discusdan
Member
- Joined
- 7 Jan 2013
- Messages
- 302
Hey all.
I've been fighting the itch to set up a new tank for a long time and now the times come to scratch that itch!
So whats the plan?
Simple....
New DIY tank
New DIY tank stand
And new DIY lighting
Its easy to say, lets see how easy it is to do.
First off Lets order some Glass.
The initial tank build seemed fine, every thing fitted together as it should.
I'm using 10mm beveled float glass.
tank dimensions are 700x450x400
Here you can see the tank all clamped together.
After a lot of research I decided to go for the silicone injection method for building the tank.
Instead of laying down beads of silicone and setting the glass onto them as with "normal tank building" the injection method involves clamping the tank together as a whole with cable ties inserted between panes to create an equal gap on all joints.
Once the tank was all set up and ready the nozzle for the silicon was squished down with some pliers so it just fits into the gap created by the cable ties.
Then small blobs of silicone were injected into the gaps evenly around the entire tank. (Small blobs are not recommended, keep reading to see why)
I left the tank over night to wait for the blobs of silicone to cure.
The next day I removed the clamps and cable ties and injected silicone into the rest of the seams. I also siliconned the inside water seal.
All was looking good and I was about to water test the tank when I discovered this!
A large bubble had developed inside the initial blob of silicone used to hold the tank together at the start.
This is why I don't recommend using small blobs to initially hold the tank together.
The reason for this is there is not enough strength in the small blobs to hold the panes together if there is any tension on the tank when the clamps are removed. this is why it is critical for the tank to be on a level surface and perfectly square before starting to apply silicone.
I suspect that when I removed the clamps there was some movement in the panes which caused one of the blobs to fail.
So after some advice from this forum the decision was made to take the tank apart and start again.
I don't have any pictures of disassembling or rebuilding the tank unfortunately.
To separate the panes of glass I used some 30lb fishing line tied between two sticks which i used as a kind of saw to cut down between the panes, this worked extremely well and I had the entire tank apart in about 10 minutes.
However it took me the rest of the day to clean all of the silicone off of the glass!
In the end I resorted to using isopropyl alcohol and 0000 grade wire wool to get every last bit of silicone off, this was hard work.
The next day I had the tank all clamped together again and ready for the silicone.
This time I initially injected as much of the seam as I could and only left a small part where the cable ties where inserted without silicone.
This meant that 99% of the seams where filled with silicone and I only had several small blobs to inject once the cable ties where removed.
I also waited 10 days before removing the clamps. I was recommended that silicone needs 1 day per 1mm of silicone to dry, as I'm using 10mm glass I had a 10 day wait.
After the 10 days the clamps and cable ties where removed and I injected the small gaps that where left.
Once they had cured I cut away any excess silicone inside the tank with several sharp stanley blades and applied the water seal inside the tank.
Because I'm using clear silicone you can see a bit of an edge in the silicone where the smaller blobs where injected afterwards.
If I were to use black silicone this would not be as visible, however I don't find them too unsightly.
All that's left was to trim the excess silicone from around the out side of the tank and water test it.
Which I did outside
.... but its now inside
So that was the adventure of part 1 "the tank build"
I'm still undecided on the theme for the tank, I have all the gear for a high tech tank but I'm not sure I have the time or money to devote to it. This tank is a lot smaller than my current tank as I wanted to try and reduce costs however a low tech tank is appealing to me.
Next on the plans is the lighting and them the tank stand.
Hope you're finding it interesting so far
I've been fighting the itch to set up a new tank for a long time and now the times come to scratch that itch!
So whats the plan?
Simple....
New DIY tank
New DIY tank stand
And new DIY lighting
Its easy to say, lets see how easy it is to do.
First off Lets order some Glass.
The initial tank build seemed fine, every thing fitted together as it should.
I'm using 10mm beveled float glass.
tank dimensions are 700x450x400
Here you can see the tank all clamped together.
After a lot of research I decided to go for the silicone injection method for building the tank.
Instead of laying down beads of silicone and setting the glass onto them as with "normal tank building" the injection method involves clamping the tank together as a whole with cable ties inserted between panes to create an equal gap on all joints.
Once the tank was all set up and ready the nozzle for the silicon was squished down with some pliers so it just fits into the gap created by the cable ties.
Then small blobs of silicone were injected into the gaps evenly around the entire tank. (Small blobs are not recommended, keep reading to see why)
I left the tank over night to wait for the blobs of silicone to cure.
The next day I removed the clamps and cable ties and injected silicone into the rest of the seams. I also siliconned the inside water seal.
All was looking good and I was about to water test the tank when I discovered this!
A large bubble had developed inside the initial blob of silicone used to hold the tank together at the start.
This is why I don't recommend using small blobs to initially hold the tank together.
The reason for this is there is not enough strength in the small blobs to hold the panes together if there is any tension on the tank when the clamps are removed. this is why it is critical for the tank to be on a level surface and perfectly square before starting to apply silicone.
I suspect that when I removed the clamps there was some movement in the panes which caused one of the blobs to fail.
So after some advice from this forum the decision was made to take the tank apart and start again.
I don't have any pictures of disassembling or rebuilding the tank unfortunately.
To separate the panes of glass I used some 30lb fishing line tied between two sticks which i used as a kind of saw to cut down between the panes, this worked extremely well and I had the entire tank apart in about 10 minutes.
However it took me the rest of the day to clean all of the silicone off of the glass!
In the end I resorted to using isopropyl alcohol and 0000 grade wire wool to get every last bit of silicone off, this was hard work.
The next day I had the tank all clamped together again and ready for the silicone.
This time I initially injected as much of the seam as I could and only left a small part where the cable ties where inserted without silicone.
This meant that 99% of the seams where filled with silicone and I only had several small blobs to inject once the cable ties where removed.
I also waited 10 days before removing the clamps. I was recommended that silicone needs 1 day per 1mm of silicone to dry, as I'm using 10mm glass I had a 10 day wait.
After the 10 days the clamps and cable ties where removed and I injected the small gaps that where left.
Once they had cured I cut away any excess silicone inside the tank with several sharp stanley blades and applied the water seal inside the tank.
Because I'm using clear silicone you can see a bit of an edge in the silicone where the smaller blobs where injected afterwards.
If I were to use black silicone this would not be as visible, however I don't find them too unsightly.
All that's left was to trim the excess silicone from around the out side of the tank and water test it.
Which I did outside
.... but its now inside
So that was the adventure of part 1 "the tank build"
I'm still undecided on the theme for the tank, I have all the gear for a high tech tank but I'm not sure I have the time or money to devote to it. This tank is a lot smaller than my current tank as I wanted to try and reduce costs however a low tech tank is appealing to me.
Next on the plans is the lighting and them the tank stand.
Hope you're finding it interesting so far