so i have a question for discussion

[Kaymanager]

i have a 55 gallon drilled tank that i loaned to someone and he broke one of the sides panels. do any of you think it is possible to be fixed? if so what is going to be the way to do it? or am i better of taking the parts off of it and throw it away? cant find alot of information out there on this and figured this would be the best place to ask.

[lReef lKeeper]

all tanks are fixable, the question is ... would it be worth it to fix it ?? IMO, i would just look for a new or used one. craigslist always has them for really cheap. you can drill it yourself.

re sealing a tank is a pain in the *** ...

[V]

acrylic im assuming?

[Kaymanager]

it is a glass tank. i think i paid very little for it to nothing at all i was just hoping to be able to hook it up and use it since i am having to move my tank which would give me a tank that i can hook a sump up to other than retro fitting my custom 40

[V]

glass is easy to repair. hell, i just did it.

Razor blade, the will, new glass, silicon, beer

Thats all thats required.

Just take into account, the front display window is usually the longest, meaning its the one siliconed overlapping the side wall edge. So dont flex it to much getting the side panel out & alternatively back in.

Get someone to help you, it makes it easy.
Very thin line strip of silicon on the edge your replacing, , then once its in place, bead a line on the inside, using spit on your finger to smooth the line, then a bead on the outer edge.
Use your razor blade on the outside to remove anything that is not in the join groove & your done.

[Kaymanager]

so v do i need to take all of the silicone out of the inside or just off of the broken panel to try and remove it? is this going to make the tank prone to a leak or weakness? does new silicone blend with old?

[V]

yeah i forgot to mention that, removal of all old silicon relating to the two bonding edges is needed.

Running a razor blade in a proper cutter is generally easy for actually getting between the 2 sheets in order to break the initial bond.
Reason being is you have something bulky to grab & give you a safety barrier so you dont cut your hands up.

A raw double sided blade is then used ( if you have it), to scrap on an acute angle to get the remaining silicon from the edges.

spray or wipe vinegar, let it dry, or wipe it well, then proceed.

The secret with silicon is maintaining even pressure on the trigger as your working. You want a nice even edge so air bubbles dont compromise the seal. Thats why i tend to use the gun in the direction im traveling, not try to drag it along the edge

[Kaymanager]

its a side panel so i wanna clean away all old silicone away from the front and back panel that would be touching the new side if i understand this correctly. then reseal using lots of silicone?

[lReef lKeeper]

yep, thats what he means. all of the old silicone where the new glass will be touching any old glass. you will need to get it off of the front, side, and bottom of the tank ... then reseal them all. dont be stingy with the silicone either, especially on the bottom.

[Kaymanager]

Now honest opinion is this going to be safe to try and set up or am I better off buying a new drilled tank? Cause my wife would kill me if this sprung a leak cause I haven't even told her yet I am debating on bring this tank home again. Lol secondly I need some help kinda planning out this tank. There are soooo many beautiful fish ad corals that I like but haven't decided exactly what I wanna do. My wife loves the sps corals but won't let go of the money for me to buy mh. And she likes alotta color in the tank so what are your suggestions for some good hardy relatively inexpensive corals and fish. I have some sun polyps and a shroom so far with a oceallis clown, yellow tailed damsel, and a yellow wrasse and I have stalled due there being SOOO many awesome creatures. So I am looking for some great ideas from anyone willing to give em. I ask becuase v is always yelling at someone on here for not planning ahead so I am just trying to get some help so I am not the focus of anyones rage.

[V]

I ask becuase v is always yelling at someone on here for not planning ahead

I do not...lol

well maybe sometimes, but its not my fault

Ok, so i did go ahead & give you some visual pictures, then you dropped the "be honest, is it worth it speech" lol so your lucky ive already taken them. I'll post that first, then i'll come back to your questions.

so this is a sun curing tank for my rock, so i was happy to use as a visual guide, but the misses wouldn't let me actual cut a perfectly good tank for someone i didn't know. (afew drinks, then you qualify)



Getting that side strip off was pretty hard actually. alot harder than my plastic strips. I had to cut many times, in the end i squirted vinegar down the seams to assist the break away.

This is how most tanks sit, the razor blade side is the front glass. see how it overlaps and is bonded to the side wall





This is the order in which you cut, which is also the order in which you re-bond it.





Once both edges are separated, you use the blade in this fashion.

[V]

if you want cheap colour, go euphyllia coral

[Kaymanager]

hey v thanks alot for that, i think you are catching on that i need things simple at first before i can run away with things on my own. did u do that today? cut the tank up to show me?

