spshal1

Reefgeek, that is one amazing coral!! Mind if I ask where you got it?

The colony was going south anyway. The guy filling-in for Joel was fragging what he could in an attempt to save what could be saved. Add to that the always great Friday afternoon traffic on I-5 for several hours.... I really wasn't to suprised. Dissappointed yes, but not surprised (It was a REALLY nice frag too, a crazy teal-like colored acro that I have never seen.)

I picked up the new tank today, it looks beautiful!! With any luck I will have it up and running some time this weekend. Joel also has some really nice corals that came in today. With my tank in a sort of limbo I really shouldn't have bought one but I had a weak moment. It doesn't really matter though, the small frag was dead before I got home :(

Hate to hear your sad news. Its is truely amazing how much you can come to love a giant hair ball that destroys your house. We lost our yellow lab a while back, still miss her.....

Thanks spectra. I haven't got any glass yet. Since I ordered a whole new tank from Joel this project has taken a bit of a back seat. Later this week I hope to get a little more work done on the broken one. I still want to try the acrylic bottom. I figure that I will give it a go with the super insane caulk that I got and see how it works. It has kind of become a learning adventure, see if it works. If it still doesn't work with the super insane caulk I will surrender and have a go with the glass. At this point I will just be happy to get my fish and coral out of the bucket in the corner of my room and into a new home. Heaven knows they have waited long enough!!

Twitterbait - I git the idea behind the sanding of the acrylic, but why score it with the razor blade? Is it creating a stop for the spreading silicone or a grove for it to fill and grab onto? It is a great idea, I will give it a try. I am working this weekend so It wont be until early next week until I can try.

That is cool. Which receipe did you use?

Holly - Thanks for the lead on the Craigslist tank. I emailed the guy but haven't heard from him. Siskiou - I would have to agree with you, it does seem that the DIY projects end up coming out about the same cost wise as just paying for it to be done or buying it to begin with. Then again, the journey is half the fun, right? On a side note, where did you get your screen name? I grew up on Siskiou street in PDX. dsoz & Nyles - I would agree with you on the glass. I am not to fond of acrylic tanks. You have to be 'gentle' with them so you don't scratch them and they just don't ever have the new look after you fill them. But I figure that on the bottom it doesn't really matter unless you are doing a bare bottom, which I am not. Add to that the ease of drilling and the fact that it doesn't easily crack and it gives glass a run for it's money - for a tank bottom that is. Anyway, I figure that I would give it a try. It cost $30 for a peice of acrylic, and $5 for a tube of silicone. I wouldn't even say it was a waste. I will just put the piece of acrylic in the pile for a future project. I am out nothing, I still have a broken tank after all. I have my fish, coral, and rock 'living' in a Rubbermaid tub in the corner of my room right now. For their sake I decided to order a new tank. I worked with Joel at Waves and Patrick at FantaSeas and have figured something out. With any luck it will be here next week sometime so that Joel can drill it before he leaves on vacation. I just hope that the new one will not crack, incase it does though, I picked up a heavy duty sealer from Joel. He said it is the same kind used by the company that made his tank. It is some wicked stuff - the warning list on the side is insane! It says that it may even form ETOH when mixed with water or even humid air. I'm thinking that I should set up the humidifier and get to work - wouldn't have to buy a six pack . Any way, I will try and fix the old tank just in case...... It is summer, I am only taking one class, and I only work three days a week. I have three days a week with nothing to do, maybe this will take up some time. I need it to, I haven't had this much spare time in years, I am going crazy!!

Well, it is 11:35 and my tank is once again empty. The acrylic seal didn't hold. It looks like most of it held but there were a couple of holes where water was sneaking through the seal. But this is one of those 'almost doesn't count' situations. I guess I am back to the drawing board. I think that I might head down to Joel's shop tomorrow and get some more ideas. Anybody else have any thought?

Thanks for the heads up Nyles! I new someone out there must be doing something like that put couldn't find anything local. Where is area code 705 anyway?

Before drilling I contacted Current, the makers of the Aquapod. They told me that the tank was not tempered and that I could drill away, at the cost of my warranty, which had expired anyway. There was a frame around the bottom of the tank, it is actually the exact same as the one around the top of the tank, which surprised me. The original glass was 1/4" thick. I figure if this little attempt to repair the tank with acrylic doesn't work I can go and get some glass cut and drilled. Even with a failed attempt with acrylic I would still be under cost on a replacement. Plus I have the fun of trying something new and anticipating it working. I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve, I can't wait to add H2O tonight (around 9pm is the 24hour cure time).

