350G tank build

L~C~G

Candiru
MFK Member
Aug 14, 2006
253
2
48
South Africa
greengiant;4203184; said:
there are 4 coats of zavlar on it. weather has been horrible so nothing has happened in a while on it unfortunatly. it needs to Quit raining. on a bad not the glass I was using for this build developed a crack some time in moving it around. I plan on using it for another project later but now I have to buy a new piece.
Rather now than later with a ton of water behind it.
 

Oscarum monstruoso

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 3, 2010
1,004
8
68
33706
This is the best description of the sealing process that Ive been able to grasp, thanks for sharing it. How do the butyl caulk and rubber coating bond together, I assume quite well? Oh and do you think the use of drywall tape on the seams with the butyl caulk would be beneficial in this scenario? Im wondering if the caulk be layered that way.
 

greengiant

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 25, 2008
833
1
0
British Columbia Canada
I would not suse the Butyl caulk to hold down the mesh tape. also the Butyl does inhibit the ZAvlar from drying a bit. first coat took a 2 weeks before it was dry over the Butyl. the other coats cured alot faster. if I used the seam tape I would bot have used the Butyl on the corners. be sure to seal up your Zavlar immedietly or it will be useless the next time you open it up. as for why my glass broke lets call it a roomates error. he moved it over and set it on a rock. it cracked the glass. pissed me off but hey life sucks sometimes. now I have to buy a new piece and this tank wasn't planned to be pretty it was more of an experiment I was planning to try some stuff with. now I have to make it nice. I guess I have created myself alot more work. if I'm happy with it and once I have it filled I will likely skin it out with 1.4" oak and trim that out. it needs to be a showpiece now because I won't have the money to build another for a while now that I wrecked the glass. oh well life goes on.
 

Oscarum monstruoso

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 3, 2010
1,004
8
68
33706
greengiant;4204665; said:
I would not suse the Butyl caulk to hold down the mesh tape. also the Butyl does inhibit the ZAvlar from drying a bit. first coat took a 2 weeks before it was dry over the Butyl. the other coats cured alot faster. if I used the seam tape I would bot have used the Butyl on the corners. be sure to seal up your Zavlar immedietly or it will be useless the next time you open it up. as for why my glass broke lets call it a roomates error. he moved it over and set it on a rock. it cracked the glass. pissed me off but hey life sucks sometimes. now I have to buy a new piece and this tank wasn't planned to be pretty it was more of an experiment I was planning to try some stuff with. now I have to make it nice. I guess I have created myself alot more work. if I'm happy with it and once I have it filled I will likely skin it out with 1.4" oak and trim that out. it needs to be a showpiece now because I won't have the money to build another for a while now that I wrecked the glass. oh well life goes on.
Thanks for the thourough reply, and sorry about the accident. I imagine the caulk is a better choice than the tape, althouggh that depends on the caulk/liquid rubber bond. Besides the longer curing time, are there any issues with it?

Oh, edit to add, unless you subconsciously want to go with new glass and make it nicer, it shouldnt be too hard to find another cracked tank, or not?
 

greengiant

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 25, 2008
833
1
0
British Columbia Canada
I have another tank here at home with glass the exact size I need but theres a problem. it is full of water. it has a bunch of fish in it. the fish from the present tank will be moving into the bigger home once its finished. then I may pull my 250G apart and build 2 more 350G tanks. also this will leave me with 2 end pieces and the bottom pieces to build smaller tanks with. I still plan on using the original glass from this tank to build a big tank but it will now only be 4ft long. I have 2 pieces of glass that are 12mm x 6' x 18" and 2 pieces that are 12mm x 3' x 18'' pluss when I take the other tank apart I will have lots of glass. I also have 24'x6ft pices of 8mm glass. and several other thinner glass pieces. oh the fun I can have. plus a 150G thats 3ft tall x 4ft wide. I have had many thoughts of what to do with it. it is running right now but as I convert my tanks to bigger tanks I have thought of turning that one int something around 1000G with 2-3'x4' windows and 2-3'x2' windows. I wonder sometimes am I going insane?
 

bubbles123

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Nov 17, 2009
236
0
31
Fort McMurray, Ab, Canada
greengiant;4204667; said:
oh and by the way it rained again today. grrrr I love the rain but sure is screwing up this project
I'd take the rain over snow any day! It's the middle of June and up until last week, I was still worried about snow (more specifically: frost) here. This weather is driving me nuts!

greengiant;4206115; said:
... I have thought of turning that one int something around 1000G with 2-3'x4' windows and 2-3'x2' windows. I wonder sometimes am I going insane?
This is probably not the best website to post this and then ask that question. Probably ALL MFKer's have had those thoughts about breaking apart smaller tanks into MUCH bigger tanks! My wife thinks I'm insane almost daily.:)

I'll keep watching your build. I love watching the big builds that aren't in warm climates. I've been planning my build, but I'm stuck on heating it. Last winter it cost me $800/month to heat/light my house. I need to figure out an economical way to heat 500 gallons of water. How are you going to heat yours?
 
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