[V]

yeah mate, live & uncut. My finger nails too it seems..lol

as i said in the PM, thats what we're here for bud. You or anyone else is free to fire away with anything you have a question about. we may not be the biggest site, but we give a sh^t about each-other & ultimately what we're trying to achieve

[Amphibious]

Now honest opinion is this going to be safe to try and set up or am I better off buying a new drilled tank? Cause my wife would kill me if this sprung a leak cause I haven't even told her yet I am debating on bring this tank home again. Lol secondly I need some help kinda planning out this tank. There are soooo many beautiful fish ad corals that I like but haven't decided exactly what I wanna do. My wife loves the sps corals but won't let go of the money for me to buy mh. And she likes alotta color in the tank so what are your suggestions for some good hardy relatively inexpensive corals and fish. I have some sun polyps and a shroom so far with a oceallis clown, yellow tailed damsel, and a yellow wrasse and I have stalled due there being SOOO many awesome creatures. So I am looking for some great ideas from anyone willing to give em. I ask becuase v is always yelling at someone on here for not planning ahead so I am just trying to get some help so I am not the focus of anyones rage.

First. There isn’t a reefer alive today that hasn’t spilled/flooded the floor. Hmm, is that because the Wifey killed them??
Well, I’ve flooded the house countless times and I’m still here and happily married. Although, Sue has mysteriously taken out a rather large life insurance policy on me recently. Hmmmmm. The lesson here is, prepare her for disaster AHEAD of time. Inform her of the dangers of keeping large open containers of water in the house and the possibility of spillage, leakage or dumb syphons running over. Explained AHEAD of time lessons the blow she will deliver later.

Second. Remember the late night talk/lecture we had? The financial training part of it? Here is what I said, paraphrased... Take control of the finances! Wives love to control the purse strings. It gives them a sense of power and control over their life. Husbands too often allow it thinking this is a way to get OTHER favors from the wife. This leads to frustration down the marital path and many a marriage has ended because of money problems largely brought on by one partner (it works both ways) tightly controlling the finances. The solution for Sue and me was to set up two joint checking accounts. All incoming money is Direct Deposited into my account and I pay all bills, do all investing, saving, and fund her account. You simply must be absolutely fair, open and honest. Bills come first, saving second, investing third, her account fourth. She may balk at being last BUT, she does not have to account for the other events nor to you with what she does with her money. You have to be generous not stingy so she doesn’t feel cheated. It works for us. If laid out properly, it will work for anyone. You need a plan and work the plan.

How did it work out over time for Sue and me? When we got married her net worth was under 50Gs including her house. My net worth was -25Gs (yes that is minus 25Gs). Not patting myself on the back, as it takes a plan and sticking to it but willing to adjust as circumstances warrant, Our net worth today is just North of 1 mil. We are truly amazed and thankful our plan worked out this way. We are not rich by any means as most of that is not liquid but tied up in real estate, investments, etc.

Ok, lecture review finished.

Oh by the way, in my opinion (having done the pane replacement thing a time or two), buying a used tank is much easier, quicker, and less painful than going through the agony, work and frustration of repairing a broken tank. It just ain’t worth it.

This forum is so much fun!!!

Dick

[V]

well, i'll second those notions, cause they make sense


Although God was kinda busy stuffing his face with waffles so he asked me to respond instead

[Kaymanager]

Dick and v you two crack me up. I look forward the the messages I get from you all just to see what's it gonna be this time. I say she won't let go of the money due to the fact we are trying to be debt free by may this year. So things have been tight all over for awhile due to having that as our goal and it looks like things might just pan out to work this year. So after that I know I can say hey I am going to buy this or that and I shouldn't hear any bulking about it. I will definitely begin to work on taking over dick. It's gonna have to be really slow though cause she feels only her way of paying everything is the only way so it's gonna have to be a very SSSLLOOOOWWW transition. But once we don't have anything but basic bills like rent phone and what nots she won't have ANY excuse to let me take over or let me buy whatever I want. It's a definite give and take with us. I get something she gets something(typically it sparkles) so works out in the end. She is pushing for a larger diamond in her er so I might have to say ok BUT I get a new complete setup which includes A BIGGER TANK! Yay haha. So any other ideas on corals? Haven't heard anything on fish yet either.

[saltaddict]

HOLD IT MY FRIENDS!!

I love you dearly Dick butt.......

First, yes the "man" should assume the responsibility of paying the bills as a woman has no time for such nonsense.
Second, I agree investments and savings should come next.
Third, all monies remaining is the wife's to do as she sees fit and the husband should not ask any questions except "what is for dinner".
Forth, large life insurance policies are necessary on husbands as you never know when you may have to do them "in"!!
Fifth, MY ATM card can pull twice the daily limit as his and he has still not figured out how that happened!!!!

LOL - I am as Dick knows always and forever in trouble for the amount of money I spend and my husband wants an account of every penny and where it went. Of course, I am not capable of providing such info as it will lead to my death and then he gets to collect on my insurance policy which just doesn't seem right.
I do what every good wife should do and password accounts so that he cannot access them as well as fabricate, (not lie), other expenses so that my tank expenses become groceries and medical expenses.
I occasionally run jugs over when pulling water out of the RO/DI system but I have never flooded the house - again this would lead to my instant death. I am sure I have jinxed myself and when water starts going in the 175g in a few weeks my new floors with be saturated!!

