110 gallon tank rebuild!

[Graham]

Hello all!
Yesterday I managed to get my hands on a 110 gal tank for dirt cheap. There was a good reason for this obviously. The tank has ugly cracked plastic wooden trim, and the previous owner only did a halfway job on the silicone reseal.(by that I literally mean he only resealed half the tank) It has a 60"x17.5"x25" footprint so I am very happy with the space I have to work with. I am going to use this thread as a way to mark my progress with the build for everyone to see/comment/enjoy! Here is where I'm at now: I've gotten the tank in my basement and started to razor blade off the old silicone. It is a 2002 made tank, so I am going to strip it and give it a new seal. I decided that I wanted to remove the top piece of trim, so I did that tonight. The idea for the top of the tank is either going to be a eurobrace consisting of three strips of glass running front to back, or  I'm going to purchase pre made black trim and put it back on the tank. Still not sure yet.

[sanny]

Good catch! I think you should keep it rimless as the fish will look much more natural in my opinion. What kind of set up are you going for? Planning on going Malawi again?

[Graham]

Good catch! I think you should keep it rimless as the fish will look much more natural in my opinion. What kind of set up are you going for? Planning on going Malawi again?

Thanks for your input Sanny! I think I'm leaning towards rimless myself.  This tank is actually going to be for my tropheus duboisi colony I'm growing out!   I've got 14 in a 55 atm but I think they'll much prefer a larger tank when they become sexually mature. I want to do a full tanganyika set up so I'm either going to add another tropheus variant or a species of cylindricus or something like that.

[bettabreeder]

This will be an interesting tank build! I'm excited to see the results

[Al]

Always nice to start a new project.
On the consideration of rimless with your new find, I would make sure that your glass thickness will handle it. 60" length with 25" height is substantial and I would definitely want at least 5/8 if not 3/4 glass for a rimless that size. If you're going to euro, you might want to consider a euro perimeter rather than 3 braces front to back, that way leaving the center completely open for aquascaping large items, etc. With a perimeter euro you can also add a shoulder on the underside of the length pieces to handle sliding glass tops if you wish.
Rimless are great looking tanks for the right kind of setup. Just my .02 but a colony of trophs splashing at the water's top at feeding time (I'm sure you're on this one) is going to be splashing water all over the place - whereas with a euro that is 3-4" wide or a regular top, you get some containment. You also have to worry about fish jumping out.
Good luck with the build, fun times.

[Graham]

Always nice to start a new project.
On the consideration of rimless with your new find, I would make sure that your glass thickness will handle it. 60" length with 25" height is substantial and I would definitely want at least 5/8 if not 3/4 glass for a rimless that size. If you're going to euro, you might want to consider a euro perimeter rather than 3 braces front to back, that way leaving the center completely open for aquascaping large items, etc. With a perimeter euro you can also add a shoulder on the underside of the length pieces to handle sliding glass tops if you wish.
Rimless are great looking tanks for the right kind of setup. Just my .02 but a colony of trophs splashing at the water's top at feeding time (I'm sure you're on this one) is going to be splashing water all over the place - whereas with a euro that is 3-4" wide or a regular top, you get some containment. You also have to worry about fish jumping out.
Good luck with the build, fun times.

Hey Al, yes a rimless is quite out of the question considering the type of fish I am keeping. After some research, it seems like the euro will be the way to go. I'm not sure if I'm going to do a center brace or not in addition to the perimeter glass braces, so if you or anyone else has any input on that, be sure to let me know! I want to built either a screen top or sliding glass lids like you said so that way I have 100% coverage.

[Al]

I have 2 tanks with eurobracing, perimeter. Both are 6 foot long with one 24 width/24 height and one 30 width/27 height and neither have a center brace in addition to the perimeter euro - these were made by Miracles.
you are welcome anytime to come and see the setups for ideas/options on how you want to proceed. The smaller of the 2 tanks uses 1/2" glass with a 5/8 bottom and the larger has 5/8 glass all around - these are the safety factors as per the builder. Anything higher than 24" on a 6 foot length and they go to 5/8 glass - heavier in both weight and wallet. Miracles also brace the inside bottom perimeter of the tank but I assume you will still have the plastic trim on your tank to support rigidity.
Your key is safety first - managing bowing and deflection in the front and rear glass panels to keep that 110 gallons of water and pressure contained in the glass box.

[Dxpert]

Great project, be sure to snap a few pics along the way

[bitterman]

I'm with Al, You don't want a flood! Personally I would lean towards an euro braced tank for your build.

Another though if the tank does not a have a good front/back to use for the front you could replace the front panel with a piece of low iron glass for increased clarity.

Bruce

[Stussi613]

Graham,

Good seeing you today. Feel free to come by my place and check out how I euro braced mine, you'll want to match the thickness of the glass on the sides, then do a 3" strip the full length of the front and back of the aquarium (something like 60 x 3x 3/8 for example) then do the depth of the tank minus 6 1/4". Always measure from outside to outside and use SCS1200 (I like the black personally so you don't see algae buildup between the silicone and the glass on the corners). 

That's exactly how I did my tank and it's been super stable the whole year it's been running.

[Graham]

Graham,

Good seeing you today. Feel free to come by my place and check out how I euro braced mine, you'll want to match the thickness of the glass on the sides, then do a 3" strip the full length of the front and back of the aquarium (something like 60 x 3x 3/8 for example) then do the depth of the tank minus 6 1/4". Always measure from outside to outside and use SCS1200 (I like the black personally so you don't see algae buildup between the silicone and the glass on the corners). 

That's exactly how I did my tank and it's been super stable the whole year it's been running.

Thank you for posting this here Stuart! I had trouble remembering the exact way for measurements. I am going to go measure and then order up the glass today 

[Got Fish?]

Hey graham. Been pm'ing you. Don't think they went to the right place. Check your in box. Thx.