Mike Wells, Question on your rack setup

Me, Never Spill water on the Floor ha ha ha that's very funny. I have prob run more water on my floors then most hobbyist put through there tanks LOL

Yes Lynn is right Concrete and spills rot the wood in a hurry.


By the way Lynn your in Pitt which is only 2 hrs away.... When you coming to visit???


Mike

PS.... ever been to Wet Pets? Its about 20 south of Pitt off I-79

[Fish_Fin-atic]

Okay...NOW I feel stupid :-[ Spills - of course! It all makes perfect sense now. I've had several wooden aquarium stands ruined by years of water damage at the base. It got to the point where I had to put down a piece of tarp before I did the water change because the floors were getting water damaged! I just thought that the brick had some magical powers or something ;D Thanks for enlighting me!

[Lynn]

Mike,

I'll be out to visit when I have more tank space! ;D
I know I can't JUST visit, gotta bring something back!
I am trying to get my basement converted into a fish room and then look out!!!!

I go to WetPets all the time! Its the best LFS I've found around here. 8)

Lynn

Next time your there tell Brian I said Hi....

That 890 gallon Salt water Show tanks a sight


Mike

[Smokey]

HOCKEY PUCKS- they stop water from capillerating . They also stop vibrations and willl not detereate....

Yea, just try and "get" the Queen's hockey puck... LOL. she proberly thinks it is some sort of Eskimo delicacy.....

Yes we are still Eskimo's up here ...want to buy some ice????
Free hockey puck with every order over 1000 kilograms... delevery not included...

Smokey

[limige]

mike, the long beams running from side to side that your tanks sit on.. are they all doubled up? 2 2x4's together to give you a 4x4?

if so when is this necessary. i am planning on a rack to hold 12" wide tanks on top and 18" wide tanks on the bottom. rack will be 10' long with feet placed 4' off one end and 3' from the other end.

also, do you have a 2x4 running from to back under each edge of the tank? if so, do 2 tanks share a 2x4 or do the both get their own?

any tips for me before i begin? so far i've bought 6 2x4x10's and was wondering if i need to buy 4 more to double up the front and rear beams.

[Discus Don]

Excellent topic here, with lots of good ideas. I doubt that I'll be able to put them to good use any time soon, but my curiosity and thirst for practical knowledge is never satisfied.

Questions for you Mike, if you have the time (and patience) to answer so many....

How does one go about drilling a tank? Several of my tanks came with little notices saying "Do not drill". I believe they were only on the larger tanks (50g and up), which use tempered glass. Are 20's/29's generally made without tempered glass to make drilling possible? And what sort of drill bit is used? Drilled from the outside in, or the inside out? Me naivety makes me think that it would be easy to break/ruin a tank fairly easily.

As for the bulkhead fittings, I've perused the plumbing aisle at Home Depot for what seems like hours for my own little "efficiency improvement projects" (which I should post some pictures of), but I've never seen the bulkhead fittings. Are they easy to find? And how are they installed/sealed? Simply with pressure? Or do they require sealant around them?

I've got my eye on the 3rd bay in my garage for a fish "room", but I've got to find a place for all that *stuff* first!

Thanks,
-Don

[Smokey]

Yes you are right Don, drilling a glass tank can be costly. The drilling may go well; however any movement of the bulkhead fitting can crack the glass. Personally, I do not like to drill glass tanks under 10 mil. thick.

Smokey

[Angels Only]

Don, drilling glass is not difficult if you have the right tools. Tempered glass should not be drilled as the stresses it is under will cause it to crack into many small pieces like car windshield glass with just a slight stress from the drill bit.
Here is a link on drilling.
http://angelsonly.com/drilling3.htm

Please note that I have cracked a couple of tanks out of over 100 drilled

Drilling Glass tanks is very easy. You are correct you cannot drill tempered glass and smokey is right the thicker the better. Make a jig, take your time and you will have no problems.

Mike, It's not the thickness of the runners that the tanks sit on but the amount of vertical support you give your rack. I like a leg between each tank.... depending on the size of the tanks.


Mike

[Jason]

use gaskets guys, and if your still worried about the thin glass cracking make big washers out of plexi to stiffen the area around the bulkhead up

[AJB]

Here's a question for 'ya:

Where to get glass drill bits that are 3 1/2"?
I am installing some 2" bulkeads and need to put holes in 38 gallon tanks. ;D

[daninthesand]

AJB

http://www.crlaurence.com/ProductPag...41&Origin=

pricey. only 142.90 CDN$ (around $90 US)

Daniel

btw. you need to have an account to get prices. If you want prices on other sizes let me know by IM. I'll look them up for ya.

[AJB]

Hmm. Actually, That is cheap compared to much smaller sizes I have seen.

But what to use to drill with it? A regular drill? Or something like this? Can you give me a price on that?

[daninthesand]

828.70 canadian$. I have drilled very few holes. But only 1 1/8" But I have used a hand drill. So have a couple other people I know. Gotta be carefull.

But for that large drill bit, I don't know if it would be safe to use a hand drill. too much torque. Might break the glass. Who Knows. ??? ???