Jaak's 1.2m DIY - HELP!!??

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Ok, I got myself a new tank with stand on the weekend for an absolute steal. Before anyone asks for pics, i'll upload some as soon as I can find my camera's cable!! The joys of having a 2 year old scrathing everywhere i suppose...;)
Here's the dims: 120L x 45w x 45H. I would've wanted more width and depth but that will be for the next big project. It has 10mm think euro bracing on the front and back pane and all the glass is 6mm thick. I got it with a stand that measures 120 x 45 x 90 and is constructed of 5cm square tubing that's galvanised, etc. and painted black. It looks pretty sick!! The sump still has to be constructed, at the moment it's a 3 foot tank that's been busy curing LR for 6 weeks already with a live sand bed. But i want to concentrate on the display tank for the moment.

Now here's what I'm planning on doing and this is where I need advice on:
1) I want to cut the entire tank's silicone off and do it again with black silicone. I need some advice on how to do this safely and in the right manner as I've never siliconed an entire tank together. I read on Scuba's thread about moving his centre braces where Hennie said that the euro bracing should be about a matchstick width away from the front & back pane and filled with silicone. The bracing at the moment is flush with both panes and this is where the idea came from to do all the silicone again but in black.:thumbup: How do I actually do this?
2) I want to drill and construct a overflow in the corner where I want to put a Durso in. How big a hole should I have drilled? How high should the overflow be? Any thoughts on the design of the overflow?
3) When it comes to the actual construction of the Durso I've had a look on the site and I think I can figure it out!!?? ;)How high should the Durso be?
4) Would I need to put bracing on the sides of the tank and the bottom too?
5) With the return I thought about building a LR stand out of PVC tubing with drilled holes in for the return flow. Another thing I also saw on Scuba's thread.;) Any thoughts on this is welcome? How big a return pump would be needed, etc? Can I drill another hole in the bottom of the overflow for the return line and then to go out the side into the display tank's LR stand? How big should this hole be? If they're too close to each other can the base potentially crack? Should I maybe do the return line from the otherside?

I think this should keep me busy for the moment, I've got some thoughts on the sump but i'll cover that later... All advice is welcome!!;)

Ciao,
J.
 
Thanks buddy, have you got your Regal yet??
 
Sorry dude, i just read your thread! Nice fish, i'll have to come have a close up look as usual...;)
 
Ok, I got myself a new tank with stand on the weekend for an absolute steal. Before anyone asks for pics, i'll upload some as soon as I can find my camera's cable!! The joys of having a 2 year old scrathing everywhere i suppose...;)
Here's the dims: 120L x 45w x 45H. I would've wanted more width and depth but that will be for the next big project. It has 10mm think euro bracing on the front and back pane and all the glass is 6mm thick. I got it with a stand that measures 120 x 45 x 90 and is constructed of 5cm square tubing that's galvanised, etc. and painted black. It looks pretty sick!! The sump still has to be constructed, at the moment it's a 3 foot tank that's been busy curing LR for 6 weeks already with a live sand bed. But i want to concentrate on the display tank for the moment.

