my 104.72G Shallow Lagoon

Funky_Fish14 · #1 12-20-2009, 05:57 AM

Ah ok, well, whatever works! Haha.

Just the nylon tape should do 'er. It will actually hold it very well, and you dont want to squeeze the seams too tight, so the tape is your best bet! This is from personal experience building tanks at a shop.

Cheers,

Chris

kien · #2 12-30-2009, 09:02 AM

Since I had nothing better to do on Christmas eve I decided to tackle the tank. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. However, I did find it a bit time intensive. Like painting, I found most of the grunt work up front. The cleaning, taping, etc.. Alright, on with the show!

So the first thing I did was collect all my tools and bits and bobbles that I'd need for the construction. Tape, vices, silicone, etc.. I then started to clean the glass with acetone and then another round of cleaning with water and vinegar. Next I taped off all my seams like so.

After doing some dry runs (ie, pretending to put the tank together), I came up with an approach that seemed to work best for me.

First I applied strips of nylon tape to the front and back panels, top and bottom in preparation for securing the panels once they were in place and the corner vices removed. More on this later.

With the tank held together with the corner vices as pictured above. I then un-viced one of the side panels and prepared it for siliconing. I laid that panel on the floor and applied a continuous bead of silicone at the bottom of that pan of glass ONLY.

I lifted that side panel into place and reapplied the corner vice to hold it into place (not the nylon tape!). I repeated this procedure for the other side panel.

I now had both side panels siliconed to the bottom glass only. Next I un-viced the front panel and applied a bead of silicon to the sides and bottom of that pane of glass.

I then lifted that pane up and instead of using the corner vices, this time I secure it with the nylon tape that was sticking to it.

As you can see, silicone oozes out but that's okay. I avoided rubbing it off because once the silicone dried, I could easily run a blade down it like so.

And here is the main tank all done up.

Next I tackled the euro-bracing and overflow box. There wasn't anything special to note about those pieces. Just apply silicone and hold into place with nylon tape. Lastly I ran my finger down the inside corners to push down all the silicone that oozed out. Were silicone did not ooze into the tank corners I applied a little bit and pushed that down.

So here she is, waiting for silicone to cure.

burtonboy · #3 12-30-2009, 09:14 AM

looking really good! Cant wait to see it full of corals.

Jason McK · #4 12-30-2009, 02:52 PM

Great Build thread so far. Looking forward to more

banditpowdercoat · #5 12-30-2009, 02:53 PM

OHHH I see a SG1 box there

One day I will get the WHOLE series. Seen every one on TV, but would love to own.

Tank looks awesome BTW

schroeder · #6 01-02-2010, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kien

Since I had nothing better to do on Christmas eve

WHAAT!?

I wish I had that kind of freedom with my wife.

kien · #7 01-02-2010, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schroeder

WHAAT!?

I wish I had that kind of freedom with my wife.

Get a new wife? LOL! Just kidding. (sort of, maybe).

schroeder · #8 01-02-2010, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kien

Get a new wife? LOL! Just kidding. (sort of, maybe).

Nah! She's a keeper.
She hates my current tank. It is my first, and it was an experiment for me. It's a 5 gallon nano with a sump in an open stand. The pump is noisy, and she doesn't like the look of the sump, so I made her a deal that I would get rid of it...

...on condition that I build another showpiece tank, (the 5 gallon is too small anyway) so I'm doing a 40 breeder, shallow tank on a homebuilt stand (I like making furniture) with a 24" geismann infinity. I got away with justifying the expense by promising to make it bootiful, and she bought it!

schroeder · #9 01-02-2010, 07:15 AM

I'm watching this build closely, because I want to see what you've got in mind for aquascaping and stocking. I've seen some beautiful shallow tanks posted elsewhere, but I want more ideas before I plan the layout of my own.

I'm debating a closed loop. Are you planning on one?

kien · #10 01-02-2010, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schroeder

I'm watching this build closely, because I want to see what you've got in mind for aquascaping and stocking. I've seen some beautiful shallow tanks posted elsewhere, but I want more ideas before I plan the layout of my own.

I'm debating a closed loop. Are you planning on one?

If your sump is wide open for everyone to see then I would agree with your wife that it is probably quite unsightly

I'm still planning (in my head) how I want to aquascape this tank. At first I was just going to dump some (live) rocks in there and be done with it since this wasn't really meant to be a display tank. However, now that I've seen the tank on its stand I'm starting to really fall in love with it and am wanting to put more effort into making it more of a display(ish) tank and have some fun.

I am not personally a fan of closed loops. I appreciate their benefits but every time I try to formulate a closed loop system (a few times for my 150g tank, and a few times for this tank), I am never happy with how it turns out for various reasons. That's just me though :-)