Problem with 160 gallon rivertank (Updated 6/1/2011)

[chefkeith]

glenna- I'm seriously thinking about getting a tank like yours, an Aqueon All Glass 125 gallon. My LFS gave me a quote on one for $324. I don't think I can beat that price and quality with a DIY tank.

[newshound]

one last question
what "weld-on" did you use for the plexi?

I have been told that weld-on 4 is the best

http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=465

[chefkeith]

newshound- I used weldon 4 to join the seams, plus I put a bead of weldon 16 along the inside joints. Although the seam went bad, it was the bead of weldon 16 that kept it from leaking.

[wasserscheu]

Thanks for your update Keith and the impressive videos, showing so much live in your clowns - an amazing sight.

I’ve googled a bit for acryl gluing in English , and it’s different than the guidelines I remember from a few years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT6Ow_cBTps

here a fish tube for the pond in German though

http://vimeo.com/10798236

I remember clearly that it was mentioned to make space for enough glue to react with, either using spacers, or making a chamfer, like shown here, also a rough surface would help:

source: http://www.overclockers.at/attachment.p ... fullpage=1



that obviously would not look that nice, but offers more material to desolve deeper into the plates, in case rigid goes prior too looks, pick that way. Doing that the glue needs to be of a bit thicker conistency. For industrial strength there was a 2 component glue recommended, but I am not up to date.

[chefkeith]

thanks wolfram. I do know of a 2 component acrylic cement called weldon 40. Some professional tank builders use it for huge tanks. The edges of the acrylic would be beveled, like you showed, with a table router. If you or anyone else here wants to learn more about building acrylic tanks, you should take a look at this thread over at ReefCentral. There are a few people at that forum that can answer any questions about acrylic. Here's the link- Acrylic fabrication questions?

[glenna]

The nice thing about a pre-made tank of that size (besides the fact that you don't have to build it) is that they often come with a lifetime guarantee. Mine did, and when the bottom seam BUSTED after three weeks of being set up, they came to my house, took the bad tank away, and brought me a new tank, set it up, ....NO QUESTIONS ASKED. I know it is highly irregular for a tank that is well made to have a seam fail like that, but my experience is that it CAN happen!
OF course, I bought it through a LFS where they knew me well and got a lot of my $$$ already. Still, the replacement tank was on the tank manufacturer, NOT on the fish store.
Definitiely something to think about!

[chefkeith]

I ordered a new Aqueon 125 gallon glass aquarium Today. It's 72.5" long x 18.5" wide x 23 3/8 high. Weights 177# empty. 1400# full. Has a tempered glass bottom. I should have it before the weekend.

Finally, the weather is warm and dry enough to work outside again. We had near record rainfall (14.5") here in Michigan during the month of May. So I'll be building a new stand and hood for the tank in the upcoming days. I might use the old acrylic river tank to build the new hood if it's not too much work. I really like the acrylic hood I'm using on the 190 gallon tank.

For aquascaping: I'm not sure what I'll do yet. One thing I do know, it won't be like the other river tanks I've done where I had a large island cave in the middle. I still want high water flow and low dim lighting though. So I'm not sure how or if any plants will be involved. I'll be looking at my Amano book for some inspiration though.

[chefkeith]

Got the new tank Today. Bought some lumber for the stand I'll be building too.

Here's my design for the stand. Nothing fancy, but it will be the most solid stand I've ever built. No skimping on materials this time.


Here's what I want my fishroom to look like when I'm finished. It's going to overhaul all of the tanks, where I'll be moving the substrates, driftwood, and the plants around.