KrazyKuch's & Michika's 180Gal Tank Build
 

Well we just picked up our glass from Bow Valley Aquarium, and I have to say wow what great service, we placed the order this afternoon and when we came to pick it up at 4:30 they were just finishing cutting it up, they loaded it into the back of our truck for us. Even gave us some good pointers on how to clean the glass and the best way to go about putting it together.

The tank is 72"X24"X24" (standard 180Gal) All the glass is 1/2" thick, we are gonna set it up as a FOWLR but latter converting to a Mixed Reef..

Here is the tank sitting on my floor.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0098.jpg

Here is a side view of the stack of glass.(the piece on the left is the center brace)
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0099.jpg

Close up of the side shot.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0100.jpg

Shot of part of the top Bracing.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0103.jpg


Thats all for tonight, tomorrow gonna build some jigs and buy some clamps and gonna start assembling the tank, will post more pics tomorrow of progress!

Just a question... Why didn't you have them put it together for you?

Cheaper for us to do it ourselves! We've built tanks before so its no big deal for us.

Kewl. Thats what I figured but just wanted to make sure :)

Good luck with the build! :)

Cool. I built my acrylic 60g and i found that to be a really fun project. I might try my hand at a glass tank come this summer. Do you think you could post some details/tips about how you like to silicone your tanks together?

Sure, I'll make sure there are lots of photos of the actual tank assembly. Anything in particular you would like to see?

I would like to see how you prepare and then apply the silicone. Also a list of the materials used and where you got them from would be nice,,and lots of pic's.....:painting:

Water in it yet? :)

Whats the timeframe on your build? Or you just going to work as you can sort of thing?

I wouldn't be confident in my own building skills to take on a project like that :p

Must be a lot easier getting the "tank" into the house when it is in parts rather than a big glass box eh?

Could you tell us the price difference between u-build and pre-assembled? $ or % is fine. Have fun. :)

Filling that for the first time is going to be very nerve racking.

Tank - $300, assembled prices ran from $550-750 depending on who we called, most pre-assembled tanks couldn't be drilled without an extra cost.
Silicone - $20

Timeframe is whenever, sooner is better, but you can't rush a good thing. The goal is to do a little work on it every night and see where that takes us. This tank is intended to be a grow out tank for our larger tank project we want to do in the future. Once its assembled I'm going to move everything from my disaster of a 28g long nano into this system. We are still working out details in regards to the return flow, but most everything else has been planned out for some time. I am hoping to have it set up & leak tested before May 1st.

Don't worry, I have some apprehension too about the leak test that will need to happen once the silicone has dried!

Next steps;
- trip to the hardware store for a 2x4, 8 clamps, and 2 corner clamps, a plastic square and a box of screws.
- Prepare the glass by washing it with white vinegar.
- Planning out shopping list of materials for reinforcing the floor
- Not breaking any panes of glass

I didn't think you could screw the glass together........ Do you use special screws?

Just kidding......

Really your hardware store stocks clams?? Do they have a store in Vancouver?

Regards,
Nevin

Man are we a vicious lot.......

:D

Yes, special screws...

Screws are for the 2x4, we are making a frame to set the glass in and on while its being siliconed. The clamps need to clamp onto something right?

ooh, yes I would like to see pics of the frame you set up to silicone the glass together.

Also, are you just using the aquarium grade silicone you find in a lfs or are you going to home depot or something to find an aquarium grade silicone. If you chose the latter, which silicone did you choose specifically? I find that when i go to a store i cant seem to find anything that doesn't say "not to for marine use below the water line"... which is kind of annoying.

I would also be interested in how you plan on reinforcing the floor.

lol special screws and clams.

For the tank itself its GE silicone, these were purchased specifically from the tank builder. I'll post photos later today of both types that we typically use for tank related builds, one from the builder, and one from our local Rona. I choose Rona because a) its Canadian, b) Gives me airmiles, and c) They take Amex, which indirectly gets me free goodies. So every tank build I do gives back to me in a small way.

Building the tank won't be hard, but doing clean, neat silicone work is quite hard. I applaud anyone who can do it by hand and get it looking good. A long time ago, I built about 100 tanks one summer, mostly small and custom shapes for Acadia University Biology dept. By the time I'd done the first 15 or 20, I got pretty good at it. By the end, it looked like factory-built. Now, out of practice, I hardly trust myself to caulk my shower!

i saw it looks like you are putting this on a second level by the point of strenthing the floor..

