Im not sure the thickness. Its a regular 55 gallon tank so im assuming its like 1/4 inch or something around that. A friend of mine told me that my tank was made out of tempered glass. I was givin the tank as a gift. I didnt think it was tempered glass. Is there any way i could have it drilled out professionaly or am i going to have to replace the bottom piece of glass and then get it drilled? I was under the influence that when you drill through tempered glass sussecfuly it weakens the glass. If that is the case, what if i put a piece of mdf under the tank inbetwen that and the top of the stand? I really want to drill my tank out so im up for anything.
I just found out that my tank bottom was tempered glass for sure. The local glass shop said that they could cut the bottom out without any problem. I called all the loacal fish stores they all said that it may work for a short time but it would bust over time. So I am now thinking about getting the back right side of the tank drilled out. What do you guys think? or is that tempered glass also? I was useing a peat/spagma moss mixture under my gravel. Would i do better by getting a bag of aquatic soil? I saw this at Home depot. The peat/spagma moss mixture i was using worked great but i saw the soil and started to wonder if that would work out better. Also i noticed that people have very fine gravel in there tanks. I have not so small gravel. Where can i get gravel that is smaller than the gravel at most pet stores and home depot? The gravel i have is about the size of sunflower seeds.
Its 1232. I just finished draining my tank, putting all my fish in a different tank, putting all my plants in 4 5 gallon buckets and putting moon lights in my hood. Tomorrow I have to drop my tank off at the glass shop for 8 am and then i get to work on my stand for the rest of the day. Bad news is, I think I threw my back out carrying my 55 gallon tank outside by myself. Ill see in the morning if my back can still move
Everything is now done. I brought my tank to the glass shop last Friday at 8 am, picked it up at 5 pm. While the tank was at the glass shop I started to build my stand. I finished it off before 5. I picked the tank up and brought my stand to my house. I painted the stand friday night. Saturday I finished off the plumbing in my tank. While installing the bulkheads I noticed that the holes where a little big. I somewhat ignored it and put everything together. I filled the tank up outside and it was leaking out of both holes. The glass shop cut the holes 1 1/2 inches. My holes where supposed to be 1 1/8 inches wide. I siliconed the tank up really well, inside and out. Sunday I started to set the tank up thinking the silicone was dry. It had a little dribble of water coming out so I went to homedepot to find something to put on the inside and outside that would either dry in water or would hold the water out so I can let the silicone cure. The guy gave me plumbers putty. That **** didnt work, but it did cloud my tank up. I drained the tank and resealed the tank. Monday after work and school I went to fill the tank up, it still had a little leak. Smaller than the leak before. I got pissed off so i ripped all the silicone off and resealed it with some black silicone, the black looks better anyways. Today when I came home I put some more silicone over the other coat just to make sure. I am almost fed up with these bulkheads. I am going to try to fill it up tomorrow after I get out of work, is that a good idea. The clear silicone says it is tack free in 30 mins and dry in 24 hours. The black says that it takes 7 to 14 days to fully cure. I have a blow dryer hooked up blowing over the silicone right now. I dont know if thats a good idea. Any suggestions?
I ripped the bulkheads out and scraped all the silicone off. I measured the holes and the inside diameter is about 1 1/4. What size bulkhead would fit in that? I was thinking a 3/4.
It looks like you need a fitting for 1/2" pipe to fit into a 1 1/4" hole. You might double check that by looking for other sites similar to the one I linked.
I just finished my tank. Plumbing is done. I got 3/4 inch bulkheads to install yesterady. My pump is running great, my stand is looking good. My plants look happy and my fish are zipping around. I will take some pics as soon as I get back from eating dinner.
Excellent! Nice to hear your having sucess sealing the bulkheads. I look forward to seeing the pictures. Please include the canister filter....Sounds interesting.
The first three pics are of my tank two days after setup. The fourth one is of my stand, tank and hood. The fifth one is my food and parts bin for my fish tank . The sixth and seventh are of my canister filter. I took these pictures in a rush so they didnt come out so great. My canister filter is being pushed with a mag drive 500. I am going to take some better pictures when I get back home monday night. I also added two red cold cathode lights to my hood for moon lighting. It looks pretty cool.
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