50 Gallon Rimless Frag Tank.

timkenagy · Jan 3, 2016

So.. About a month ago I started this project and promised I'd start a build thread on it. Started one a few nights ago but the WWW got me sidetracked and my work didn't save. Needless to say 3:00 AM was enough for me to call it a night. So here I am again go another go around at it. First I'll start by stating how I build. I like to recycle old unwanted tanks into new ones that are more desirable. Recycle sounds a too little hippie save the planet for me so maybe repurposing is a better word. Anyway it's been several years since I've done this (and the last was just a big sump) so be patient with me as it will take some time to make sure it's all done up right

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First step is finding a donor tank. This is easier than it sounds. So I put a message out on my local fish clubs Facebook page (Peoria Area Reef Club) shameless plug

for a 75 or larger tank that was no longer needed for cheap..(preferably free) some scratchs are ok and it doesn't need to have the ability to hold water anymore. Now it seems every time we goto a local hobbiest home there always seems to be an old empty tank in the corner of the sump room, basement, or garage. That's what I'm looking for! You'll find that if you're the guy always helping out people.. Giving out frags for cheap. This is where it pays off. Within a few hours I had 4 potential tanks lined up. One was an oddball.. A 90 gallon long with the back and sides all painted up. Really dirty.. Silicone was all nasty like someone's tried to reseal it 3 times. He said "you can have it for free, and I'll even deliver it too you if you throw in a chunk of that sweet blue staghorn for me" well being that my back is bad and still healing from surgery so my poor boys have to carry everything for me.. Deal!

timkenagy · Jan 3, 2016

So I start scraping the paint off and breaking the plastic trim off.

That's all the easy part really

Nice thing about the odd size of this tank is it will be nice big sheets of 1/2 glass to work with when done

dorky · Jan 3, 2016

following this thread

timkenagy · Jan 3, 2016

Updating when I can

the next part is the most painful part. I moved it to the floor for better access.. With a big pack of razor blades I start cutting away at the silicone. First I cut out all the bead... Then work at cutting apart the actual seam. This can be tough, some tools I've found useful in the past are heatguns and old guitar strings.

timkenagy · Jan 3, 2016

After you get it all cut apart.. (And these are designed to never come apart so it can be challenging at moments) I took a razor and scrapped off the silicone around the ends and on the edges. Then I used a product called Goo Gone with a razor to remove all the remaining silicone left on the glass (this part isn't hard but can get tedious) ..

timkenagy · Jan 4, 2016

Ok.. Quick update. Glass is all cleaned up. The frag tank it's replacing is this 50 gallon stock tank.

Since I already have the place for it. I just took a measurement of the stand already in place. How convenient that it was already 48x24 to begin with. I must have had standard sizes in my head when I built it!! (My 90gal predator tank used to be there and I just shorten it when I put in the frag tank

)
So I decided on 48x24x11 on the tank dimensions.
So I wrote out what I needed for each piece of glass on a piece of paper.
The next part can be DIY but I learned when you get into glass this thick.. It can be a pain to cut. Last time I did it but I threw away more than I was able to use. Plus the edges are sharp and not square making it hard to work with and not a professional looking ending. So I farm this part out to the professionals at my local glass shop.

I also took a permanent marker and drew out on the glass where I wanted cut and circles where I wanted bulkheads. (Another thing I can do myself but the only charge $5 a hole.. So to avoid any headaches I'll have them drill while they cut).

The total is gonna run probably around $120. It wouldn't always be this expensive if they were just simply cutting. But since this is for a nice tank and not just a sump. I'm paying extra to have some edge work done similar to this.

So the glass is all clean.. Marked, ready to go off too get cut. Should be back in a few days.

timkenagy · Jan 16, 2016

This build isn't dead.. Glass company is just taking a month to do a 3 day (tops) job. Getting really frustrated.. Called on Thursday and he said all he had to do was drill the 2 holes.. So will be done Monday! Yeah I've drilled holes just figured since they were already doing the cutting may as well have them drill. So apparently it takes 4 days to drill 2 holes in 1/2 glass? Needless to say this will be the last time I use them! But anyway if you were looking forward to a quick build.. I was too

stay tuned.

dman3572 · Jan 17, 2016

Love what your doing. I'm staying for this

timkenagy · Jan 18, 2016

Glass is done.. I'm buzzing on silicone.. Spoke to the owner of the glass company. He was very apologetic. The long wait was due to 3 employees leaving on him. He discounted a little which was nice because one of the holes is bad. (A little silicone should fix) and wanted to discuss his receptionists attitude.. But he's already short handed and they did a bang up job on the actual cutting/polishing.. Assembling the tank now. Will post some pictures later.

ajones2n · Jan 18, 2016

Looking forward to the outcome? What were your final dimensions?

timkenagy · Jan 19, 2016

ajones2n said:
Looking forward to the outcome? What were your final dimensions?

Dimensions are 48"x24"x11".. I went with this because the footprint is very common. If down the road myself or someone else we're to do something with this it would fit standard stands and fit where previous 4' tanks may have been.

timkenagy · Jan 19, 2016

Picked up the glass! Finally after a long way to long of a wait.. Let's finally get started! I'm going to preface this with the pictures are going to be a little lite on this build because I'm by myself for the most part. And with silicone once I start I won't be worrying about photo, but getting glass set before the silicone starts to setup.

timkenagy · Jan 20, 2016

I used this drawer to hold up the first pane while I laid my first bead of silicone. (Btw if you have a 2nd hand to help, take advantage of it) it laid the bead and worked my way around. The drawer isn't necessary but I had to play it safe to avoid dropping a piece on the concrete floor.

timkenagy · Jan 20, 2016

After getting all that set I clamped it up good and put a good bead. Then built the overflow box and then sealed it.

timkenagy · Jan 20, 2016

Next step will be to take a razor and clean up the excess silicone mess.. It ugly right now but this was going to be just a recycled tank for a frag tank and it's almost something worthy of a nice display.

It's dirty yet but here's a close up of the edge polish work I had done. Pretty happy how this turned out.

Tomorrow I'll clean it up and install the bulkheads. The silicone adhesive said full cure in 24 hours but in not in a hurry to test it so it will be a few days on the next updat...

revhtree · Jan 20, 2016

Coming along nicely!

ultra_aquatics913 · Jan 20, 2016

Wow this is awesome ! I am about to build a medical tank will be a 75 gallon tank for my 390 gallon tank !!! Keep posting !

timkenagy · Jan 20, 2016

I retrospect it would've been a much cleaner look to take masking tape and tape off the bead for the silicone. But I didn't think of it until after the fact. I'm debating cutting it silicone bead our and redoing that part for a more professional look. But I also need to remind myself that it's just a recycled frag tank.

timkenagy · Jan 22, 2016

Ok, today was the nervous day. It's the day where it all makes it great or failure. The dreaded fill test. I had my stong boys carry it over and set it on a coffee table. Normally I'd prefer to do this outside because of access to a hose and if it didn't hold up it would just make a mess in the lawn.. No big deal. But it's freezing outside so I just had them put it over the floor drain.