DIY fish tank!

[tidus10]

So it's been a long time coming but I've made my own fish tank, 66galons "rimless" but that's a lie it's eurobraced.

It holds water the first try!

Eurobraced and drilled for a 750 overflow and 1/2 return

It will be running for another couple weeks cycling rock as I keep a close eye on it. I have 2 800gph powerheads and a 750 return pump on the 1/2" return everything going full blast to try and stress the tank as much as possible.. I figure the rock and sand will displace some more water do if it can handle it all without any substrate or rock it will be ok when I put in 60lbs of sand and 50lbs of sand

Let me know what you guys think!!

 

[tidus10]

No love in the DIY section eh?

 

[914joe]

Nice work!!! I'd like to hear about how hard it was, if any special tools were used and material costs.

 

[tidus10]

Honestly it wasn't very hard at all, I cut all the glass myself. I had an old 55gal leaking tank that I sacrificed for the sides and bottom. Then purchased the front and back and got free glass for the top brace. Total cost is around $50. Only tools I needed were a glass cutter, sand paper and natural silicone. The hardest part was cutting the first piece of glass because I had no idea what I was doing.

 

[Poseidon]

Why the lip around the top edge?

 

[tidus10]

When I went to get the glass for the front and back they told me it was 5/8" and when I received it I didn't measure it even though it felt wrong. They actually gave me 1/4" so before the eurobrace job there it was bowing about 1/4" and once I put that rim on it took care of the bowing issue

 

[Poseidon]

Right, I knew that the brace would prevent the bowing, just wondering why the brace protrudes beyond the outside edge of the tank.

 

[usingthejohn]

Subbed. I'm planning on making one soon and would love some pointers

 

[tidus10]

Oh sorry, honestly I did that because now I can use it to hold little things. Nothing but aesthetics the thought process originally was 4" glass, 2" inside and 2" outside and that would make look nice and uniform and also in my head made it seem like it would be more gentle on the silicone seems. Im no engineer or anything like that. If anything I'm a film major and graphic designer so anything I thought up was for looks and I hope it worked out how I figured it would. And in this case I wouldn't know of it would of done the same job if I'd just put it on the inside with no overlap

 

[tidus10]

And I'm an open book guys. Please ask anything you would like. I'm far from a pro but I think at this point in this project I'm comfortable giving what advice I can. Also I really just built this tank for fun and didn't expect it to turn out as decent as it did so i really kinda shocked myself. I know there will be some that say its junk and looks bad and I appreciate the criticism as long as it comes with pointers for next time.

 

[Poseidon]

I had a euro braced 120 for a while, I ended up selling it before it went up though. Yes, you could have recessed that bracing inside the perimeter of the tank, flush with the top. For your sized tank, a 2" wide strip would be plenty, and give you a bit more opening to work with.

All that being said, I prefer the recessed look, maybe you prefer to have the lip. Neither option is "wrong" and both will increase the strength of the tank, as intended.

 

[tidus10]

I researched eurobracing after talking to a guy at my LFS and I seen there was a mix of both out there. I was more worried that the glass I cut wouldn't have been within tolerances to get it in there and look good (thin strips are tou

 

[tidus10]

I researched eurobracing after talking to a guy at my LFS and I seen there was a mix of both out there. I was more worried that the glass I cut wouldn't have been within tolerances to get it in there and look good (thin strips are tou

Tougher to cut so I went this route. I'm sure I'll utilize the rim to place little things on