assembly page: new 150 gal freshwater
- Thread starter ghostknife
- Start date
pictus
I was very happy to see the pictus catfish that i released into the koi pond. it hasnt grown much more, but it does seem to be enjoying itself. to think that i transported it there in a beer stein.
I put in those little ghost shrimp when the tank was new. to my surprise the other day I saw a very large one come out and swim around. Its amazing because they are so small and there are so many fish in the tank that predate on them.
The swordtails are reproducing, but i dont think any have survived because they get eaten. still, because of the shrimp, i think some will survive.
Its the little surprises that make the tank extra enjoyable.
I was very happy to see the pictus catfish that i released into the koi pond. it hasnt grown much more, but it does seem to be enjoying itself. to think that i transported it there in a beer stein.
I put in those little ghost shrimp when the tank was new. to my surprise the other day I saw a very large one come out and swim around. Its amazing because they are so small and there are so many fish in the tank that predate on them.
The swordtails are reproducing, but i dont think any have survived because they get eaten. still, because of the shrimp, i think some will survive.
Its the little surprises that make the tank extra enjoyable.
disaster struck, well, not so bad
last week i changed about half the water like i do every week. when the tank was almost refilled, i noticed something odd. very odd. the center brace was floating in the water instead of bracing the tank from on top of the tank. uh oh!
I looked at the glass edge on and it was bowing out a couple of inches. So i immediately drained the tank down to about half way and studied the problem. Somehow the silicone had let go on the forward side of the center brace.
So how did this happen? well there are three ideas and i think they all had something to do with it. Learn from this.
1, i had set the powerhead with bubbles and they came up under the center brace. its possible that the constant water spray on the silicone, along with some algea growth could have weakened the silicone.
2, the weekly water changes caused undue stress on the silicone from the expansion and contraction. this is a very probable cause.
3, there was a suggestion made that heat from the aquarium light warmed up the glass brace. silicone weakens with even moderate warmth, at about 80-90 degrees.
Ill tell you about my solution in the next installment.
last week i changed about half the water like i do every week. when the tank was almost refilled, i noticed something odd. very odd. the center brace was floating in the water instead of bracing the tank from on top of the tank. uh oh!
I looked at the glass edge on and it was bowing out a couple of inches. So i immediately drained the tank down to about half way and studied the problem. Somehow the silicone had let go on the forward side of the center brace.
So how did this happen? well there are three ideas and i think they all had something to do with it. Learn from this.
1, i had set the powerhead with bubbles and they came up under the center brace. its possible that the constant water spray on the silicone, along with some algea growth could have weakened the silicone.
2, the weekly water changes caused undue stress on the silicone from the expansion and contraction. this is a very probable cause.
3, there was a suggestion made that heat from the aquarium light warmed up the glass brace. silicone weakens with even moderate warmth, at about 80-90 degrees.
Ill tell you about my solution in the next installment.
The dumb solution would be to clean up the old silicone and re-glue it. its a dumb solution because it is obvious, but also because it would be next to impossible to clean it up well enough, clean it up without getting acetone in the aquarium, and then regluing it with silicone and somehow applying pressure to it for a week. it would certainly fail again.
So what i did was i went down to the local metal shop and had them make me a u shaped bracket to a very exacting set of dimensions. it is made of 1/8" aluminum. I simply put it over the existing brace and it holds on to the sides. when the aquarium was filled, it applied pressure on the bracket and its going nowhere. all fixed. I thought about applying 5200 to the inside of it first, but i decided against it because its nice to be able to remove the bracket so that i can access the aquarium better. also, the existing silicone already worked as a kind of washer to cushion the glass against the metal.
So... dont empty and refill your tank more than 1/3 of the way down. you can empty it once in a while, but not every week as i did. I learned that glass does not fatigue, or at least not so much, so in the end it was repairable.
Hope this helps
So what i did was i went down to the local metal shop and had them make me a u shaped bracket to a very exacting set of dimensions. it is made of 1/8" aluminum. I simply put it over the existing brace and it holds on to the sides. when the aquarium was filled, it applied pressure on the bracket and its going nowhere. all fixed. I thought about applying 5200 to the inside of it first, but i decided against it because its nice to be able to remove the bracket so that i can access the aquarium better. also, the existing silicone already worked as a kind of washer to cushion the glass against the metal.
So... dont empty and refill your tank more than 1/3 of the way down. you can empty it once in a while, but not every week as i did. I learned that glass does not fatigue, or at least not so much, so in the end it was repairable.
Hope this helps
cause
I now believe that the cause was in fact, the heat from the lights. It is also a contributing factor that the tank is of an unusual dimension, being tall and thin. The metal plate gets very warm while the lights are on for a while. So maybe the real lesson here is to keep those lights off the tank and provide plenty of airflow/ cooling.
Like I said when I started this thread, i want everyone to learn from my failures and sucesses so they dont have to repeat the same mistakes. and isnt that the point of this whole website? i am not perfect, and this hobby is always a knowledge base growing, part science part art, part finesse. And all of us experiment with our little universes.
it was pretty terrifiying thinking of my 150 gal tank possibly blowing out in the middle of the night. I have a young daughter, and for those of you who are parents, you know what i mean. Besides, who wants 150 gallons and 100 dead fish all over their house. I had nightmares about it, but such is life. take risks, get rewards, get scared half to death in the process. Its been about a month now since the incident and everything is working fine again. relief.
Please let me know you all are out there and how your tank is doing.
Peace
I now believe that the cause was in fact, the heat from the lights. It is also a contributing factor that the tank is of an unusual dimension, being tall and thin. The metal plate gets very warm while the lights are on for a while. So maybe the real lesson here is to keep those lights off the tank and provide plenty of airflow/ cooling.
Like I said when I started this thread, i want everyone to learn from my failures and sucesses so they dont have to repeat the same mistakes. and isnt that the point of this whole website? i am not perfect, and this hobby is always a knowledge base growing, part science part art, part finesse. And all of us experiment with our little universes.
it was pretty terrifiying thinking of my 150 gal tank possibly blowing out in the middle of the night. I have a young daughter, and for those of you who are parents, you know what i mean. Besides, who wants 150 gallons and 100 dead fish all over their house. I had nightmares about it, but such is life. take risks, get rewards, get scared half to death in the process. Its been about a month now since the incident and everything is working fine again. relief.
Please let me know you all are out there and how your tank is doing.
Peace
