EZ's 200 gallon build

[bigez]

So my current tank is a 100 gallon 5 foot tank that I was enthusiastic about when I got it (free from a friend) but after nearly a year i've come to the conclusion it's just a bucket of junk. It developed a slow leak around the top trim which i've failed countless times at trying to plug and quite frankly I was tired of it. At the point I decided I had to coerce err... convince my wife that I needed another tank. Being the like minded enabler that she is she posed the question "why not get a bigger tank?". So that's what happened. A weekend and a half later we were driving home with my newest wallet draining project. It's a 7'x2'x2' aquarium and stand of which came with another 7'x2'x2' aquarium and stand that had a broken pane of glass (I figured I could use the glass from the broken tank somehow).

Anywho, here's the beast in all of its gross non clean glory. It's been holding water in my garage like a champ for 2 weeks now. I'm a little concerned with the silicone on the inside as some parts were starting to peel away from the glass a little. I may end up cutting them out and resealing it. It's not drilled yet, but neither was my 100 when I got it. So that's probably going to be my first step. After that i'll build a new stand since the one it came with isn't nearly tall enough to accommodate any skimmer lol.

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If you have any advice or suggestions as to things to do, or not to do, feel free to let me know so I can minimize my mistakes lol.

 

[Heath]

If youve never drilled a tank before, practice on a tank you dont care about. I doubt the back or front panes on that tank are tempered.

 

[bigez]

@Heathd wrote:

I drilled my current 100 gallon. The key is light pressure, stopping ever 15 seconds or so and letting the drill do all the work. I already did the polarized sunglasses/ lcd display check and the bottom isn't tempered so I think i'm good to go. It's 3/4" bottom glass so it's going to take forever to drill lol. I'm estimating about 10 minutes a hole. I was surprised when I drilled my 100 gallon how easy it was. I'm sure it'll still be nerve racking when I do start drilling.

 

[Heath]

Yea, I remember drilling my 75 wondering how long it would take to get through to the other side.

 

[bigez]

@Heathd wrote:

If it's not a million degrees out in my garage on saturday/sunday I may have the tank resealed and holes drilled in it in this pattern. The middle one is for a 2" closed loop that'll have a strainer sticking through the overflow wall. The next two are the 1 1/2" drain lines (one as the main one and one as backup). The outer two are 1" returns from them sump. I figured i'll run 2 pumps from the sump for a little redundancy security in case one fails.

The sump design is still up for debate. I'm waiting for another dollar a gallon sale to see if I can either snag a 55 or a couple of 40 gallon breeders to play with.