Test run No.2
🙂 All running as expected, so i glued in the filtersock bumbers and added the media.. The choice of media is
<VDL pond substrate>
The bag has an English product description, but i ddn't find ny english language website/shop about it. But it's a mix of Fritted glass granule and some other porous granlule that looks like a backed clay to me. It's developd as a pond substrate with lots of bio filtering capacity. Using it already for some years in my pond plant baskets and it's has prooven to also be a perfect plant grow medium.
Part 1 was the noisy test run, Part 2, quiet as a mouse...
I'm not the naritive type, i'm afraid i'll sound to much like Loui van Gaal
😉 And than i would need to do all in one take or spend a lot of time edditing video's. i tried and it's definitively not my hobby.. And i also do not like to show myself in public on internet. (I do not want to startle the public with my gorgious looks
). So why all the bablling and explain things that are already explained a thousand times on youtube.
Last step, is to cover all with a black foil.. Actualy my least favorite part.. All the work and nobody will ever see it again..
...
And than it is ready to be shipped to it's new owner to be planted and scaped.. That''ll be somewhere next month.. I absolutely try to comeback with that and show it.
Some feedback on the things a ran into and learned myself during this build.. Hilighting the little flaws and my take on how it to prevent it.
😉 So not only myself but also you can learn from my mistakes. Would be unfair to shroud my flaws and only take the glory of the compliments.
🙄
This was my first 8mm optiwhite glas experience.. And now i learned why these tanks actualy are so expensive if professionaly made.
Glas needs to be cut, but actualy it is more like broken than cut.. We've seen it all make an initial cut and snap the piece off. Now when it comes to glas ticker than 6 mm the chances it will snap off diagonaly are rather great. It might result into this.
Since we have 5 panels in the tank with 8 cuts in view, than we need to puzzle a bit which panel to put where and in what direction to hide it all a bit away. In this case i was lucky i could place this panel corner at the backside. The rest is rather straight. Later on a plant will hang over it anyway. And discussed the issue with the final owner and we both decided it's peanuts.. But it's definitively something to take into account before you decide to DIY a 8mm glas tank.
Preventing this, the glass cutter needs to grind and polish the edges.. Over all the pricce aint realy in the glass, the glas cut in size is about €120 to €140. That's actualy pretty cheap for a optiwhite in this dimension. But the grinding and polishing, than they need to cut the glass panels larger ofcourse and the grinding and polishing process depending on the glass shop is machine or even partialy hand work.. Time consuming and a price added per unit.. In my case per metre...
Next issue.. if you run a finger over a non polished glass edge thicker than 6 mm the cut is not only potentionaly diagonaly it's also rather bumpy.. It can have some nooks and cranies, not realy big ones but never the less a point that needs extra attention. See the first picture again it''l show if you look for it.. The glass needs to be spot on clean the tiniest speck of greas is the kits worst nightmare. Running a cloth with degreaser over a irregular surface you might not notice that you missed a small spot in a cranny.. Running over it but not in it..
. The issue is, you don't see till you applied the kit.. Once you kitted it's to late. It's show as this..
Again i was lucky the only corner having this is at the back panel.. the glas to glas connection is just for structural strength.. The few airbubbles in the connection don't realy weaken it. The seam making the tank waterproof is in the corner kitbeat.. So it's absolutely an easthetic flaw.. But still a nasty one.. Nothing else to do that let all fully cure and cut it all apart again and clean it and kit it all over again. Lucky break it's at the back, no one will ever see.. If it was at the front i would be realy unhappy.. How to prevent it? Simply thorougly clean the sides if necessary use a cotton ball inspect and feel the surface and find each tiny cranny and clean it out.. Or give the order to grind and polish the edges. than all will be straight and smooth and this likely will not happen.
That's why flawless professional 8mm optiwhite tanks are so pricy.. If you don't want to take risks the preparing work is quite a lot.. Taking machine/man hours that need to be paid.
😀
That's a win win for both. Daughter happy, i'm happy, daddy is paying.. 
I'm holestruck.. The worst of all, nobody will see it when its done..
