24 replies to this topic

[Midnite76]

Hi All

I bought this 2nd hand tank ages ago which developed bit of a leak from the centre when full. I stripped out the old sealant and slapped in heaps of new.
The blasted thing leaked again.
So I got in stripped out the sealant, cleaned it really good, resealed it and used a silicon spatula to make sure the seal was good. I left the tank for 2 weeks to set and filled it up.

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My daughter chucked in a couple of goldfish and was gonna have a swim but the water would have been about 10deg. It was freezing.
30 mins later..........

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Couldn't believe it........ Time to call in the experts.
Got the glass guys in and had 10mm straps cut to glue the sides to the base. Even got him to drill the first hole in it so I could see how it was done.

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Giving it a good clean prior to gluing in the straps.

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Edited by Midnite76, 30 August 2011 - 05:47 PM.

[Midnite76]

That was last week.
Left the tank a full week for the silicon to dry.
I drilled a second hole in it today, got in and cleaned the calcium and grime off the inside and filled it up.

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Stay tuned............

[Bowdy]

the tank is awesome mate fingers crossed it holds this time. what do you plan on putting in it

[sandgroper]

Should have strapping up the sides as well and did you check that the stand isn't twisted. good luck steve

[spendy]

Nice phat tank..

What silicon did the glass guy use..?
Just run of the mill stuff or is there a stronger one that he used..?

[bigjohnnofish]

just curious what thickness glass is the front / rear / side panels ???

[Midnite76]

Thanks all.

24hrs and no leaks to date (a record). Finished most of the plumbing off and now just waiting for the 4x2x2 sump being built. $250 and made out of second hand/scratched glass. Can't argue with that....
Might leave the water in it till then just to make sure.
Will take some further photos soon (missus has the camera down your way).

To answer some questions;

I have a Red Tail Cat that is fast outgrowing his current 8x2 home. This tank was purchased for him primarily. Might put in the P.Bass I have growing up or maybe the Saratoga and a couple of the larger plecs.

I havent put strapping up the sides as the leaking area was the bottom middle, where the glass bows under pressure. This area was weak due to the way the tank is built (sides sit on top of the base) and a lack of quality sealant. The bottom straps can be covered partly by the wooden trim and the sand I plan to use as substrate. The side straps would look too unsightly and if I can get away without them I will.
And no I haven't checked the base................fingers crossed its all ok. It is pretty sturdy 100x100 box section.

Goldfields Glass use Selleys 'GLASS'. It is the blue one that says "For Windows and Äquariums". I have used it to do minor aquarium projects and it seems to be doing the job here. Mind you 4 cartidges went into the repair.

Glass thickness is 14mm (9/16") all the way round. Straps and bracing are the same thickness also. The tank and base weigh a ton and it's a bitch to move

Thanks for the feedback and I will get some more pics up mid week when I get the camera back

Cheers
Dion

[Mudjimba]

G'day Midnite,

very nice. Should make a nice home for your big fish.

Must have been a dissappointing time with the leak.
I thought the Mundaring Weir was emptying fast.......

all the best with it all

Cheers

[Midnite76]

As promised
I got the camera back on Sunday and took a couple of snaps of the pipework so far and emptying the tank ready for sand and clean water.

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Inlet (to tank) piping. 25mm
Not sure how this will go. I should really have drilled a third hole in the back wall and plumbed this piping through. Would have looked a lot cleaner.
The suction cups don't provide a lot of rigidity and I don't think I am going to get a lot of surface movement but we'll see.

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Outlet piping. 25mm also.

Ran out of space for pics so will continue on below.

[Midnite76]

Outlet piping to sump.
This is 32mm. Hoping to get better volume with the twin pipe design. Would like the pump running as close to max as possible with still being able to get the water away.

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I could not think of a better way to join the two outlets together. Am also hoping 2 x 25mm, into 2 x 32mm, into 1 x 32mm will give me enough volume to keep the turnover up.

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Giving the new pump a run while emptying the tank

My 10,000lph pump arrived on Friday. 500 bio balls arrived today. Bought eggcrate while I was in Perth on the weekend, got all the filter material, spare 300w heaters already.

All I am waiting for now is my glaziers to hurry up and finish the sump so I can finish the plumbing and hit the GO button. Fingers crossed for this weekend.
Got 80kg of sand to clean so that is my next job.

Until then.....

Edited by Midnite76, 22 August 2011 - 08:31 PM.

[Neakit]

Just a thought on your overflow, dont join them you will restrict your flow to the point it will be like having just one pipe. Have the 2 just drain into the sump side by side, they will flow more water that way.

[fourdapostle]

Yes, I saw this tank, was a bargain from Mike in Singleton...if I remeber rightly. Just a huge tank and it is looking a lot better than it did then...new silicon looks good. I must admit I would def go for extra strapping on the sides, but hey will see what happens.

[Midnite76]

We will see how the piping goes. Like previously said 2 x 25mm pipes into two 32mm pipes into 1 x 32mm might do it (or it might not). Time will tell. Can always redo the piping at a later date if it doesn't work out.
Will be sure to let you all know how it goes.

I am hoping the extra strapping will not be necessary. The tank was full for a week and, giving the tank a few good shakes, it did not seem to show any signs of weakness.
I will keep a close eye on it once it is running to make sure all seals stay intact.

[Midnite76]

Well it is finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally got the sump on Saturday. The glaziers came over 'to help me get it in the shed'. The real reason was they wanted to check out the tank and fish

I completed the pipework, and finished the filtration media (all bio balls and gutter guard). Has done me well with the other two 8 footers.

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That is the filter side. My pics are a bit big so will show filling etc below.

[Midnite76]

Here are some pics of my hollow log and filling the tank.

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I cleaned the sump from the other large tanks, and poured that into the new sump. Hence the murkiness on start-up.
This should help get the media going before I put one of the larger fish, probably Saratoga, in there to see how it all goes.

I am waiting for a couple more large heaters and some more bio balls before it is complete.

I am not sure about the 10000LPH pump I have. It is probably doing about 7000LPH at that head height and I only have a little bit of surface movement.
There does not seem to be enough coloumn movement nor a high output from the tank.
I may have to upgrade this to a 15 or 20,000LPH pump very shortly. (Keep your eyes out for a cheap, near new pump in the classifieds).

I am happy with the finish so far and will keep you up to date on any changes.

Thanks for reading......

[Juls]

If your not getting enough surface agitation on return fiddle with your spray bar holes, reducing the size and qty till your happy with how it works.

I know I've built my own spray bars and I ended up starting from scratch with smaller drill bits.

Juls

[Midnite76]

I think you might be right Juls

I have put quite a lot of holes in my spray bar and they are a bit larger than my others.
I thought this might have been the go due to the larger pump, but may have overdone it.

There is agitation acorss the full surface of the tank but I can't see it penetrate the water column to move detritious around.

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This pic shows the inlet (and my broken cover) and you can just see some agitation there.

I will have to monitor this and see how it goes

Edited by Midnite76, 30 August 2011 - 06:24 PM.

[Riggers]

have you had a swim in it yet? lol

[Midnite76]

Hey mate

Heaters are slowly doing their job but I reckon once it's up to temp my daughter wont be able to help herself.

Might put big Red Tail in there with her and see what she thinks

[Evil_Boof]

this thing is so effin big i swear you could chuck a few decent pumps at one end, chuck a kid in there and pull them out an olympic swimmer, just like a swim spa i take my hat off to you for the hard work you put into this.. are you gonna make a uber stand for it and have it as a display? or is it simply too big?