And It Begins... 55 Gallon Calfo/Bean

Nice..I upgraded from a 30 gallon to a 55 gallon because of Petco's same deal. Cant beat the price. Got the tank and black steel stand for under a $100.

 

I know it's a heck of a deal! I hope you enjoy the 55, it's SO nice to move on up Jefferson style to that "deluxe" tank, right?

Despite knowing what was coming down the pipe here at work, I knew I couldn't complete this build "quickly", but that darn PetCo sale absolutely kicked my plan into action. Now, in the midst of a large collection 80 hr weeks , I see the tank... taunting me... begging me to at least start on the plumbing, while awaiting the glass to be cut & finished. But, I'm wiped, so instead I have little visions of aquariums dancing in my head.

Once I complete this puppy, I plan to edit my first post and to include every single little part I used in this project and, of course my flubs, which I am sure there will be many (just glad it wasn't with the glass drilling).

*insert steadily knocking on wood sound*

 

nice

 

Whats the trick with the screen n shades? what do you look for?

 

What you do is place the laptop inside the tank and either open up a blank Word document or anything else that is primarily White (you can hide all your icons and put up a white desktop background too). Put your uber cool polarized shades on (be sure to take a quick peek at yourself in a mirror, to assure maximum coolness). Then look at the screen from the outside of the tank and gaze upon your laptop's white screen glory.

You'll see something that looks like rainbow bands on any glass that is tempered, and they should be fairly distinct (at least mine were on the bottom glass, which I knew was tempered).

If you don't see them, chances are, the glass isn't tempered.

I did this because, in my experience, you have to have a fairly powerful light source to see the "rainbow bands" with just your uber cool polarized shades on. With the laptop it pretty much takes care of it all, no powerful light needed (in fact, I even tested it in the dark with the same results)

If you'd like to see what polarized glass "looks" like under both the laptop screen or uber cool shades, do the tricks with the rear window of your car. It's a great way to recognize what you're looking for.

 

Real life has been killing me lately, work has reared its head with an awful vengeance and it seems it would be easier for me to simply stay at work on a cot (may actually be a good idea...) and the build has been temporarily placed on hold, as sleep at this point has become something of a necessity.

However, the glass should be coming from my super inside family connection on February 21 President's Day, WHOO HOO, so I still hope to have some of the tank plumbed by then, given I can do it on limited sleep...

Cheers to all and hope to have updates & pics a little later this month.

 

Looks great and you dared to "drill baby drill" ....LOL

I'm looking to do the same but am nervous about the drilling however I'm undecided between the Herbie valve or Calfo/Bean ...

decissons decisions....


E

 

Updates???

I have a 29 gallon now and I picked up a 55 off of CL and a diamond bit...here are the results of the hole drilling:



Guess it was tempered!

Anyway I am ready for try 2 with another 55 and I am NOT going to be drilling. There is a local guy here with a press all setup to drill tanks...so nice work.

I was also going to do the CTC (coast-to-coast) style over flow according to the Bean Animal.

So what are your updates??? Lets see some pictures.

 

PJtree. Oh, my! Is that the bottom of the tank? I've found most of those are tempered, some say it's because the manufacturers can keep the weight down during shipping, and sometimes (after a phone call to Aqueon) they may use tempered glass on random sides even. I'm sorry that happened to you and I wish you the VERY best in finding a tank you can drill away on.

Well, my glass came for the sump and I had "other adventures" with that last weekend (never, ever, EVER force glass) resulting in me now having to place another order with my family friend for more.

I still haven't received my glass for the overflow yet, but that (and the replacement sump glass) are all guaranteed to be ready for me on April 16, and I plan to grab em all then!

But then, work kicks back in and in full force with multiple events up to May 22, and no weekends off after the April 16 one.

I'm hoping to be able to plumb this weekend, as I've avoided a bullet from work this weekend. I'm excited to get it going, it's just finding the select hours I can really dedicate to gettin' er done.

I'll be sure to post ASAP when I get this puppy rolling.

 

Very nice build!
Good Luck!
JJL