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blue2fyre

Blue Fish
Oct 7, 2008
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Wisconsin
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Ashley
I've been looking at goodwill for ages for a used 10 gallon tank with a hood. Yesterday while looking I saw a cracked 10 gallon and a 2.5 gallon. Behind these two was a metal rimmed slate bottom 5 gallon. It was $2.99 and I figured why not. So now I have this new project to move my current 5 gallon over to this nifty one. It's in surprisingly good shape and wasn't that dirty, no cracks and the tar stuff holding it together isn't coming apart. I did a lot of research after I got it to see what i was getting into. It seems most leak so I've been fully expecting for this to happen. I filled it with water an hour ago and so far no leaks. I'm thinking of still resealing the side seals with some silicone and looking into options for the bottom to help me sleep better at night.
So basically now what? It's an odd shape so I can't buy just a normal 5 gallon glass top and I'm looking into some lighting options. Anyone have some DIY ideas that would look neat?
 

REDKAHUNA

AC Members
Mar 4, 2009
233
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0
64
MARYLAND
Cool are the metal corners still in good shape? I would empty it, get some AQUARIUM SILICONE and put a very thin layer to fill the voids in the old black putty. If the metal is in really good shape I may leave it alone. Anyway great find they look so cool copared to todays tanks.
 

steffish

AC Members
Apr 18, 2006
270
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With exact measurements you could get a piece of plexi or glass cut for the top fairly cheap. Or DIY if you can. What shape, dimensions is it ?
 

blue2fyre

Blue Fish
Oct 7, 2008
4,440
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41
Wisconsin
Real Name
Ashley
I will have to measure it again, it's about 14 1/2" long and 8 1/2 "wide I just don't know how tall it is. I just did some rough measurements yesterday while I looked for some way to light it. All of the metal frame is in perfect shape. I cleaned it today and it looks great, no dings in the metal or anything. I have some aquarium silicone that I will use on the inside to be safe. I love the slate bottom and I don't want to mess with that at all but from my research that seems to be the weak point as far as leaking.
Where would I go to get a piece of plexi glass cut?
 

blue2fyre

Blue Fish
Oct 7, 2008
4,440
3
0
41
Wisconsin
Real Name
Ashley
I just went and officially measured the tank and it was 14.25" x 8.5" x 10.25"
so just a bit over 5 gallons. I also snapped a few quick pictures :0 I don't have any pictures of before it was cleaned. Just imagine the clean version with a lot more dust and some spots of paint on the inside glass.

metaltank1.jpg metaltank2.jpg metaltank3.jpg metaltank4.jpg
 
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