Tall Glass Aquarium In this Dimension: 30"(L) x 22"(H)x 16-18"(W)?

[Lovegasoline]

I have a turtle aquarium that's is positioned in a specific built-in nook therefor I'm limited on how long it can be. 30" is the limit. My current tank is a tall configuration 30"(L) x 22" (T) x 12" (W) ... however it just sprung a leak and needs replacement.

Do to the turtle's size and my space restrictions, if it is at all possible and within reasonable cost, ideally I'd like to replace it with a tank a little wider: about 16"-18" so as to increase the water volume by another 33% and to provide a little more space for him to swim. I've never seen this as a standard format.

Alternatively, what would a custom tank in this size sell for? I imagine it would be prohibitively expensive, unless I could order the glass and fabricate it myself (perhaps with a glass top framing piece as it's doubtful a plastic frame is sold in 30" x 16" size).

Thanks a bunch for any ideas.
-Lovegasoline

[Colin_T]

Custom built tanks can be expensive if they are weird sizes or huge. An aquarium that is 30 inches long x 18 inches wide shouldn't cost much more than a 3 foot tank that is 12 inches wide x 22 high. Ring a few shops and ask if they make custom tanks and see how much they charge.

[Lovegasoline]

Originally Posted by Colin_T

Custom built tanks can be expensive if they are weird sizes or huge. An aquarium that is 30 inches long x 18 inches wide shouldn't cost much more than a 3 foot tank that is 12 inches wide x 22 high. Ring a few shops and ask if they make custom tanks and see how much they charge.

I'm unable to find this size anywhere in NYC. The only store I know that made tanks told me it became to expensive to do so they no longer offer the service.
Buying new will stress my funds (hoping to locate a used tank in decent shape) so I imagine a custom fabricated tank will be to extravagant an expense.



To make this nightmare worse my canister filter just died a few days after the tank leak ... I lowered the water level to just about 8" (intake tube fully submerged) but perhaps that's had an impact on the filter .. I think the motor may have burned out. Gah!

[Colin_T]

Start doing big (50-75%) daily water changes and gravel cleaning the substrate. This will help keep the water clean while you sort out the filter.

Reduce feeding to a couple of times a week. the less food going into the tank, the less waste being produced and the cleaner the water will remain.

Have you tried cleaning the filter?
If not, that would be the first thing to do. Clean it and set it back up. Then hope it works.

I can't offer anymore help with the tank other than either building one yourself or resealing the one you have. If you build, you would only need to buy a new base and 2 sides, then use the old front and back panels of glass. Or just remove the panel that is leaking, clean the old silicon off and reseal it. Let it set for 7 days and then fill it up.

Andy might have some ideas, hopefully he see this thread and checks it out.

[Lovegasoline]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Colin.

There's no substrate - bare tank - and I've been doing about 75% water change the past two days. I'd just done a full filter tear down and cleaning and 100% water change a few weeks ago. I did remove the filter head/motor after this occurred and rinsed it to make sure there was no issue. This evening (after having the filter unplugged for the day due to it's making a lot of noise) I inspected it and found the retaining plate for the impeller was loose(!) I must have put it on insecurely, a first.

Filter is operating now but the water level drops inside the canister 2-3 inches - which generates noise from the impeller - and I can't seem to keep this from happening. I can crack the lid of the canister a smidge when it's running to break the vapor lock and it will refill, but after securing everything the water level in the canister eventually lowers 2-3 inches again ... turning it off and letting it sit for a couple minutes doesn't resolve this. (Btw, a slightly lowered water level in the canister occasionally occurs with this filter with attendant impeller noise - a frustrating & annoying feature - but never as low a water level as it is now. A mystery.

