Bandit's 150g build
 

Well, some may know that I am getting a established 150g from an ex co-worker. Well, it was inwall in his house, and I am making it stand alone. It's a 60x24x24 tank. Just got the stand finished today. Here's some pics. Some FTS shots of my other tanks. I now have a Bedroom tank as well. Moved the 10g Betta tank into our bedroom. I forgot to take pics of that though. And I pologize for the crappy pics. I'm no jdigital when it comes to taking pics, and these were with my cell phone.

Stand under construction. Used design from RC.

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...AG0197%7E0.jpg

Little mrs Vanna White

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...l_IMAG0202.jpg

In it's new home

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...l_IMAG0206.jpg

corner tank

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...l_IMAG0207.jpg

New corner tank, from Jakartaorbust

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...l_IMAG0208.jpg

FW Angel tank

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...l_IMAG0209.jpg

the whole 100 Mile house Aquarium...

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...l_IMAG0211.jpg

Ohhh this is gonna be sweet!! Looking forward to this man!

That's alot of tanks!

Just finished painting the sump area. A cream white. Some leftover paint we had form painting our bathroom. I'll take pics tomorrow. For now I need some pain killers and a beer. Did I forget to mention, I built this with a pinched nerve in my neck. I hate nerves HAHAHA

Ya, we got a few tanks. Sometimes I think I need help.

lookin good:biggrin: sometime im gonna have to make it up to look.

Looks great but,:wink: it would look way better at my house. Say a 95 traded for it. hehe, nice stand and love little Vanna by the way.

Well, cleaned the tank today. Took off the old paint, and the phony trim. Nice Eurobraced tank now. More pics in a while

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...AG0216%7E0.jpg

One of the sump. Spent half the day trying to remove the smoke glass extensions, just cut them off flush. grr, Silicone TOUGH to remove hahaha

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...2/IMAG0217.jpg

oops, I forgot to resize, sorry

Its comming along, looking good

More pics.


Tank on the stand

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...l_IMAG0219.jpg

Some of the critters in their new temp home

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...2/IMAG0220.jpg


OOPS, damn resize again....

New
 

The stand is outstanding, it is beautiful and the tank looks amazing too!
You did a fantastic job, oh but hurry up and fill that monster, hehe!

Now, I am just wondering what to do. Do I go closed loop again, with a OM-4. Or vortech's? I REALLLLY like the no powerhead look. I think I want a blue background, then the overflow is made from smoked glass. Remove overflow?? Allways wanted a Coast to Coast overflow.. Hmmm I'm in this far, I dunno.......
Just so many possibilities.

I'm trying to figure out the same as you for flow. Although I would only want a 2-way, or a VorTech, or a Wavebox. I'm leaning towards doing the 2-way plus either a VorTech or Wavebox. Decisions, decisions. I'm doing a Herbie though overflow though.

Ya, If I keep the Overflow box, then it's Herbie. Thing is, It center overflow, Smoked glass. I want a blue background I think. Don't know how the Smoked glass will look against the blue??? But if I take it out, what about the holes allready drilled??? Grrr Remind me WHY I do this??

I understand why people like the natural look of the blue background, but I prefer black as I find it really turns the tank into a centre piece and makes the colors pop. I considered the same thing with my tank, but my fw tank has a black background, and the overflow in my tank is also black (corner though), so I figured oh what the h, just paint it black and be done with it. So, the answer is simple...keep the overflow, do a Herbie, and paint the back black! Just like me!!! :p

Although I don't think it would look bad if you kept the black overflow and painted the back of the tank blue. I think it would look just fine.

+1 to black backgrounds. I have blue on my 90 and I'm not a huge fan of it. Black is the way to go IMO

Are you religious about keeping the back glass clean?....If not then it really doesnt matter much which color you go with.... Ive done both and liked the black background better....for as long as I could see it, anyway.

Religious, Me, Nope. Ya I think I'll go black agaiin. This tank will be a pain to clean the back

Hey Dan great job so far. I have had many tanks with Light blue and black too.

Black backs I find that the dark color darkens the tank a bit. that is what I have seen from my 120 that i took down.

The light blue I found that it brighten the tank alot. but you see the algae growing on the back more until its covered. unless you have your rocks away from the back of the tank so you can clean the back of the tank...

I have done Black with a black stand too on my 65 gal and Myka's right it does pop and draws the view s to the tank, when you have super bright lighting lighting the tank

Time for an update. Drilled the tank today. 7 holes. Just had enough life in my diamond hole saw to do it too.

Here, Taking the overflow out. Built out of 3/8" glass to boot, dang sturdy. But not what I was wanting. Oh, and I drilled it in my living room without making a mess. To prove it can be done. Painted it too LOL That's a 52" projection TV for tank size comparison

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...l_Dsc00004.jpg

Went through alot of Olfa blades.

