Earlsfat
New Member
Hi. I'm Jim. I did a big dumb thing and lent out a 75 (not sure of exact dimensions but it’s about 4’ wide 2’ deep and 2’ tall - and probably about 30 years old, lol) gallon fish tank to my brother in law, who just about trashed it. (Yes I never learn from my mistakes.)
Seriously though... Before I go and dump a huge amount of money into a new tank, if this will work I'm gonna try that first... being that I already have the tank.
My kids want some fish... so I got my tank back (took a look at it and swore a whole bunch) and decided I'd be better off taking it apart to see if it's worth fixing (I've been trolling quite a few sites for building my own tank for years and am pretty confident I can fix it). The plastic around the top and bottom were cracked and broken to the point of falling off, there must have been leaks since someone put HUGE swaths of caulk around the seams inside and out... The glass (all 1/2”) has a lot of scratches, but none are very deep, and there are a few chips on the corners nothing more than about ¼” in diameter and no deeper than about 1/8” - if need be I think I can have them be at the top of the tank where no water will be.
I figure I can use a solvent to get rid of the remaining caulk to get clean edges and use 100% silicone caulk to put it back together, wash it out with dish soap first time then rinse the heck out of it several times, yadda, yadda, yadda…
My questions are - Do I need to have the bottom and top black plastic things that the tank rests on, and that the lid rests on (I think they also help the structure of the tank too). Can I make these out of wood??? Does anyone sell them or does anyone know how to make them??? The old ones are made of some sort of composite / faux wood glued at the corners.
I have a ton of other questions (the last time this tank had fish in it I was 7, and all the little tank's I've had over the last few years never did well), but they concern setting it up: filters, pumps up, cycling it, etc and I guess those oughtta go in another forum…
Thanks (from me and my kids, lol.)
Seriously though... Before I go and dump a huge amount of money into a new tank, if this will work I'm gonna try that first... being that I already have the tank.
My kids want some fish... so I got my tank back (took a look at it and swore a whole bunch) and decided I'd be better off taking it apart to see if it's worth fixing (I've been trolling quite a few sites for building my own tank for years and am pretty confident I can fix it). The plastic around the top and bottom were cracked and broken to the point of falling off, there must have been leaks since someone put HUGE swaths of caulk around the seams inside and out... The glass (all 1/2”) has a lot of scratches, but none are very deep, and there are a few chips on the corners nothing more than about ¼” in diameter and no deeper than about 1/8” - if need be I think I can have them be at the top of the tank where no water will be.
I figure I can use a solvent to get rid of the remaining caulk to get clean edges and use 100% silicone caulk to put it back together, wash it out with dish soap first time then rinse the heck out of it several times, yadda, yadda, yadda…
My questions are - Do I need to have the bottom and top black plastic things that the tank rests on, and that the lid rests on (I think they also help the structure of the tank too). Can I make these out of wood??? Does anyone sell them or does anyone know how to make them??? The old ones are made of some sort of composite / faux wood glued at the corners.
I have a ton of other questions (the last time this tank had fish in it I was 7, and all the little tank's I've had over the last few years never did well), but they concern setting it up: filters, pumps up, cycling it, etc and I guess those oughtta go in another forum…
Thanks (from me and my kids, lol.)