RudeDogg1
10-31-2010, 05:26 PM
Well I thought as Ive finely got got my tank I thought id start a diary of my progress so far. Thought it might give people a few ideas and hopefully ill pick some up along the way. I was originaly going to get a juwel rio 240 but I went to watermarque taunton to pick up my 3d backgroung and they had the Eheim for £250 which was a bargain and probly a better quality tank.
So here it is when it came last week after I cleaned it and filled it up to check for leaks.
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/SV200629.jpg
Then I thought Id make a start on the background the one I chose is a back to nature aquaterra slimline red genisis. First i measured up and trimmed the smallest section just incase i screwed it up. You have to go slow and cut along the same line several times befor it goes all the way.
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/Firstcut.jpg
Then i test fitted it to check the length which was fine suprisingly lol. Then you have to trim off the outside edge overlap (which is used for joining each panel) so it will butt up to the glass. Also you need to cut the outer back and bottom edge at an angle and nick the bottom corner to allow for the tanks silicone so it will fit snug.
All 3 pieces trimmed and ready to install
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/finishedcut.jpg
Then came all the silicone I think I used plenty I had 1 arm like popeye come the end ached like hell lol. Anyway back on track, I just layed down a line all around the outside edge adid loads of lines about an inch apart and used black on the outside edges. Like so
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/firstglue.jpg
So I put all them in, while they were dying I was still trying to decide wether i should brave it and try to do my custom idea. After alot of uming and aring and buying paint to do the sides i decided to do my custom idea lol. So i started with a small 4 inch wide panel (as its the cheapest) and started tring to work out how to do it. The problem was which i didnt realise till i got home is each panel is a kind of wedge shape so u can join them together properly. Put it this way if id of used it how it was it would sick out and there would be a cut out id have to fill with silicone basicly looking ****. I should of taken a pic so you could see you can kind of see it in pic 2 where its shaped and shaped the cut out is about a cm deep so i need to hack that off and level the whole of the back. Easyer said than done I first cut off 10mm off the bottom (each lil square on the back is 10mm) and trimmed the rest off the length. The reason i cut the bottom to is because theres a thick layer of the resin like on the front which would be a pain when trying to level the back out. So I cut as much as i could with a knife then used a box plane rasp type thing to do the rest. It was alot easyer than i thought and quick. Heres the 2 finished panels a 4 inch and 8 inch
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/sidestrimmed.jpg
After the back had dried i ran a bead of black round the edges the custom side panels will cover. Probly didnt need to but wanted to make sure its all 100% sealed. Then I stuck the sides and weighed them down with bags of playsand.
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/drying.jpg
So once that was dry i beaded all round the outside edges and top and bottom And personally i think it looks pretty damn good. The only downside is when you stand the tank back up you can see all the silicone holding the background on. Which was easily remided by painting the back and the bits of side covered. I decided to not paint the whole side because i thing it would look odd. I chose wilkos moody blue and did 3 coats
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/Painted.jpg
Heres how it looks havent put it back on its stand yet as my house m8 aint home and dont fancy trying to move it on me own lol.
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/SV200636.jpg
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/SV200637.jpg
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/SV200638.jpg
Thats how far I am for now once payday comes i shall order me plants and set up. I have also set up my water storage area in the basement with my HMA 80C (from MJE). Ill get a pic of that tomoz. After lifting one of the 25L jerry cans today i was gonna use to lug hma water to the fish tank ill be investing in a pump lol.
Thats it for now I will update as I go
Rudi
So here it is when it came last week after I cleaned it and filled it up to check for leaks.
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/SV200629.jpg
Then I thought Id make a start on the background the one I chose is a back to nature aquaterra slimline red genisis. First i measured up and trimmed the smallest section just incase i screwed it up. You have to go slow and cut along the same line several times befor it goes all the way.
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/Firstcut.jpg
Then i test fitted it to check the length which was fine suprisingly lol. Then you have to trim off the outside edge overlap (which is used for joining each panel) so it will butt up to the glass. Also you need to cut the outer back and bottom edge at an angle and nick the bottom corner to allow for the tanks silicone so it will fit snug.
All 3 pieces trimmed and ready to install
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/finishedcut.jpg
Then came all the silicone I think I used plenty I had 1 arm like popeye come the end ached like hell lol. Anyway back on track, I just layed down a line all around the outside edge adid loads of lines about an inch apart and used black on the outside edges. Like so
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/firstglue.jpg
So I put all them in, while they were dying I was still trying to decide wether i should brave it and try to do my custom idea. After alot of uming and aring and buying paint to do the sides i decided to do my custom idea lol. So i started with a small 4 inch wide panel (as its the cheapest) and started tring to work out how to do it. The problem was which i didnt realise till i got home is each panel is a kind of wedge shape so u can join them together properly. Put it this way if id of used it how it was it would sick out and there would be a cut out id have to fill with silicone basicly looking ****. I should of taken a pic so you could see you can kind of see it in pic 2 where its shaped and shaped the cut out is about a cm deep so i need to hack that off and level the whole of the back. Easyer said than done I first cut off 10mm off the bottom (each lil square on the back is 10mm) and trimmed the rest off the length. The reason i cut the bottom to is because theres a thick layer of the resin like on the front which would be a pain when trying to level the back out. So I cut as much as i could with a knife then used a box plane rasp type thing to do the rest. It was alot easyer than i thought and quick. Heres the 2 finished panels a 4 inch and 8 inch
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/sidestrimmed.jpg
After the back had dried i ran a bead of black round the edges the custom side panels will cover. Probly didnt need to but wanted to make sure its all 100% sealed. Then I stuck the sides and weighed them down with bags of playsand.
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/drying.jpg
So once that was dry i beaded all round the outside edges and top and bottom And personally i think it looks pretty damn good. The only downside is when you stand the tank back up you can see all the silicone holding the background on. Which was easily remided by painting the back and the bits of side covered. I decided to not paint the whole side because i thing it would look odd. I chose wilkos moody blue and did 3 coats
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/Painted.jpg
Heres how it looks havent put it back on its stand yet as my house m8 aint home and dont fancy trying to move it on me own lol.
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/SV200636.jpg
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/SV200637.jpg
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr20/RUDERUDI/SV200638.jpg
Thats how far I am for now once payday comes i shall order me plants and set up. I have also set up my water storage area in the basement with my HMA 80C (from MJE). Ill get a pic of that tomoz. After lifting one of the 25L jerry cans today i was gonna use to lug hma water to the fish tank ill be investing in a pump lol.
Thats it for now I will update as I go
Rudi