free 55g diy journal

[MMantelli]

Well I picked up a free 55g yesterday with a missing center brace. So I'm going to do everything that I can DIY in this journal. I'm going to convert it to rimless, build my own stand, a diy canister filter mabey sump I don't know yet, SHO CFL setup, led suppliment and nightlights, well fed automatic water changer and whatever other things I can think of along the way. Any ideas yall might have during this process will be considered. This will be a long project and posts may be far and few in between at times but I hope yall stick around as I know I will be needing to pick some of your brains here and there. LoL Well here is the beginning of the project. I felt sorry for the fish that were in here. This thing smells almost like a diaper.




Odell never heard of it but it does seem to be a quality built tank.

 

[Jasoncwrd2002]

I'm gonna follow this. My first 55g I bought looked alot like that. I attempted to clean it but ended up buying another used one then a brand new one lol

 

[MMantelli]

I'm gonna follow this. My first 55g I bought looked alot like that. I attempted to clean it but ended up buying another used one then a brand new one lol

This is my 4th tank first used one though lol and welcome to the journey.

 

[tbrazil230]

I'll follow, should be a fun build

 

[MMantelli]

Got the top trim off in one piece and the silicone scraped off the top rim. About to make a temporary brace so I can fill and soak it. This thing almost smells like a poppy diaper. LoL

 

[Jasoncwrd2002]

How are you cleaning? And can you post a before and after shot of the worst area

 

[MMantelli]

How are you cleaning? And can you post a before and after shot of the worst area

Water and vinegar if that doeant get the mold off the silicone I'm gonna use water and a very small amount of bleach fill it to the rim and soak it for a day or two then rinse the crap out of it till I can't smell bleach then dry it for a few days untill the residual bleach is dried out the use vinegar and water to clean what's left rinse rinse rinse . And let it dry really good. The before pics are already posted. I didn't get a chance to clean it yet a friend had an emergency and had to go help him out. If yall know a better way to clean it












please let me know. Oh and I also picked up 2 bags of miracle gro organic potting soil and a bag of pool filter sand for the substrate I know I need to clean it and make a brace for it first but the stuff was on sale. Here's a pic of the soil I hope its the right one.

 

[MMantelli]

Picked up a couple pieces of glass for a temporary brace so I can fill and soak it imma scrub where I'm gluing it in at then once I make it to lake glass and mirror to give them my template for my custom braces ill just cut theese ones out and silicone the nice pretty ones in

 

[MMantelli]

Here is the temp brace so I can fill this thing up to the rim and soak it I tries scrubbing that buildup off from where the old trim was...wow it will not come off so I had to silicone the brace in 3 inches lower then I wanted to but I think it will hold now time to wait 3 days while it cures yay :/











Edit: well the silicone is cured so I filled it scrubbed the easy stuff off drained it filled it half way added 2 1/2c bleach topped it of and am now just waiting for the bleach to do its thing overnight. When I get home from work tomorrow I'm going to start scrubbing it again. Hopefully I can get all that rock hard buildup from under the trim off. Any ideas....

 

[MMantelli]

Update this crust on the top of the tank sucks it does not want to come off. Any ideas?



Well I decided to up the concetration. 4c vinegar and 8c bleach imma let it soak till I get off work tomorrow scrub it again rinse rinse rinse fill dose a dechlorinator sit over night drain rinse rinse rinse let it dry for a few days and if that don't do it imma just paint white around the top rim to cover the etched look.

 

[Mlani]

Try making a baking soda paste. It was recommended to me from someone on here and it worked on my "stanky used tank".

 

[MMantelli]

Did it help remove the cloudyness around the top of the glass left from the hard water deposits? That's what ii m having issues with.and thank you for the advise.

 

[Mlani]

Yes it did. It helped with all the crap I couldn't scrub off.

 

[MMantelli]

Man I wish I would have known about that before dumping all that bleach in there. I'll tty it tomorrow and let you know how well it works.

 

[Mlani]

Sounds good! I also let the vinegar soak to help with the hard water stains. Took longer but there was less scrubbing involved. Oh one thing to consider as well don't use hot hot water it may cause your tank to crack or effect the silicone. Another tid bit someone gave me on here.

 

[MMantelli]

Mlani I wish I could hug you right now. LoL I just scrubbed off what I could with the vineger bleach water combo I let it soak in and it took all the mildew out of the silicone but still left a lot of the hard water buildup. Well after I drained it I made a baking soda paste with the water I had soaking in the tank. Wow that worked so well. There's still a little left that just won't come off its like its etched into the glass but you know what I fw little enough to where even my slight ocd can tolerate it.

 

[Mlani]

Lol! I can't take credit for the idea. It was Autumnsky who let me know when I was scrubbing my 20. If anyone deserves the thanks and hugs its them! Glad it helped you too though!

 

[MMantelli]

Hey don't cut yourself short you told me about it. You both desert thanks lol!

 

[Jasoncwrd2002]

When your tank is complete you should clean this thread up into a how to guide on used tanks.

 

[MMantelli]

I like it like this its more personal. But good idea though. This threads gonna be going on for awhile. I'm doing diy glass braces, filter, stand, lights. I will do a writeup though on an almost completely diy total setup.