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...l_Dsc00007.jpg

The Silly Putty ring to hold the water. FYI, I used 3 "eggs" to get enough SP for the dam. To mark the hole, I aligned the hole saw where I wanted it, and turned it a little by hand to scratch the circle mark. Then, when I put the hole saw in the drill, I could see where I wanted to be. To start drilling, hold the drill at a slight angle, and hold the saw steady with your fingertips. Slow speed, and ease into the glass. Slowly straigtening out the drill. Med-slow speed, let the weight of the drill do the work, dont push. Took me 15 min I guess, with the last hole closer to 20 because the saw was about wore out. 1/2" glass. That saw has cut through about 5.5" of glass total so far

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...c00009%7E0.jpg

Here's the 3 COast to Coast overflow holes in the back.

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...l_Dsc00010.jpg



More pics later. Back has first coat of Marine Gloss black on it. Hope to get another coat on tonight before bed.
Forgot to take pics of the bottom holes, but they look the same, only more of them LOL. Was to busy waiting for gthe Dewalt battery to charge up between holes HAHAHA

Nice, you drill the same way I do, except I put duct tape (or heavy duty packing tape) on the other side of the glass, so its supported when you cut through to avoid "pops" around the exit point...

Nice looking tank.. I agree to go with black.. I'm going with it as well..

Never thought about putting tape on the inside. Good Idea. Now, I dunno when I'll get to try it HAHAHA. I'm done drilling for a while I hope..

You can actually use a high speed and push surprisingly hard (on thick glass like that), Great job though! Biggest thing is to slow down as you are starting to come through to prevent "shelling". No way, would my g/f let me drill a tank in "her" livingroom:lol:

Siliconing the C2C overflow now. I kinda mis judges the distance needed. The V will be on almost a 45* angle. The Eurobrace makes it tough. To make it look good, yet be able to get in to the bottom of the V for cleaning. Time will tell

Progress Update.

Got the overflow done. I set the overflow 90* and siliconed the inside. Waited about an hr for the silicone to skin up, then set it on the final angle.

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...282%29%7E0.jpg

I siliconed the visible edge, masked off the glass as to not get any silicone on where I didn't want it.

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...282%29%7E0.jpg

Once the silicone had set up enough, I started on the back plumbing. using tape to hold the overflow from shifting. Which it never did.

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...282%29%7E0.jpg

Now it was time to wait. Wait for my bud to finally come over and help lift it up on the stand. Waited for 3 hrs before help arrived.
Once it was up, ut was time to put the bulkheads in. This couldn't be done by myself, so I enlisted qualified help.
Man, I need a haircut, getting pretty long

http://banditpowdercoat.com/Powderga...c00017%7E0.jpg

Is that the qualified help inside the tank?

Yup :D

She is a bulkhead installation specialist.

Is your overflow panel Starfire?

The build is looking great Dan.. :mrgreen:

I'd love to say YEAH! But I never asked for it. BUT, now that you mention it, it is pretty darn clear. My glass guy is a car buff too. So we trade glass for powder coating on his Dart and Cuda HAHAHA. Just not enough PC work to get a whole tank built LOL

Paul, got a OM-4 ready for me? Approximatly, what are the Dim's of the OM-4? Trying to figure out where the Leak, ER, AMPmaster will go.

There's not as much room as I anticipated with a 50g sump HAHAHA

Does your glass guy need a cabinet maker/carpenter extraordinare??? Looks like she was more help than I had....my g/f is rendered pretty much useless by her long-ass fingernails.

Don't know if my glass guy needs one, but I DO. My trim is falling off allready LOL. Well, to be honest, I never really thought out the doors that well, just sheeted the front, then cut out the opening. Using the cutouts fro the doors. Now, what do I do with the saw cut gap? Tried to brad nail 1" flat molding over it, but I need wider molding or glue HAHAH Wood is NOT my strong point.

For my next stunt, I am going to make a 6" ledge around the tank. was throwing the ides of Black tile on top of the ledge. THAT should prove entertaining.

Not for 3 weeks tho, I'm back into camp tomorrow. give me lots of time to go through it in my head LOL.

Better be careful she dosen't see your post Mr Fishytime she may just use them
fingernails on you!:biggrin:

Ohh, fingernails down back. MMM Ohh wait, wrong forum HAHAHA

Sent P.M in regards to the new Forum

Geez and Ive been called a dirty old man on here before.....Its ok....Im comfortable with that. Where is this other forum??:twised::mrgreen:

What another member :wink: Dan, will you tell him? Or should I ?

I wouldn't say "old"....definately dirty though... :D

Quick update, TANK HOLDS WATER!!!! Whooo. Just playing with the sump return right now. I made the overflow a little low for my liking. So, I am trying to silicone on a 1/2" strip of plastic. Wish me luck

Pics to come later, Im to busy right now

Stayed up all night waiting for pictures, yawn!