taking a new direction

[snakeblitz33]

I would never use a silicone that says mold and mildew resistant.
There are a few hardware stores around me that sell aquarium safe GE black silicone II. I wish you lived around here man. Lol

 

[eric b 125]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/389056/taking-a-new-direction/480#post_3522317
I wish you lived around here man. Lol
LOL. I'm a city boy, I would not fair well in the country, haha. So I was getting so close to being done with the drilling. Had two holes through the glass that just needed finished off, and was starting my third when:

Really, this was just the result of a brain fart. I forgot that I was working with glass and went to clamp the glass down and cranked way too hard on the clamp. Guess I'll be swinging by the glass shop on my way to work today. I just hope they don't take another two weeks for this. I guess I'll get the internal weir done and hopefully by the time that's installed I'll be ready for take two on the bulkhead holes.

 

[sweatervest13]

Doh!!!!!

 

[eric b 125]

If that's the worst part of this rebuild, I'll take it!!! The new piece of glass should be ready on Tuesday which isn't bad at all. I can keep this moving forward for a few days while I wait for that to be done.

 

[eric b 125]

The weather is supposed to get pretty nasty here in a few hours and it's supposed to remain that way through tomorrow. I'm going to run my dog to the dog park once my allergy medicine kicks in and his pain med kicks in. Today I would like to smear the weir with black silicone and scrub the sump so I can put it back in the stand. I have a can of polyurethane and I thought I might put a few coats on the inside of the stand just because I can. Last night I glued the sides onto the weir and noticed a bit of a hiccup

Since the bottom of the sides comes to the bottom of the weir there is going to be a little gap b/w the bottom of the weir and the back glass of the aquarium. I'm going to think about this during my walk, because I might take off the sides and have them sanded down a bit. Either that or I will just fill the gap real good with silicone and test it for leaks.

 

[eric b 125]

This project had me pretty frustrated the other day so I had to step away from it for a day or so. I thought I would spend the last few days dealing with the internal weir, since I have to wait for the replacement glass to be done and also because it has to go in the tank before I can silicone the overflow box to the rear of the tank. I went to smear it with a nice thick layer of black silicone to black it out:
Before:

During:

After:

Now of course it's going to look crappy from the inside, but looking through it the other way it looked perfect until I shined a light through it:
.
That was three 3 oz tubes of black silicone. The only three I had and it wasn't enough.

So I went ahead and ordered three 10 oz tubes which should be here at some point this week. I'm working on removing all the silicone I already spread. This time I'm going to spread it while it's backlit and I'm going to lay it on thick. It's probably better this way so I can really goop-up the bottom edge and seal it up real good.
It was just frustrating having two setbacks back to back. It was a good chance for me to practice some patience and acceptance, though.

 

[eric b 125]

The glass shop just called and said the glass is done. I'm going to try and make it down there today but most likely tomorrow.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Hate that your glass broke, but glad you didnt silicone everything first.
Sounds like your making great progress. Keep it up!

 

[eric b 125]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/389056/taking-a-new-direction/480#post_3522756
Hate that your glass broke, but glad you didnt silicone everything first.
Yeah, that was a good call Seth. I picked up the replacement glass today and I'm through on the first hole; just need an assistant to pour water to punch through all the way. I'm going to start the other two holes and hopefully have them all punched out tonight.
I also got the silicone and john guest fitting (for open channel overflow) in the mail today. I have tomorrow off, so if everything goes as I hope I could make some good progress. <Fingers crossed>

 

[eric b 125]

Through on #2, but still need to punch it out. I also peeled all of the silicone off of the weir. Just have to wipe it down w/ some alcohol and start smearing away again. I need to charge my drill but I don't have to work tomorrow so I'll be back on it in a few hours.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Woohoo! love the progress. You're doing great buddy.
By the way, are you going to actually start a new build thread, since this technically is a "new" tank? Just curious.

 

[siptang]

gosh, you guys are so handy. Puts me to shame lol.

 

[sweatervest13]

Through on #2, but still need to punch it out.  I also peeled all of the silicone off of the weir.  Just have to wipe it down w/ some alcohol and start smearing away again.  I need to charge my drill but I don't have to work tomorrow so I'll be back on it in a few hours.  
Oh man. A day off to work on the tank sounds like a great time to me. Have fun!!

 

[eric b 125]

SUCCESS!!! I didn't want to wait for an assistant so I hooked up the tubing I usually use for between my faucet and kati ani, set up a water change bucket, and let the water flow. Three holes done!

I'm done for the night, my arm is killing me from holding that drill so delicately. Tomorrow will be full of silicone and rinsing old sand.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Just a question that came to mind... Did you set the clutch on your drill really light? The clutch is that setting on your drill that lets the clutch slip when the bit is bound. In other words, when you set the clutch really light, If you put too much pressure on the bit, it automatically stops - so you never have to worry about putting too much pressure on the glass... Just wondering if you knew to do that, cause it sounds like you ... didn't. lol
I'm glad you got it done now! whew! I'd be ready to go to bed too. lol. Tomorrow is a new day.

 

[eric b 125]

Oh yeah, I was drilling with the clutch on the most sensitive setting. With this being such a narrow piece of glass I wanted to be extra careful. I'm extra careful every time I drill glass, though. It's not my favorite thing to do, let's put it that way.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Whew! Done now! I bet your build goes smoothly the rest of the way.

 

[eric b 125]

I hope it does. I'm not going to start a new build. I pretty much already started already on this thread, so might as well just keep on truckin. I'm rinsing the sand- man what a bear!
Started assembly on the overflow:

And blacked out the weir:

 

[sweatervest13]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric B 125 http:///t/389056/taking-a-new-direction/480#post_3522958
I hope it does. I'm not going to start a new build. I pretty much already started already on this thread, so might as well just keep on truckin. I'm rinsing the sand- man what a bear!
Started assembly on the overflow:

And blacked out the weir:

It looks good. The silicone on the weir looks a lot better.
Things are moving along real nice Eric. Keep on plugging away. How are you rinsing the sand out BTW??

 

[eric b 125]

Quote:
Originally Posted by sweatervest13 http:///t/389056/taking-a-new-direction/480#post_3522959
It looks good. The silicone on the weir looks a lot better.
Things are moving along real nice Eric. Keep on plugging away. How are you rinsing the sand out BTW??
Thanks! Well, the sand sat in buckets and got pretty nasty. I consolidated all the sand into a water change bucket, ran water over it, dumped it out, ran water over it, dumped it out. I have it sitting in some water with a power head and a bag of carbon. I might just continue to run it like that, do 5 gal water changes a day, and run carbon for the cycle of the tank. I'd like to not have to buy all new sand if I don't have to, but depending on how much rinsing I have to do, between time and water bill, it might be worth it. Hopefully someone will chime in, but I think that after a few good rinses and once it gets dropped into the tank in a thinner layer than how it's being rinsed now, I think all the byproducts of the anaerobic bacteria will be removed into the water column where it can be polished with carbon, and removed w/ the water changes for the cycle.