If your floor joice is exposed all you have to do is put pieces of 2x4 in the joice on both sides every 12 inches or so. this will strenthen the floor without having an ugly post underneath.

Actually this is the main floor, and reinforcement will come from changes made in the crawl space. I'll post photos when we are ready to do the reinforcements.

using tape is the key to straight silicone lines ;)

good luck on the build!

tape makes thick transitions... but it is how I'd do it if I was building one with my current skillset.

In my late teens (1960's) I ended up working for a new tropical fish importer in Montreal. One of my jobs was to build aquariums. The jig was soooo simple that I had to shake my head. It consisted of 2 pieces of 2x4 screwed down to a piece of plywood and 8 long grey shelf brackets that were secured to the plywood and 32 bolts plus silicone. That was it. Talk about using the "Kiss Principle"! Built 2 tanks everyday for about a month!

I'm interested in seeing how you are going to go about doing yours.
Have fun and good luck!

Please do post pics as it could be very easy to reenforce the floor joice. Rather then trying to build up to the floor and take up the entire crawl space.

Met a guy on a job site we got to talking and he told me how a buddy of his did it.

well I went with another way of bracing the glass instead of 2X4's, I bought some corner clamps and put some stick on felt on them as to not damage the glass!!!

Here is the corner clamps I bought.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0104.jpg

Here is the clamps with felt on them.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0105.jpg

Bottom after it has been cleaned with vinegar.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0106.jpg

After the edges have been taped.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0109.jpg

Bottom with the back side by side.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0111.jpg

Starting to apply silicone.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0127.jpg

Another shot of me applying silicone.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0128.jpg

Back pain in place.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0130.jpg

One side in place and clamped with the corner clamp.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0132.jpg

Both sides in place and clamped, and me removing excess silicone on the inside.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0133.jpg

Shot of all 3 sides in place.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0135.jpg

Shot of one of the seams.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0137.jpg

And here is a pic of the silicone we used.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...h/DSC_0116.jpg

Basically once I had an end piece in place I clamped it to the back pain,and then made sure that the bottom of the side piece was flush to the bottom pain, and that the side pain was full pressed up against the back pain...Make sense or did I loose anyone!

Nice work so far! Where'd ya get the clamps?

makes sense to me. Thanks for the pics.

btw, nice legs. i like the stockings :wink:

I got them from Rona!

Just a suggestion but you may want a small peice of wood or foam or carpet or somthing inbetween the clamp and the glass as it could scratch.

Thank you! I like them too! :lol:

Actually if you would re-read my recent post with the pic's, you will see that I put felt on the clamp so that it can't scratch the glass...(it's the second photo in the group)

My bad. felt is a great idea. dont know how i missed it saw all the other pics?????:redface:

We have these neat corner clamps at work .. We sell them for about $20.

One big caulking tip for readers: buy a half barrel, 'dripless' style caulking gun. You will notice huge improvement over a cheap skeleton frame gun!

Also GE Silicone 1 is considered 'aquarium safe' and submersible for those wondering. I've never seen the GE SCS1200 Silicone .. Is that what the professionals use?

Great build WOW totally cool and very interested in this one. Never seen a Total Glass build

J

The clamps I'm using cost $8, Yeah that is the silicone that bow valley aquariums uses!

I used the same Silicone on my tank but in black.
Looks great :biggrin:
I see you put your sides on your bottom. I did this as well but read later that most people put the bottom up 1/4" and let the sides take all the pressure. Do you have any thoughts on that??
Also I found that after a few days of drying that you could see some of those air crack lines. I had less on my second tank I glued up but left the clamps on longer. Any thoughts on this?? I also had all my edges polished as they told me on thick glass it was hard to get it lump free. This might be why though. Would be interested in how yours look on the seam after about 3-4 days. Are you going to edge the sides with something to make the glass edge look better?

Kevin & Catherine that will be a pretty sweet "grow out" tank. Great start for a build thread=== totally from scratch. :biggrin: Good luck.

Thank you! I hope it turns out as well as we have planned for.