DioAquatics
- #1
Decided to start a new thread for my 180g tank so lets start from the beginning.
On April 3rd, 2020, I decided to skim through the craigslist ads to see what fish stuff was available around my area and lucky I found a 180g and got it for free. The tank was sitting outside, upside down, covered in dirt, and has a broken bottom frame. The tank also had some chips in the front and back panels of glass.
April 5th, 2020, I gave this beast a major cleaning. Took a razor blade, bucket of warm water, a micro fiber towel and a lot of elbow grease to get all the dirt and earth off of the tank. At first, I was going to just redo the silicone seams on the tank and water test it in my basement but I didn't really trust the chipped glass, so I looked around to see if there was any options for a fix to this issue but I found nothing. I thought maybe I can find some glass that's 1/2 inch thick like my 180g. I looked around on craigslist again and facebook market place but no luck. I decided to check with my LFS if they had any broken tanks I could possibly have and to my surprise, they had a saltwater 150g that had the top brace brake and sprung a leak and he didn't want to fix it so he said that if he can't sell it as a reptile tank within the next few days, its mine. Lucky for me, he didn't sell it.
April 11th, 2020, I came home with the leaky 150g from the LFS. The tank is covered in salt and had some saltwater algae on the glass. It is drilled on the bottom and comes with corner overflows.
April 13th, 2020, I cleaned up the 150g and took off the broken top brace and removed some of the old black silicone inside the tank. I also made the decision to slowly take both the 180g and the 150g completely apart and mesh the best pieces of glass together to make the "perfect" 180g. Basically, the front and back panes of glass from the 150g will be replacing the chipped front and back panes from the 180g. The leftover pieces of glass. I'll be taking to a glass shop 10 minutes from my house to have them cut down so I can make the sump filter from them.
April 15th, 2020, I got my overflow from synergyreef in the mail. Came with just about everything I need to install the overflow except the 63mm drill bit I added on in order to drill the tank. After some emails back and forth with the company, the drill bit should be here within the next few days. I will be watching videos on how to install the overflow since it didn't come with instructions.
Over the last few days, I've been working on taking apart the 150g. Today I got all the panes of glass apart. Tomorrow I'll be cleaning off the excess silicone and scrubbing them with acetone to remove anything I can't see. I did realize that the 150g is actually 28in tall while the 180 is only 24in tall. I'll be taking the big panes to the glass shop and have them cut it down to 24in to I can mesh these tanks together. I already have all the silicone I need to re-silicone everything together. That's basically it for now. I'll continue to update this thread as the tank progresses
On April 3rd, 2020, I decided to skim through the craigslist ads to see what fish stuff was available around my area and lucky I found a 180g and got it for free. The tank was sitting outside, upside down, covered in dirt, and has a broken bottom frame. The tank also had some chips in the front and back panels of glass.
April 5th, 2020, I gave this beast a major cleaning. Took a razor blade, bucket of warm water, a micro fiber towel and a lot of elbow grease to get all the dirt and earth off of the tank. At first, I was going to just redo the silicone seams on the tank and water test it in my basement but I didn't really trust the chipped glass, so I looked around to see if there was any options for a fix to this issue but I found nothing. I thought maybe I can find some glass that's 1/2 inch thick like my 180g. I looked around on craigslist again and facebook market place but no luck. I decided to check with my LFS if they had any broken tanks I could possibly have and to my surprise, they had a saltwater 150g that had the top brace brake and sprung a leak and he didn't want to fix it so he said that if he can't sell it as a reptile tank within the next few days, its mine. Lucky for me, he didn't sell it.
April 11th, 2020, I came home with the leaky 150g from the LFS. The tank is covered in salt and had some saltwater algae on the glass. It is drilled on the bottom and comes with corner overflows.
April 13th, 2020, I cleaned up the 150g and took off the broken top brace and removed some of the old black silicone inside the tank. I also made the decision to slowly take both the 180g and the 150g completely apart and mesh the best pieces of glass together to make the "perfect" 180g. Basically, the front and back panes of glass from the 150g will be replacing the chipped front and back panes from the 180g. The leftover pieces of glass. I'll be taking to a glass shop 10 minutes from my house to have them cut down so I can make the sump filter from them.
April 15th, 2020, I got my overflow from synergyreef in the mail. Came with just about everything I need to install the overflow except the 63mm drill bit I added on in order to drill the tank. After some emails back and forth with the company, the drill bit should be here within the next few days. I will be watching videos on how to install the overflow since it didn't come with instructions.
Over the last few days, I've been working on taking apart the 150g. Today I got all the panes of glass apart. Tomorrow I'll be cleaning off the excess silicone and scrubbing them with acetone to remove anything I can't see. I did realize that the 150g is actually 28in tall while the 180 is only 24in tall. I'll be taking the big panes to the glass shop and have them cut it down to 24in to I can mesh these tanks together. I already have all the silicone I need to re-silicone everything together. That's basically it for now. I'll continue to update this thread as the tank progresses