Now here's what I'm planning on doing and this is where I need advice on:
1) I want to cut the entire tank's silicone off and do it again with black silicone. I need some advice on how to do this safely and in the right manner as I've never siliconed an entire tank together. I read on Scuba's thread about moving his centre braces where Hennie said that the euro bracing should be about a matchstick width away from the front & back pane and filled with silicone. The bracing at the moment is flush with both panes and this is where the idea came from to do all the silicone again but in black.:thumbup: How do I actually do this?
2) I want to drill and construct a overflow in the corner where I want to put a Durso in. How big a hole should I have drilled? How high should the overflow be? Any thoughts on the design of the overflow? on the hole go as big as you can with a minimum being 32mm diam, you could look a a corner overflow but a small box around the downfacing elbow situated on the inside of the tank with the T piece and breather (exhaust) seem to be popular overseas.
3) When it comes to the actual construction of the Durso I've had a look on the site and I think I can figure it out!!?? ;)How high should the Durso be? if constructed in an overflow the height of this could be minipulted, but make it at least half of the chamber.. the higher the water in the overflow the less the noise...
4) Would I need to put bracing on the sides of the tank and the bottom too? the only reason i would say yes is because its 6mm.. the added bracing will allow better adhesion
5) With the return I thought about building a LR stand out of PVC tubing with drilled holes in for the return flow. Another thing I also saw on Scuba's thread.;) Any thoughts on this is welcome? How big a return pump would be needed, etc? Can I drill another hole in the bottom of the overflow for the return line and then to go out the side into the display tank's LR stand? How big should this hole be? If they're too close to each other can the base potentially crack? Should I maybe do the return line from the otherside? i would rather dedicate a CLS system to pumping to the the bottom of the tank, you could use your return but there is a possibility of the breather hole blocking and causing problems.. to feed directly from your sump to the stand will only work if your return pipe goes to the top of the tank and then to the structure, if not you will drain yur tank in a power outage.. remember the same will happen in the absence of a breather hole

I think this should keep me busy for the moment, I've got some thoughts on the sump but i'll cover that later... All advice is welcome!!;)

Ciao,
J.

i hope you understand if not please ask and i will try be more specific..
 
hey bud. nice to see someone benefittin from my thread. my lr stand runs from an independant pump. a lifetech 2500Lph pump which actually pushes a lot me rubbish out of the rocks as well as helpin with the flow! with the stand make sure you measure properly and think of the actual lengths of the fittings themselves cause they unfortunately add to the dimensions which i noticed to late. my overflow pipe is 50mm and does the job nicely. go with the bracin first off, i wish i had, post on my thread about the
 
what happened to the rest of my post? anyway, from what i can see as to where i left off. post on the braces thread and you may get more opinions, my return is 2500 which is perfect i think, just want to split it when i redo the tank. what you doin for a lightin unit? i may be gettin rid of my old diy one if you're interested
 
Hi Leslie, thanks for all the advice. I was actually thinking about a cls for the lr stand. I think I'll defenitely go with that option. As to the cutting and siliconing the tank back together, any ideas?
 
Hi Leslie, thanks for all the advice. I was actually thinking about a cls for the lr stand. I think I'll defenitely go with that option. As to the cutting and siliconing the tank back together, any ideas?

Howzit Jaak, can't you do one corner at a time and wait a few hours or a day inbetween? You can do all at once by stripping out all old silicone and clamp the tank together or do one side/corner at a time. What does the tank builders say?
 
i personally use a tape measure and cut through the silicone with it.. i normally follow with a blade to take the tension off of the tape measure i am cutting with... its sacrificial as the tame measure gets stuffed up.. further more be careful its very easy to become impatient and break a glass and cut yourself... when you get it all apart clean the silicone well with a blade.. silicone removers do not work efieciently so elbow grease is required... i know i tried.. before you comence with gluing wipe all edges and whole pane if desired with methylated spirits.. apply glue and you are on your way....
 
ps first try remove as much silicone from the inside joint as possible.. this will make cutting with the tape measure a little easier.. and wear gloves if possible... the metal of the tape measere sometimes snaps and can render a nasty cut...
 
Nice info les!;)

I would personally not go through all the effort just to have black silicone.The effort and worry involved doesn't seem to justify the beauty of the black silicone.Rather buy nicer fishies:p
 
on the other side you could just finish off the edges with black perspex... would be far less effort involved...
 
Paint the glass black for for 6-10mm on each pane on the corners :p
 
how's your tank coming along?
A slightly bigger tank has fallen into my lap so i'm actually busy selling this one. The new tank is 120 x 45 x 70. I wanted the little bit more depth and it's already drilled, with overflow, durso, etc. I'm just in the process of redesigning the sump as the baaffles were realle stupid. I'll pick up the glass tomorrow. I suppose I should start a new thread, hey?:p
 
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