it's hardly got silicone along the edges. he used it to keep a rat and i guess the rat got bored and chewed away the stuff. it still held water though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom