New 225 Setup with Aquascaping Focus

[TheReefGeek]

I have razor bladed off blue paint from 20g tank before. Scratches would be a definate risk though.

Depending on the paint type maybe it could be removed with turpentine. (sp?)

[Kryten]

Originally Posted by TheReefGeek

If you paint the back wall of the tank, could you still clean it with a mag float? Or will that scratch the paint off?

My magfloat doesn't bother the paint. The paint is, of course, on the outside of the tank so it's the soft side of the magfloat that gets run over it.

[TheReefGeek]

What kind of paint did you use? How did you apply it?

[Midknight]

I use Krylon spray paint. I normally spray it on.

[andrewsk]

Well my tank arrived tonight and it is HUGE. It's one thing to measure and plan, but when the tank actually showed up I just could not believe how big it was.

Albert and the gang from Golds delivered it and did a great job. Man that thing weighed a TON.

Ill post pics later as I cannot find my Wide angle lens for my camera.

There were a couple of things Albert metioned that I wanted to clear up and thought it would be good to have them in the forum.

Since the tank is frameless, we put it on some plywood and Albert suggested I get some foam to put under it. I got a 1/4 foam camping pad from Wal Mart since Home Depot only carries hard styrofoam it seems.

Does this look ok?



Albert also suggested that I cut out a portion of the center of the foam and leave it open. I am not sure why I need to do this and perhaps Albert can explain as it was a bit crazy while he was here. Would just leaving the whole sheet of foam under the tank cause problems?

Anyway, it's in a looks great. I have to wait a week for it to cure and then put fresh water in it for a week to leak test. That is ok as I have at least that much work to do with the Sump, rockwork tests and plumbing.

Ill post pics tomorrow.

Keith

[andrewsk]

Ok, I found the lens.

Here are the shots:






Look how tiny my little 90 looks now from the exact same distance of the shot!!!!



Here is the overflow. There is one on each side outside of the tank. I wanted as much room in the tank as possible and as little man made objects as possible.

[albert_dao]

Since this tank is frameless, you'll want the center of the tank to "float". The reason being that, under pressure, the glass will push down against the floor support, with the floor support exerting an equal amount of pressure back against the glass (physics, lol). If there's ANY kind of uneveness against the glass (eg. a knot area in the plywood), it's going to create different areas of pressure; foam will only provide a marginal buffer against this. Imagine pushing the end of a 2x4 against the center of the front panel, it'll just break. The same applies to your bottom panel, except tenfold since that's where all of the weight is concentrated.

For this reason, Oceanic will not warrantee cracked tanks that are not put on Oceanic stands. These stands support only the outside edges of the tank, thus, floating the center.

Edit: you're going to want to go back to Home Depot and pick up some of the 3/4" hard foam insulation sheets for this. Soft foam is just asking for it...

[andrewsk]

OK, thanks Albert ill do that today.

How much of the center do I cut out so it can float? Or I guess it would be easier to ask how wide should each side of the foam be after I have cut out the center?

Thanks Albert.

[albert_dao]

You only need 4"-6" around the perimeter of the tank. Just make sure it's a pretty stiff insulating foam.

[albert_dao]

Oh yeah, Keith, you might want to put the tank on it's back and paint the bottom of it white prior to actually doing anything with it. If you don't, you're going to end up with that disgusting "refracted ugh" look that a lot of BB tanks have.