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Gnaw's 100g Tank Restoration & Stand Project


Gnaw
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10 bucks!!! tell me thats for all of them not per handle!

You haven't gone out and looked at the prices of handles lately have you? :lol:

The ones I got were the 3rd cheapest ones. The other two were the same style but smaller.

Edited by Gnaw
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Wow this is going to look sweet. WHat are you going to put in there??

One suggestion you removed that front pane off you should replace it with starfire glass. its probably close to twice the price but for 1 pane of glass and the difference in how clear they are, Starfire would be the way to go IMO.

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  • 1 month later...

Well this build hasn't been going very well as of late. The stand is basically done but I got :cuss: by AG on the glass, and now I'm fighting with them for a refund. I'm not having second thoughts about the project, I plan to follow this one to the end. I'm thinking of other options for a new front glass pane.

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Well this build hasn't been going very well as of late. The stand is basically done but I got :cuss: by AG on the glass, and now I'm fighting with them for a refund. I'm not having second thoughts about the project, I plan to follow this one to the end. I'm thinking of other options for a new front glass pane.

Buy a cheap window and get it cut somewhere lol

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

Sorry, I disappoint everyone. School took over my life, along with exam and final projects ( CNC to be more accurate ) After that I was busy starting my new summer gig, but I have been working on the tank as well. There will be an EXPLOSION of updates in the following weeks, promise!

I hated the panels and doors, make all my hard work look awful. SO I took them all off and decided to put it on the back-burner until I could come-up with some freash idea's and maybe afford some quality wood.

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I've decided to place a layer of insulating styrofoam for the tank to sit on, so that all of its edges and missing chips of glass have something to rest on.

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The next step was to remove the aging angle iron from the bottom of the tank, nothing a grinder with a cutting disc couldn't fix.

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and more glass damage. O the sleepless nights of contemplating and asking myself if this project was still worth it?

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removal of icky bottom.

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o yea, this is going to be fun! I cleaned up that green-goodness and proceed on the next phase. The front panel...

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So after I picked up the new front panel of glass from a place that I will never mention or go again, none of the edges were 'made' safe by being sanded or whatever they do...

Having no experience with glass, I felt brave enough to experiment with my long awaited friend... guess what I did?

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o yes, I'm that crazy. I decided to take a grinding and sanding disc to the sheet myself and make it 'SAFE' :lol:

Here is the first pass, hopefully my brother in law wont see what I did to his fence.

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You can see how rough the edges are from the grinding disc.

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After I carefully did all the edges I switched over to the sanding disc and to tell you the truth it wasn't half bad, but if I where to do it after I would use a source of water and a finer grain.

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So The next step was to begin installing the and setting the new front panel. I used a razor blade and some acetone to make sure I stripped all the old cocking on all the sides and panels for the tank.

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I then began to lay a bead of silicon on the edges where the pane would be placed/sit.

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After I had the glass in place I used some some box tape to ensure it was as flush against the seems as I could get it. I let it cure for 48 hours .

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Here is a full shot of the new sheet in place after the time duration.

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Next, I began to prep for the new cocking around the entire inside of the tank. I used masking tape and the methods described in the DIY section on relining your aquarium.

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I apologize for the quality of this picture. This is a bad shot of the inside of the tank being relined.

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Using my finger I started to work in the silicon. Afterward pealing off the tape.

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Turned out pretty good if I say so myself.

After 48 hours I did a water-test (not full) to ensure the panel and my sealing job was alright. To my surprise it was!

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Alright, with the new panel installed and the silicon complete it was time to move onto the sump system.

I decided I was going to begin with the flow box. I checked out the prices of these things and was astounded at the cost! Being the type of person I am I decided to make my own with the old front panel of the aquarium. Excuse my foot; I started out well, and planned out the measurements and used masking tape for the cutting line.

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At first I wanted to do a practice test by cutting a new edge instead of keeping the old chipped and banged-up one already. So I figured I would use a grinder with a cutting wheel, and some water to score it and then use a hammer to tap it off...

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well that didn't turn out so bad, the edge was really rough, not exactly flush and I did chip the corner.

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I felt confident that I could continue and do a better job on the next cut...

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well I was wrong...

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Aw just a bad bit of luck, I'll try it again...

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It was time to change tactics and rethink the process... after-all there was only so much glass left!

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