EnoOnraefi
Mostly New Member
I was told that I should chronicle my build here so that others can see what I am up to. I'll give warning right now, this is in no way going to be a short build. It will be a, build as I can afford to, type thing. I currently have a 35 gallon planted tank that I have been slowly building over the last year. It didn't start out as a planted tank but it has slowly headed that direction as I learned to hate plastic plants. The project tank is a 125 Gallon tank that I can find no brand on. It has been sitting in a neighbor's back yard for who knows how long. He put it outside after it started leaking from between the front and bottom glass. I took the tank and the stand that he built off of his hands so that he wouldn't have to dispose of it.
Upon first inspection it looked like the tank was in almost perfect condition other than the leak that my neighbor told me about. Once I got it home I noticed a chip in the back pane of glass about 3/4 of the way up the side just on the edge of the glass, and the top frame was cracked in a few places. After talking to the LFS we decided that the crack in the top frame could be easily fixed with a bit of epoxy since it shouldn't effect the crossing supports that keep the long side of the tank from bowing. The chip was made in such a way that the glass will not continue to crack, and it won't effect the seal of the tank. So after talking with the guru at my LFS I made the decision to continue on with the plan of resealing the tank with some minor revision. I'm going to reinforce the little section in question with a small piece of glass just for my own sanity and reassurance. Then just to further reduce the pressure on this imperfection I ordered 2 "Cornerflow" overflow boxes from Marineland, one for each of the back corners. Marineland manufactures a tank of the exact same dimensions that is drilled with overflows and that fact will hopefully make fitting the overflows to the back corners quite easy. As an added bonus, I have never been a fan of being able to see all of the equipment in the tank, so having an overflow in both back corners will make it quite easy to hide several pieces of equipment.
The plan from here is to strip and reseal the tank and install the overflow boxes while I am working with the silicone. I will then let the tank cure for a week and water test the tank in my garage for at least a month. While the tank is undergoing its water testing I plan on taking apart and rebuilding the stand, with what I expect to end up being a good bit of new lumber since the stand has been outside in the weather all this time as well.
I do not currently have any pictures of the tank or stand but I will take them and post them as soon as I have the time, and help with moving them out from the wall. I have most of the tank planned out it is just down to having the funds to buy it all.
So far I am planning on building a canopy from scratch. For lighting I'm planning on custom ordered ReefBrite XHO LED's with the proper spectrum for a planted tank. The filtration is not nailed down yet but I'm leaning towards Fluval's FX6, and before I get comments, I know that this is a bit much for a planted tank of this size but I'm planning on stocking the tank a bit more heavily than most planted tanks. However, I am still open to any suggestions.
I'll make updates as I can and as progress is made. If it's been a while and someone would like an update just ask and I'll do my best to post how things are going.
Upon first inspection it looked like the tank was in almost perfect condition other than the leak that my neighbor told me about. Once I got it home I noticed a chip in the back pane of glass about 3/4 of the way up the side just on the edge of the glass, and the top frame was cracked in a few places. After talking to the LFS we decided that the crack in the top frame could be easily fixed with a bit of epoxy since it shouldn't effect the crossing supports that keep the long side of the tank from bowing. The chip was made in such a way that the glass will not continue to crack, and it won't effect the seal of the tank. So after talking with the guru at my LFS I made the decision to continue on with the plan of resealing the tank with some minor revision. I'm going to reinforce the little section in question with a small piece of glass just for my own sanity and reassurance. Then just to further reduce the pressure on this imperfection I ordered 2 "Cornerflow" overflow boxes from Marineland, one for each of the back corners. Marineland manufactures a tank of the exact same dimensions that is drilled with overflows and that fact will hopefully make fitting the overflows to the back corners quite easy. As an added bonus, I have never been a fan of being able to see all of the equipment in the tank, so having an overflow in both back corners will make it quite easy to hide several pieces of equipment.
The plan from here is to strip and reseal the tank and install the overflow boxes while I am working with the silicone. I will then let the tank cure for a week and water test the tank in my garage for at least a month. While the tank is undergoing its water testing I plan on taking apart and rebuilding the stand, with what I expect to end up being a good bit of new lumber since the stand has been outside in the weather all this time as well.
I do not currently have any pictures of the tank or stand but I will take them and post them as soon as I have the time, and help with moving them out from the wall. I have most of the tank planned out it is just down to having the funds to buy it all.
So far I am planning on building a canopy from scratch. For lighting I'm planning on custom ordered ReefBrite XHO LED's with the proper spectrum for a planted tank. The filtration is not nailed down yet but I'm leaning towards Fluval's FX6, and before I get comments, I know that this is a bit much for a planted tank of this size but I'm planning on stocking the tank a bit more heavily than most planted tanks. However, I am still open to any suggestions.
I'll make updates as I can and as progress is made. If it's been a while and someone would like an update just ask and I'll do my best to post how things are going.
