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Gnaw's 100g Tank Restoration & Stand Project


Gnaw
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Well, I called Crystal Glass and I got a quote for $303 for the replacement. I can almost afford a NEW tank for that price.... What to do, what to do.

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Well you still have the glass that you paid for and the back so you could make a large ply-wood glass tank, or two smaller ones. :smokey:

hehe, I suppose.

I think I'm going to try and patch it with plexi glass (or something) and silicone. Buying another sheet of glass over $100.00 goes against everything this project stands for.

I will never give-up!

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ALSO, don't use plexi glass, that's also looking for disaster. I build fish tanks for a living and siliconing plexi glass and real glass is a no no.

Good thing I didn't buy any. Thanks for that, I wouldn't have known.

I picked up some Acrylic sheets yesterday for the patch job, sump, and overflow. I also picked up a couple of unions (expensive $15 for 1 1/2" ).

I did buy a small tube of an acrylic bonding agent, however I am at a loss as to what to use to bond it to the glass? Can I fix a sheet of acrylic to glass (flat) with silicone or use what I got for the acrylic? Do I use both? what do I use for the seams?

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Guest Master of Puppets
ALSO, don't use plexi glass, that's also looking for disaster. I build fish tanks for a living and siliconing plexi glass and real glass is a no no.

Why is it bad?

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Today was the first day I've had time to myself for over a week.

Things are looking really bad ATM. The entire bottom is spit in three, it cannot be patched. I'm seeking alternatives but however I look at it I'm taking a loss.

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I think someone mentioned plywood. Since the bottom would be covered with substrate anyway why not do that? Plywood is cheaper than a replacement pane of glass and you have several people on the board already who know about using it. Not knowing anything about it myself I imagine you'd have to do something different with the construction of the tank overall to get it all to work. But it'd be a waste of a tank otherwise...

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If you're patching it and there is only downwards force on it, silcone will adhere fine to acrylic. BUT if thats gonna be all the support, I wouldn't do it. And also, if you're going to do that, I'd use an acrylic primer and sand down some of the acrylic as well to make it a bit rougher, give the silicone something to grab to.

And Paul, silicone doesn't stick worth SH*T to plexiglass, been there done that lol.

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I think someone mentioned plywood. Since the bottom would be covered with substrate anyway why not do that? Plywood is cheaper than a replacement pane of glass and you have several people on the board already who know about using it. Not knowing anything about it myself I imagine you'd have to do something different with the construction of the tank overall to get it all to work. But it'd be a waste of a tank otherwise...

I have never seen a plywood bottom only but it is possible. If you have access to a way to notch the wood so the glass will fit in, it has to be snug but not tight. Fiber glass or use a pond armor product to seal the plywood. When you set the tank in make sure that there is a bead of silicone the notch to create a gasket and then seal around the bottom with a bead of silicone just lit you would with a glass tank.

http://www.pondarmor.com/

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