Okay, so I finally got all my notes together and decided it was time to rebuild my 10 gallon tank. My primary concern with rebuilding my 10 gallon tank is that it currently houses 6 GTF's and I have no other place for them to go (other than a small plastic holding tank bought from Wal-mart) so I'll have to construct the whole thing outside the tank. Once it's all built I'll tear down the tank, place all the new stuff in and move them into their new home.
Update: If you'd like to see the larger images, I've uploaded them all to my Flickr account and linked all the pictures. Just click on the picture and then "All Sizes" at the top to get a larger image.
The measurements on this tank are a little weird but it was free. I found this on the curb a few years ago and never had a use for it until last year. I'm not sure what it was before I got it but it makes a nice little tank for us.
My tank measures (inside measurements)- 13 1/2 inches wide
- 13 3/8 inches deep
- 17 3/8 inches tall
The first thing I did was make a fake rock that will sit on top of the access hole to my pump and heater knob (a 4 inches x 4 inches area). I took some insulation foam I had laying around and used my foam cutter to get the general shape right. Super 77 adhesive glue was used to stack the pieces together.
Once I had the general shape that I sort of liked I took my exacto knives, sureform shaver, and heat gun to finish the shaping.
Afterwards I took some leftover grout from our bathroom remodel and mixed up a small batch to paint on. I probably made it a bit too thick as I lost a lot of detail.
(I ended up redoing the rock later)
I think it came out looking a little too square so the new one I made is rounder and more natural looking I think.
The next thing I did was come up with a plan for my background. I decided to use an older piece of driftwood I had in a
previous tank. I had to cut it down a little but I wore the edges smooth with some sandpaper and a filing rasp to make it look natural. To get it fitting the eggcrate a little better I took the backside to a sheet of sandpaper to flatten it a bit.
Since I couldn't fit this directly inside my tank I decided to draw out my tank measurements directly onto my table. Afterwards I cut out my piece of eggcrate to fit the drawing then I cut one of my 3 inch planters in half with my bandsaw. I attached both halves to the eggcrate with zip ties then stuffed them with Wal-Mart bags to keep the Great Stuff foam from expanding inside them. I cut a small piece of insulation foam to lift the driftwood off the eggcrate slightly. Then I laid out two boards and clamped them down to get straight sides on the foam. Once that was all done I took a brush and lots of vasoline. I brushed the vasoline onto my drawn area plus the wood to keep the Great Stuff foam from sticking to the table and board (I've used this technique to make skulls cast in Great stuff from latex molds I made).
Now that I had the foam sprayed on and setting up, I figured it was time to tackle the bottom. I wanted to have a water portion so my False Bottom would only come out partially. The rest would be divided by a fake rock wall (see below). I cut my eggcrate to fit my measurements, cut my access hole for my filter and heater knob, and cut my 3/4 inch pvc legs. I drilled holes in them to allow water to flow through them. I don't know that it'll do much good but I figured what the heck. Plus the holes at the top allowed me to zip tie them to the eggcrate.
The window screen was attached with zip ties too.
I made a box out of scrap plexiglas to keep the soil from falling onto my pump. Before gluing it up with Weld-on 4, I drilled holes on three sides. One side was intentionally short to allow my heater knob to come through.
Here's a closer look at the pump box by itself.
For the next part I took six pieces of insulation foam scraps, measured them out to 13 1/2 inches by 6 inches, glued them up, then traced the outline of the eggcrate onto it. Then I cut out my traced lines so it would sit flush with the eggcrate. Once I got it sitting flush I made an undercut all around so it would actually sit on top of the eggcrate about 1/2 inch. I hope I explained that clearly since I forgot to take more pictures of that process. Once I did that, I cut the general shape of the rockwall face with the foam cutter and sureform shaver.
With the general shape complete I took out my soldering iron, woodburning tips (purchased from Michaels I think), heat gun, and my homemade dimming plug. I plug my soldering iron into the dimmer plug to control the heat.
Here's a picture of the completed shape before I painted on my first layer of grout. I was really excited to catch a glimmer of what it would it would look like so I set up the whole thing with the background, and pump box.
Here's a picture of the new fake rock shape before final shaping. I decided to make this one since I thought the first one was too square. I really like this one.
Here's a picture of it all together so far with the first layer of grout on the rock wall and pump cover/rock.
And a final closeup of the rockwall before I call it a night. I'll do more work on it all tomorrow.
I've still got a lot to do but I think most of it is done!
Please feel free to critique, make suggestions, and ask questions!!
10G Tank Rebuild: Build Log with Pics.
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