Habitat - Indoor :: New tank

[ellman605]

Hey guys, i just got news form my dad's friend that he has a tank 48x12.5x21, which i can have. only problem is, one side is busted out. He has plexiglass already cut out, and i want to know if the plexiglass will scratch? Should i use it? the rest is glass.

Can anyone give me instructions for putting on the side of it?
what to use? glass, plexiglass, what kind of sealant, please help.

[steve]

If your tank is glass, it should remain all glass. You can't mix glass/plastic for the sides of the tank.

For glass, you need to use aquarium safe silicone.

[staman]

I dont see why you couldnt use plexi for one side of the tank. You just have to measure the width of the glass that is in the tank, determine its strength per square inch and then buy the appropriate plexi. I guess steve says you shouldnt do this because you dont want more/less pressure on one side of the tank vs the other. If your plexi is thick enough you wont have a problem. Obviously use plexi for the back and put a background behind it. Itll never get scratched back there and you probably wont care if it does.
Lexan is stronger than glass......

[ellman605]

got a new tank, craigslist, 50 bucks, 36x18x18, 50 gallon, i bout a new filter (aquaclear 30-60, 30$) python (25 feet, 30$) giant XXL rock (giant log, 20$) and a stand (unfinished wood stand, 44x18, 87$) whole setup cost 200 bucks, my dad said its part of christmas for me.

this is going to be fun, i have 45 inches of space to fit it in my room, and the stand is 44 1/8, only 7/8 of an inch to get it in, but i think i can manage it....

[MichaelS]

I dont see why you couldnt use plexi for one side of the tank. You just have to measure the width of the glass that is in the tank, determine its strength per square inch and then buy the appropriate plexi. I guess steve says you shouldnt do this because you dont want more/less pressure on one side of the tank vs the other. If your plexi is thick enough you wont have a problem. Obviously use plexi for the back and put a background behind it. Itll never get scratched back there and you probably wont care if it does.
Lexan is stronger than glass......

The reason for not using glass and acrylic as a combination is that there is no appropriate way to combine them together. The aquarium silicone will not work very well on acrylic and the acrylic glue that melts 2 pieces of acrylic together will not work on glass.

[staman]

For the price of that plexi/lexan sheet you could by a new tank anyway. Bonding plexi to glass is easy. Doing it with "aquarium safe" 100% silicones however is trickier. Obviously acetone wont melt glass so its useless for this project. I have done it with a lot of patience and a lot of clamping though..

[ellman605]

lol....i already got my new tank....200$$ for all you see here....including stand....

here is a not so dark pic

[staman]

Congrats on the much improved setup. Now u need that water heater..

[ellman605]

meh, thats not that expensive, right now the water is very warm, i have like, 5 more heat lamps, i'll stick one on the side.

[steve]

staman, what would you use to bond glass and Plexiglas? Aquarium silicone, in my research last year, does not contain the chemicals that restrict fungus and mildew. It is not much different from other silicone.

ellman, I hope your turts are excited as you are.

[ellman605]

yup, they are trying to get over the facts its big, they havent noticed the big log though, while feeding them, mine bit me :P:P:P lololol, just gotta give em a while to get used to it, its a pretty big tank, compared to their old one (somewhere on forums), its a 50 gallon one, the guy got it at a closing pet store, probably a catfish standard tank, wider....

[ellman605]

oh forgot to add something, i got an aquaclear 30-60 filter, circles all 50 gallons 6 times in an hour, well, 7, but its pretty good, i also grabbed that python thing, works well, cept they should have made the faucet connector metal so the screws dont get dull, mine are starting to chip alread, and its my first day using it!!!!


and i stuck another heat lamp in the middle to heat the water, so i dont have to get a heater...

[steve]

I don't seem any thermometers... since this is a whole new setup and your tank is near a window, you should get at least 2 (one for the basking area and one for the water).

And you might want to cover the sides for awhile so they can get used to the new surroundings.

[sonyj]

Don't count on just heat lamps to keep the water warm enough. The heat lamp should be over the basking area with the UVB light and a water heater should be used to keep the water a constant temperature. Because heat lamps should only be on during the daylight hours anyway, the water can cool off a lot over night.

[ellman605]

i am goign to get 2 thermo's tomorrow, wal-mart, 2 bucks, i'll be good about that....

heater, dont need right now, atm, i need to cool it down, water is at 86and higher, my thermo goes up to 86, and its cold on 86 mark, so i have fan on high and unplugged one of the lights.