60 gallon; 3 tier; waterfall tank

[Joyler]

Oh crap!! I'm glad everyone is ok hope everything else is ok too

 

[spoonman]

Did it crack from the drilling for the filter intake???

 

[JustinKScott]

Did it crack from the drilling for the filter intake???

Seems to have, yes.. Any tips for me?

 

[spoonman]

Was wondering if you could not drill the bottom tank and just hang the intake under the waterfall from the one above it to keep it hidden a little...

 

[barterking85]

were you using a diamond tip or a glass bit?

 

[spoonman]

Being that the tanks are relatively small, the glass is not very thick. May just make the bottom glass too weak with the hole in it. Kind of at a loss to figure out how to get the intake in the bottom tank without having an ugly hose hanging over the side. Would have to hide it with something.

 

[JustinKScott]

were you using a diamond tip or a glass bit?

Diamond tip.. package said it was for glass.

 

[Esoteric Backbone]

Why not, instead of drilling the bottom, drill the side as close to the bottom as possible? Or is the wall weaker then the bottom?

 

[Fishies86]

Oh no! You must be absolutely gutted! What a shame

 

[JustinKScott]

Oh no! You must be absolutely gutted! What a shame

Naa, learn from mistakes, rebuild, improve.

Do miss the sound of the waterfall though...

 

[rain87]

That sucks! Good luck figuring out how to fix it!

 

[WendiDell]

Naa, learn from mistakes, rebuild, improve.

Do miss the sound of the waterfall though...

What a disgustingly healthy attitude. Not many people would be coping as well as you, even if it was just their regular tank that cracked.
Artistic and pragmatic, it's a rare combination.
I am really sorry to hear that it broke, but glad to hear your handling so well.
Keeping in mind that I have no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to building something like this.
Is there any way to use thicker glass on the bottom to make it stronger?
Or would acrylic be a better material to work with?
And the next question may be dumb I don''t know, but can you keep the glass sides and use thicker piece of Plexiglas on the bottom?

 

[Pecktec]

Oh crap!! I'm glad everyone is ok hope everything else is ok too

+1 on the ow crap!

 

[JustinKScott]

What a disgustingly healthy attitude.
Artistic and pragmatic, it's a rare combination.

I design surgical equipment by trade. Most days what I designed doesn't work or I get told what I've done is crap, except "this,this,this and this.. Oh yeah that too". So I'm used to identifying the good parts and replacing the bad.

The tank overall is good, the weak bottom is bad. Simpler to replace the bottom than give up on the tank! Especially since there was no design failures, just a material failure.

Is there any way to use thicker glass on the bottom to make it stronger?
Or would acrylic be a better material to work with?
And the next question may be dumb I don''t know, but can you keep the glass sides and use thicker piece of Plexiglas on the bottom?

I plan on going with thicker glass or acrylic for the bottom.

But as a rule I hate acrylic sides as they are hard to clean and will eventually get scratched up.

I'm sure we could keep the sides/replace the bottom... But my wife wants the bottom tank to become a cube, so we'll probably just build a new one.

 

[Sssea]

Acrylic can be pretty troublesome, but I think using a thicker piece of acrylic might solve your problem. You seem like you have a great head on your shoulders, I'm sure whatever you do will be great

 

[barterking85]

I design surgical equipment by trade. Most days what I designed doesn't work or I get told what I've done is crap, except "this,this,this and this.. Oh yeah that too". So I'm used to identifying the good parts and replacing the bad.

The tank overall is good, the weak bottom is bad. Simpler to replace the bottom than give up on the tank! Especially since there was no design failures, just a material failure.



I plan on going with thicker glass or acrylic for the bottom.

But as a rule I hate acrylic sides as they are hard to clean and will eventually get scratched up.

I'm sure we could keep the sides/replace the bottom... But my wife wants the bottom tank to become a cube, so we'll probably just build a new one.

but if you only replace the bottom with a thick acrylic it will be covered anyway and much easier to drill and it dosent leave a weak or vulnerable spot

 

[JustinKScott]

but if you only replace the bottom with a thick acrylic it will be covered anyway and much easier to drill and it dosent leave a weak or vulnerable spot

Talked it over with the wife this morning... As long as the sealant releases cleanly, we will replace the bottom with acrylic. Yeah, should be back up and running this weekend!

Btw; led lamp is shipped and will be here on Wednesday.

 

[barterking85]

awesome cant wait to see it after you have wiped you hands clean of it

 

[WendiDell]

I hope that you can just replace the bottom and not the entire last section.
I've never like the acrylic tanks either, but if it's only on the bottom no one will ever see it.
A slightly different subject, how ever did you get into designing medical equipment? It's not an obvious job choice. Many years ago I work for a company that was doing R&D on robotic prosthesis. It was pretty interesting work.

 

[JustinKScott]

I'm a electrical/software engineer by trade, and I got a job writing software for a company who builds neuromonitoring (electrical brain/nerve monitoring) equipment for the OR.

After that I guess I just worked my way up to the design tiers. Now I'm visiting surgeries quite often, and trying to imagine "if I was the surgeon, how would I want [this thing] to work?"