That one last adjustment was tightening the union on the chiller. I must have put some force on the bulkhead.... I decided to go with an acrylic bottom because I still wanted a drilled bottom. With glass I would run into the same difficulties of drilling and face the same fears of cracking it. Acrylic is easy to drill and doesn't break as easily. To seal the bottom I siliconed the ever living crap out of it. I first turned the tank upside down and put a bead of silicone along the bottom edge then placed the new bottom down ontop of it. Then I put a small bead of silicone on the inside of the tank frame and placed that back in place around the bottom. With that done I flipped the tank right side up and added another bead of silicone around the base to fill any voids between the frame and the glass. I then added a healthy amount of silicone to the inside of the tank where the glass and acrylic bottom come together, making sure that all the voids were full. Once I was satisfied I clamped everything into place, added some weights, and went off the watch some TV. With any luck it will hold water. Like I said, if it doesn't work I am out nothing, the tank is already broken. If it does work..... ReefGeek: Thanks for the tip on the tank at Joel's. I talked with him yesterday and he had already sold it, and for much less then I have been quoted elsewhere. It sucks that he had to sell it so cheap because some moron stole the light! Joel has been a big help and is continuing to be, he offered some help in getting a new tank at a reasonable price, redrilling it, offering ideas, etc. Every time I go in his shop I am impressed, both with him and his shop. P.S. What is the fish under everyones screen name? (I am a toad fish, impur is a whale, dsoz is a Trigger, etc.)

After that last adjustment I heard a sickening crunch. I looked everywhere and didn't see anything but I could see the water level steadily dropping. Once all the water had drained I could clearly see a HUGE crack all across the bottom. Check it out.... [ATTACH]1530[/ATTACH] Well, I figured that I was in uncharted waters. I could chuck the tank and poney up for a new one. If I did that I would have to get another AP24. As much as I would love to get a bigger tank I just don't have the room, plus all my equipment is set up for the AP. I figured that the tank was shot anyway so I may as well try and repair it. If it doesn't work I'm not out anything. With razor blades and a scalpel I slowly and carefully removed the silicone from the bottom of the tank and worked the bottom out of the tank (actually, my ADD a** got bored after ten minutes so I smashed it out with a hammer). It actually came out with out destroying the rest of the tank, honestly I didn't expect that. I took everything down to Tapp Plastics and had them cut me a piece of 1/4" acrylic to replace the bottom that I removed. I cleaned each of the pieces up well and spent the last several hours siliconong the heck out of my new tank bottom. If it works I will have repaired my beloved tank for much cheaper than replacing it. If it doesn't work, well, I am out $30 and have to go pick up a new tank. I would say it is worth the "adventure." I guess I will learn tomorrow night if the repair job worked. Wish me luck!! [ATTACH]1531[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]1532[/ATTACH]

I have come to understand the term "A great and terrible day." For quite some time I have been planning a tank upgrade. I have been patient and done my research and slowly gained the parts needed for the upgrade. I wanted to get rid of the unsightly, and very unsteady, Aquapod stand that my tank was on as well as add a sump, new lights, and a new canopy. It is summer and I am only taking one class so I figured that the time was right. I started off by getting a new canopy made. I had it made by one of the local LFS. It turned out ok but I ended up tweeking it quite a bit. I really should have just made it myself. I then added a single 175 watt (12K) light, two VHO atinics, and a blue moon light. This didn't take to much work to install so I did this just before the end of the spring term and have had it up and running with good results since. Right after my last final I loaded up my truck and headed to my father-in-law's shop to build my new stand. Things went well and I think that it turned out well. I made a curved door for the front of the stand that matches the curve on the AP24, it came out ok I guess. [ATTACH]1524[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]1525[/ATTACH] I painted the inside with a marine grade white to protect against any salt spray and spills as well as make it a little brighter, then stained the outside a dark walnut. [ATTACH]1526[/ATTACH] I chose to have the bottom of the tank drilled to get water to the sump. I didn't want to rely on a syphon so this seemed like the best option. I looked into doing the drilling myself but I chickened out and decided to have someone else do it. I checked with the local glass shops and Coast Mirror Co. was the only one that would do it but they wanted two weeks. Then I found out that Joel down at Waves would do it. He did a great job too. He helped me out by drilling the hole and by helping me tweek my plans. He even made me a Stockman drain. He was great. [ATTACH]1522[/ATTACH] I finished my new sump and after adding a few other touches and dialing in the plumbing I set everything up for a leak test. [ATTACH]1523[/ATTACH] I was having a great day seeing all my plans come together, then the terrible part comes into play... I made one laaasssttt adjustment.... (censored) (censored) (censored) (censored)

I am jealous Ryan, I have been rocking the AP 24 for awhile and only dream of going bigger. Some day..... I would love to see pics to see what you have done with your AP.

Desks jobs are boring, but sitting in a hot car wearing body armour REALLY sucks!

Thanks for the info guys! I got the acrilic today, it was just to hot to do anything but lay around. Don't get me wrong, I love the heat but it just seems to suck the life out of you - kind of like walking through the doors at work. If the baffles are only one inch or so apart, what is the easiest way to get silicone on both sides of the two outside baffles? P.S. Thanks for the warm welcome too!

What should I use to secure the acrilic baffles I am placing in an AGA that I am making into a sump? Any ideas would help, thanks!