75 gal Flat back Hex Build, C2C Weir, BeanAnimal Overflow

So I picked up a 75? gal flatback hex tank on craig's list for $240. I question 75 gal because this seems bigger than my 72 bow. The tank came with stand, a hood with a 250 halide and 4 power compacts, a wet/dry sump, a decent skimmer, about 80-100 lbs of sand and probably close too 100 lbs of rock. The livestock included a 12 year old maroon clown with a small ocelaris mate, a cleaner shrimp, and a nice sized coral beauty. There was also a big carpet anemone, nice leather, a torch, two feather dusters, and some various mushrooms. The tank Had one of the worst bubble algae outbreaks I have ever seen. He also threw in a 14g nano cube, which I will be doing whenever I am done with this tank.















So I put everything into my quarantine when I got home with it. The coral beauty, shrimp, and torch went into my bowfront. Boy am I glad I quarantined everything because 1 week after the tank was setup I heard the rushing water sound at 4 in the morning when I was getting ready for work.





The rear seal decided to give way, may be from moving with the sand in it, plus the tank is over ten years old. My wife woke up just in time to snap the picture of me holding the back of the tank together while i siphoned out what didnt hit the floor.

So I have decided to drill the tank when I reseal it. I also am going to go with a coast to coast overflow with the BeanAnimal overflow setup. Not sure on sump size yet but I will not be using the small one that came with it.



I removed the whole rear panel to drill and repair. I used rtv108 to reseal because it is used for structural glass work.















I applied a 3/8" tall bead the whole width of the glass then set the back on. I let the weight of the glass make the seal. As you can see there are absolutely no air bubbles in the silicone. I will trim all of the extra off once it cures for a nice look and then seal the inside all the way with just plain 100% silicone. I should be able to get the overflow in today or tomorrow, just depends on how well the silicone cured. I dont want to move anything untill I know the tank is 100% cured. Keep following to watch this build. This is my second build up now but this one is way more technical than my last one. Thanks for reading and as always, any tips or advice is well received.

John

 

Weir Installed

Just finished cleaning up all the silicone and got the coast to coast weir installed. I will clean all the extra silicone again, then reseal the whole inside of the tank. I decided I am going to use the rtv108 to seal the inside, the extra strength just makes me feel better. It does say it can be submerged so I am not worried about it once it is fully cured.

Here is the weir assembled


Cleaned all the old silicone and removed the ugly wood trim.




And here are some pictures of the weir, you can see it's only 3 inches wide so it really doesn't take up much room at all.









I will update as the progress goes on. Probably will be about 3-4 days before I can get back to this so hang tight.

Keep it salty.
John

 

Nice setup, Sorry for the rear seal... ****ty deal.. Keep your chin up.

 

Yeah it happens, I am 2 for 2 with tanks from craiglist leaking. Good news though, the wife said no more used tanks......she doesn't know what she just did. lol

 

Update 8/2/12

Well I finally got back to the tank. I finished the internal seals and did a leak test last night. So far it's holding, no water in the garage this morning.

Taped up and ready for silicone.




After sealed and tape is peeled.




Sitting with water for the leak test.

 

Ended up trading for a 110, build thread coming soon.

 

Glad to see you are still in the game. When I saw this tank in the marketplace I was sad!

matt

 

I am in too deep to back out now...LOL