New To Me 50gal. Slow Build

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khartig

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jan 22, 2012
Messages
66
Location
Las Vegas, Nv.
Since me 29gal. tank is now up and running beautifully I figured it was time to start looking for something bigger, yeah I know I'm probably coming down with MTS. I've been combing craigslist for the past few weeks and after missing out on a couple of good deals I finally scored. I picked up a 50gal. with stand for $40.
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The stand and tank are both in pretty good shape but not perfect. The only problem with the tank is the cross bar is broken, but that will be a simple fix when I get that far. The tirm is a gray speckled which I may paint. Haven't really decided yet.
The stand was in desperite need of refinishing. A couple of the boards had some cracks, the front one to the point I went ahead and replaced it, and started sanding
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I also added some extra 1x4 supports on the inside. The stand seems very solid but I wasn't going to take any chances.

This will be a slow build for me as I'll be on vacation next week and the wife insists that the money we have out away is for that. After vacvation I'll be getting back into this as money allows. I haven't decided what kind of fish are going in there. I'm thinking cichlids or maybe a community tank with a few angels, oh well I've got time to decide on that.
 
Very nice looking stand, will you be painting/staining it? I've always liked the look of a mahogany stain :)

Have fun on vacation!
 
It will be getting stained and varnished for sure. Not sure what color yet, it depends what room it goes into. As for vacation, fun it will be. Going to be in Pismo Beach for 10 days of relaxation. Between my job and side business I need it.
 
I'm a little nervous about the broken cross bar as they add to the strength/support of the glass. How do u plan to fix it, just curious?
 
mohican said:
I'm a little nervous about the broken cross bar as they add to the strength/support of the glass. How do u plan to fix it, just curious?

+1 I completely forgot about this. Maybe you should just play it safe and look for one on craigslist? You can usually find them for pretty cheap, theres a 10$ one in my area.
 
Since the crossbar is open on the underside I plan on using some 3/8" square plastic stock and running a piece across the entire length and epoxying it in place. It should be stronger then the original crossbar. After the repair is done and completely dry I plan on setting it up on the stand and filling it with water and checking the amount of flex to see how bad it is, or isn't. That way I can test the tank and stand at the same time. If the flex is too bad or gets bad after a week or so it will be getting replaced. Of course this will be getting done on my patio just in case, I would hate to explain to the wife why there is 50 gallons on the carpet.
 
Most tanks don't have cross bars underneath because The glass is tempered and most of the horizontal stress occurs near the top. Placing anything longways may hinder being able to put any kind of glass canopy on top. I tried to do some research for you trying to repair the plastic and didn't have much luck; most sites recommended buying a new tank to be safe. Some did say getting a new top rim entirely but you could probably just get a whole new tank pretty cheap... again. Just some thoughts.
 
The repair is not going to be under the tank. I'll be installing the plastic stock to the underside of the orginal crossbar. The underside of the original crossbar is channeled so the stock will fit perfectly and will be stronger than the thin plastic of the original crossbar.
 
With vacation over it was time to get back into the stand. I got up early this morning to beats the heat and got the sanding finished and the dings and cracks filled and sanded. Had some time left so I got the first of the staining done.
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The stand is upside-down in the pic so what you're seeing is the front face and the bottom. If tomorrow isn't too ungodly hot after work I'll flip it and get the top side done. Not to shop for some new hardware.
 
Just finished up the stand this morning and I am happy with the way it turned out.
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I would have had it finished last weekend but I had to find some door pulls that fit the theme.
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I may add a light in the cabinet area, haven't decided yet. I'm going to check some out today and see if I can find one that suits my needs.
Now that the stand is finished, I'm going to try to repair the tank. I know pretty much everyone reccomends a new one, but I have an idea that I think will work. When I'm done with the repair it will get some extensive testing, on the patio of course seeing as I do not want to explain to the wife why I have 50 gallons of water on the living room carpet:whistle:
 
I love it! The stand looks great with the stain, I really like the brighter parts in the grain. The handles a super cool, very unique.
 
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