Bandit's 150g build

[Skimmerking]

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

[banditpowdercoat]

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



Went through alot of Olfa blades.



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



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





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

[JDigital]

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..

[banditpowdercoat]

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..

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

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

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

[banditpowdercoat]

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

[banditpowdercoat]

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.



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



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.



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

[Leah]

Is that the qualified help inside the tank?