The front plate has a small flaked chip on both ends where it mates with the sides, so I don't judge it's worth the effort to tear down and rebuild ... if the glass was pristine that wouldn't be a bad solution and I'd be able to make sure the silicone joints were well adhered. One other shortcoming to this tank (obtained used on Craigslist 11 years ago) is a previous owner cut off the plastic top cross brace molded into the frame. I wonder to what degree the plastic cross brace supports the sides. When I got it, I cut a piece of glass from my old aquarium (identical unit) and siliconed it as an angled ramp/cross brace for the turtle to climb to his ATBA. After a few years that silicon failed. At the time I was curious and did test slightly tightening a bar clamp across the top to pull the sides together a few millimeters and I could see when the clamp was then loosened, a very slight bowing convex distortion of the front panel, with a filled tank. All in all I never had 100% absolute confidence in the integrity of this tank and it's construction: there was some flaking one the edges of the silicon seams, the small chips/flakes, and the cut off cross brace ... I always felt it was fabricated to a bare minimum sort of specification. I like a bit more beef in stuff generally and er on overbuilding in favor of a greater strength (or in this case safety factor). Still, it made it 11 years plus it's life before I received it.

Originally Posted by Colin_T

Start doing big (50-75%) daily water changes and gravel cleaning the substrate. This will help keep the water clean while you sort out the filter.

Reduce feeding to a couple of times a week. the less food going into the tank, the less waste being produced and the cleaner the water will remain.

Have you tried cleaning the filter?
If not, that would be the first thing to do. Clean it and set it back up. Then hope it works.

I can't offer anymore help with the tank other than either building one yourself or resealing the one you have. If you build, you would only need to buy a new base and 2 sides, then use the old front and back panels of glass. Or just remove the panel that is leaking, clean the old silicon off and reseal it. Let it set for 7 days and then fill it up.

Andy might have some ideas, hopefully he see this thread and checks it out.

[Aiken Drum]

When was the last time you serviced the filter? Changed the impeller, impeller cap, o ring etc?

[Lovegasoline]

Originally Posted by Aiken Drum

When was the last time you serviced the filter? Changed the impeller, impeller cap, o ring etc?

Impeller was replaced I believe just once, many years ago.
I replaced o-rings on the filter lid a few years ago.
I replaced the intake/outake valve 0-rings a few years ago (I have a pack of several) and I just now replaced the outake o-ring (but it wasn't in too bad shape intact and pretty pliable). I can't find any filter log notes from years back.
A couple days ago I replaced the sectional outake tubing (with my own external intake sponge filter) with a solid hose and replaced the sponge: I did this to eliminate any question of air leakage on the intake sections. It made no difference. (Note: today after reconnecting the filter I replaced he sectional outake tubing.
The Filter lid seal I replaced a few years ago. No leakage from the filter heads and it vapor locks so I assume all is good on that seal. I believe the impeller's 'o-ring' was also done at this time. (these are not true 'rings', they are linear sections of rubber).


Last night I shut off the filter because - again - it started making a lot of loud rattling impeller noise.
Today I took the top off the filter Rena/Filstar XP3/XPL and found that the impeller cap was loose(!) and unlocked so the impeller was flopping around. Hum. This was the case a few days ago when the filter was also making a whole lot of noise and not pumping: I thought then I must have forgot to tighten it, a first. I was very careful tightening the cap and reassembling. Now it's obvious that somehow the cap is loosening all on its own: in fact the locking mechanism isn't securing the impeller cap very tightly ... it looks like the mating of the male impeller cap fingers and/or the female receiving slots are not holding very tightly so not a real positive confidant lock. I inspected the impeller and the small o-ring inside is broken and has gotten hard ... I put a few wraps of a rubber band on it temporarily. Anyway reassembling things the filter worked again, but the water pressure is reduced. I'm thinking this filter may be ready for replacement?

UPDATE: Checked back about 3 hrs. after reinserting the impeller and I see the filter's water level has dropped about 4"-5". I released the filter top and let the water level fill back up: turned it back on and now it';s making the loud raspy impeller sound, so I assume the impeller lid came off again. Gah! I have to run out the door so can't reset it now so am shutting it off. Having existential crisis with this filter.