phishyphil
Fish Addict
Okay, So a month or so ago, my father decided to drop a glass on top of my Fluval Edge, how nice of him, needless to say, the glass cracked in several places, and here's where the gaffer tape came in to patch up the work. I had intended to get rid of the tank completely, then I saw some where that someone had removed the lid and used it as an open top tank. So I went to work.
Tank Here prior to removing the Top
Tools Needed for the project
Hammer
Fishing Line or Dental Floss
Stanley knife
Blade
Gaffer Tape (Potentially)
Okay so the process began. I never actually used the grey tape, my intention though was to tape the glass on top, so if it cracked, the glass remained stuck to the tape and would not fall and shatter every where. The Hammer is to gently tap any loose glass out of place on top The Razor blade and Stanley knife are used to cut through the silicone. The Dental Floss/fishing line is also used to cut through the hard to reach silicone.
Firstly, I cut around the silicone outside and inside of the tank, and used the blade when the stanley knife was to bulky to get into position.
Next, I GENTLY tapped a loose piece of glass to give me some room to work with in the tank, and enable me to get the fishing line in between the panes. It Actually came up really easy, which was a surprise, but it really helps you make an easy job of this.
Next, it was time for the fishing line, I started with dental floss, however it just wasn't strong enough. The idea here is to use the fishing line as a saw to cut through the silicone by moving the line back and forward, with one inside the tank, one outside. This works a treat
Just work your way around the tank, and eventually, the tank will be free of the lid
Next job is to use the razor to scrape of any excess silicone.
And here is the finished tank with the lid off
SOOOOOOOO..... this took me half an hour, so now it was time to clean the tank up and get re-scaping.
So 30mins later, I had washed the tank, removed the filter from the unit, hung it on the back of the tank, added Tesco's Cat litter into the tank as a substrate and here's how it looked
Next I needed a light unit to use on the tank. All I here was to gently remove the lights, with the switch from the fluval edge tower unit. This task requires patience as you will need to break the plastic on the unit.
I cut a piece of drain pipe to approximatly 47cm in length, and drilled two holes, wide enough to get the pins of the light through the pipe, but not so the white block on the other side could fall through pipe See picture for detail.
So all that was left to do now was add the shrimp back in, with the plants, and, crack open a beer n enjoy a couple of hours work
Comments, criticisms, improvements welcome
Tank Here prior to removing the Top
Tools Needed for the project
Hammer
Fishing Line or Dental Floss
Stanley knife
Blade
Gaffer Tape (Potentially)
Okay so the process began. I never actually used the grey tape, my intention though was to tape the glass on top, so if it cracked, the glass remained stuck to the tape and would not fall and shatter every where. The Hammer is to gently tap any loose glass out of place on top The Razor blade and Stanley knife are used to cut through the silicone. The Dental Floss/fishing line is also used to cut through the hard to reach silicone.
Firstly, I cut around the silicone outside and inside of the tank, and used the blade when the stanley knife was to bulky to get into position.
Next, I GENTLY tapped a loose piece of glass to give me some room to work with in the tank, and enable me to get the fishing line in between the panes. It Actually came up really easy, which was a surprise, but it really helps you make an easy job of this.
Next, it was time for the fishing line, I started with dental floss, however it just wasn't strong enough. The idea here is to use the fishing line as a saw to cut through the silicone by moving the line back and forward, with one inside the tank, one outside. This works a treat
Just work your way around the tank, and eventually, the tank will be free of the lid
Next job is to use the razor to scrape of any excess silicone.
And here is the finished tank with the lid off
SOOOOOOOO..... this took me half an hour, so now it was time to clean the tank up and get re-scaping.
So 30mins later, I had washed the tank, removed the filter from the unit, hung it on the back of the tank, added Tesco's Cat litter into the tank as a substrate and here's how it looked
Next I needed a light unit to use on the tank. All I here was to gently remove the lights, with the switch from the fluval edge tower unit. This task requires patience as you will need to break the plastic on the unit.
I cut a piece of drain pipe to approximatly 47cm in length, and drilled two holes, wide enough to get the pins of the light through the pipe, but not so the white block on the other side could fall through pipe See picture for detail.
So all that was left to do now was add the shrimp back in, with the plants, and, crack open a beer n enjoy a couple of hours work
Comments, criticisms, improvements welcome
D
no point cryin over spilt milk..... not many folk would have USED the milk again though!
