Trying to avoid a disaster.....220 Gallon Rebuild

[saltwaternoobie]

Well the tank has probably only been up 6 months and one of the braces broke that hold the top together. Which caused the side to swell like a balloon in the front and the back. This happened Friday night. So I took the water out of the 220 and filled my 55 gallon up with that water and put a canister filter that I had on it and moved most of the fish over to it. I also had a 55 gallon plastic drum that I was doing water changes with that now has all the rocks in it along with a canister filter and some powerheads and heater.

My question is where can i buy some half inch acrylic to make more braces and what glue exactly do I need to use?

I wanted to drill that back for the returns. What size should i drill returns and what kind of whole saw?

Tank Specs
96 Long
24 Wide
24 Tall

 

[thejoshdavis]

I know lowes has 1/4" thick acrylic sheets. mixer911 will be your acrylic guru

 

[p woodard]

It will be alot cheaper to get you a threaded rod two nuts and some L channel and weld the nuts to the L channel

 

[pickupman66]

Is the tank acrylic? Bart (orthokardia) made a brace for a 185 that was a 5' glass tank. it worked well for glass but Acrylic has alot more flex to it. you might could do two or three braces across the top with one "L" channel on each side. since you have a hood I would be concerned abouthte fit.

hate to hear of the issues.

 

[saltwaternoobie]

Its 1/2 acrlic if anyone knows where i can buy it.

 

[p woodard]

Try some of these places Nashville Acrylic sheets | Acrylic sheets in Nashville, TN - YP.com

 

[revsgirl]

Looks great!

 

[CloudIX]

Its 1/2 acrlic if anyone knows where i can buy it.

Plastic Supply Manufacturing Company - custom fabrication and distribution This place has the weldon that you need also. I dont know if they will sell it smaller then a full sheet.

or you could contact glass cages and just buy the piece you need.

 

[saltwaternoobie]

Thanks Cloud. I found this place before your reply but they had exactly what I needed.

 

[saltwaternoobie]

So I was thinking about drilling the back of the tank for returns. Is this a good idea and how far down would I drill? Thanks.

 

[saltwaternoobie]

Anyone?

 

[Dowtish]

So I was thinking about drilling the back of the tank for returns. Is this a good idea and how far down would I drill? Thanks.

You dont want the returns to be far down at all, Because you will need a siphon break when and if the power goes out. I would say 4" at the most

 

[H@rry]

I had a 225 that broke both braces one night. I later learned that Metal Halides will degrade the plastic braces and make them brittle and subject to that happening. The sides were bowed out to the point that there was a 1/4 inch gap in the break in the straps. I went to Lowe's and got a couple of clamps and put on the top edge to prevent any futher bowing while I was figuring out what to do next. I drained the tank down to about the 3/4 level and the clamps fell off when the bowing "relaxed". When that suddenly happened I freaked for a split second and said some words that probably wouldn't do to post here. I decided that I had it under control for the time being and had some time to decide my next move. I looked at the silicone seam at the top of the corners and could see that it had partially broken away from the glass. At that time I decided that it was not worth trusting so I bought some new tanks, moved everything, and gave the tank away. I'm still confident that I made the right decision.

Good luck.

 

[saltwaternoobie]

Im trying to find some good links to plumbing a fish tank. Please remember that the tank if 8 ft long. Does anyone have any good links to the correct way to plumb a fish tank?

 

[fragmatic]

It will be alot cheaper to get you a threaded rod two nuts and some L channel and weld the nuts to the L channel

It needs to be plastic, doesn't it?

 

[fragmatic]

Purchase and glue in an overflow box intended for rear drills and follow the instructions, there are some good vids on u-tube.

I strongly suggest your next brace be one that runs down the entire length of the tank front and back with cutouts in the middle. In other words a full top with cut outs. This way you get the advantage of a full length bond all the way around (and is why the bottom did not bust). OR. to better size it now, three pieces with windows cut out. I think you get the drift (lots of bond length).

Also, in a tough place with no way out, acrylic drills and taps well. You, can, drill the sides and the brace after you are done gluing and screw them together for added support to the glue joints. If you need help with the sizes to drill for what screw and what tap PM me. These screws will not be exposed to the salt system because they are inside the plastic, except for the heads on the outside of the tank faces.

(retired engineer here)

 

[orthokardia]

try glass-holes.com for overflows and info. they will even give you candy if you order!

 

[nerdwolf]

FWIW, I got the acrylic for my sump from Advanced Plastics, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee and they were great - They even did some of the cutting for me (I had them cut down the 8x4 sheet to some smaller pieces and did the smaller cuts on my table saw.) You can also get weld-on #4 and some needle tip applicators there.

 

[skinz78]

What I did for my DIY overflow was got a 2" bulkhead, a 2" threaded short 90, cut the 90 unthreaded top off so it was shorter. Then I held it up to the tank and figured where my bulkhead hole would have to be so that the cut off portion of the 90 would be about 1.25 down from the top of the tank. Drilled the hole, inserted the bulkhead tightly, threaded in a coupling, then glued a T onto that and plumbed it on down to the sump. For a tank your size I'd suggest doing 3 2"overflows.