[V]

lmao, thats gold.

[CarmieJo]

I AM the wife and I have flooded the hardwood floor once and the carpet another time.

So here is our philosophy on finances. Live beneath your means!!!!! Hubby manages the checkbook because I estimate. He worries about it being 10 cents off. I keep offering to give him the dime or whatever it is but he has to spend the time to look for it. Kind of like me looking at all the little beasties in my fuge but not as fun.

Our financial plan is also bills, savings, investments and fun. We have a mortgage but haven't had a car payment in years. We bought less house than we could have qualified for. We use credit cards but only charge what we can pay off at the end of the month. When hubby got laid off over a year ago we were not panicking like a lot of middle class couples with a child in college. Because of all of this he is back in college updating his skills and waiting out the economy. We could have not done that (or managed when I was off work for several months after I got hurt six years ago) if we had lived "up" to our means.

I love this place. It is the only fish forum where you can get marriage counseling and financial advice.

[rayme07]

wow this thread is kicking. lol I have flooded my tank once but it wasn't that bad. I think when I get older it would just be more simpler for my wife and I to do it together, pay bills together and switch off on cooking. but of course I love cooking and making different types of food anyways so I will be cooking half the time anyways. I see to many times in a marriage where one person ether the wife or the husband does the bills and the other one gets to sit back and relax and they both end up not too happy. I figured if they could do everything together, than one person isn't worried about what the other person is doing with the bill's and if they are doing it right. That's the way I hope my marriage works out.

[saltaddict]

I AM the wife and I have flooded the hardwood floor once and the carpet another time.

So here is our philosophy on finances. Live beneath your means!!!!! Hubby manages the checkbook because I estimate. He worries about it being 10 cents off. I keep offering to give him the dime or whatever it is but he has to spend the time to look for it. Kind of like me looking at all the little beasties in my fuge but not as fun.

Our financial plan is also bills, savings, investments and fun. We have a mortgage but haven't had a car payment in years. We bought less house than we could have qualified for. We use credit cards but only charge what we can pay off at the end of the month. When hubby got laid off over a year ago we were not panicking like a lot of middle class couples with a child in college. Because of all of this he is back in college updating his skills and waiting out the economy. We could have not done that (or managed when I was off work for several months after I got hurt six years ago) if we had lived "up" to our means.

I love this place. It is the only fish forum where you can get marriage counseling and financial advice.

We also live beneath our means as my husband would not have it any other way with the exception of groceries!! We average $1800 a month on groceries and that is what really gets under my skin. He was laid off and decided to stay home for six months and we didn't have to worry because he was so good at the saving and investing.
We use a credit card for everything except petty cash and pay it off at the end of each month. I get in trouble a lot because I cannot stay in budget. We have been married going on 11 yrs in March and I can count on one hand the number of times I have come in within budget, I just learned years ago to never give actual details of what I spent the money on. He is not real happy when I spend $100 on a "ROCK"!!
I believe he has our checking account set up to notify him via email when money is withdrawn....I can go to the ATM and within 20 minutes my cell rings. Pretty funny stuff!!

We have four kiddos, one in college, one is a junior in high school and two in elementary. I do all of the lawn, pool and home maintenance and I don't hire a housekeeper so I feel justified in my spending habits. He knows I fudge, just as I know he does the same when playing his game of hitting a ball with expensive sticks. LOL It works for us

He too counts it down to the penny and I estimate!! He is a CPA and therefore it is in his blood to count those pennies.

I love TR but keep it password protected too!!!!

[saltaddict]

wow this thread is kicking. lol I have flooded my tank once but it wasn't that bad. I think when I get older it would just be more simpler for my wife and I to do it together, pay bills together and switch off on cooking. but of course I love cooking and making different types of food anyways so I will be cooking half the time anyways. I see to many times in a marriage where one person ether the wife or the husband does the bills and the other one gets to sit back and relax and they both end up not too happy. I figured if they could do everything together, than one person isn't worried about what the other person is doing with the bill's and if they are doing it right. That's the way I hope my marriage works out.

You have a good out look Ray and I know you will do well in your future.
Keep on cooking - it makes the wife happy to have help in the kitchen. My hubby does some cooking and even does dishes - I love it. He doesn't do toilets, or scrubbing floors but I will take the cooking and dishes as I get totally sick of both.

He also won't mess with the tank.

[CarmieJo]

My hubby and son do all the cooking and I do laundry. They like to cook. I don't like to cook but can if I have to. To tell you the truth I don't like to do laundry either but someone has to.

[saltaddict]

My hubby and son do all the cooking and I do laundry. They like to cook. I don't like to cook but can if I have to. To tell you the truth I don't like to do laundry either but someone has to.

I am right there with you Carmie!! Three meals a day, seven days a week gets wayyy old and 20 loads of laundry a week stinks! I want someone to invent disposable clothing.