240 build

[gliebig]

Thought I would start a new thread since the other was getting a bit long.
Here is my latest update. Got my background today:

 

[MonteSS]

Nice. Which one is it?

...Bill

 

[gliebig]

aquaterra malawi

 

[Pat Kelly]

Really cool looking background.

 

[cmcpart0422]

Wow your tank it going to look awesome with that in there. Keep us posted as it goes in.

 

[UNCLERUCKUS]

LOOKS GOOD!

 

[Spine]

Looks nice. Where did you get the background from.

 

[gliebig]

Looks nice. Where did you get the background from.

http://www.aquariumhabitats.com/backgrounds.html

 

[Tony]

Dude. That is *sick*.

 

[davidhusker]

looks like a lot of $$$ to me!

 

[gliebig]

looks like a lot of $$$ to me!

The sale of my old protein skimmer covered the cost of the background and then some. Heck, selling one of my vortech pumps will cover the entire rest of the build of this tank. So far, I have zero regrets of getting out of SW game.

 

[F8LBITE]

awesome dude!

 

[gliebig]

I want to put the background in without cutting it, but I would need to get a piece of the bracing off. The inner piece is what I would need to get off in order to get the background in. How do I get that off if it's siliconed to the piece above it?

 

[Tony]

Ugh....Messing with the factory siliconed bits on a "cheap" tank like a 150 or a 180 would bug me. Forget about it on a nasty custom tank like what you have.

Tough to tell from the picture, but is it the horizontal piece of glass you're looking to remove? Is it siliconed solid flat against another piece in the same direction/orientation?... sort of sandwiched? If so, it's gonna be a bear to get them apart without breaking the glass.

If it were me, I'd cut the background. I've seen a bunch of folks do it on other forums in build threads. The tricky part is getting a straight neat line. They say that one of those portable spinning lasers is the way to go for layout of the cut as it's tough to trace a straight line on a contoured surface.

Are you sure there's no other way to fit it in?

 

[cmcpart0422]

Im with Tony on this one just cut the background. If you take your time and get a good cut you shouldn't be able to notice it once its in the tank. You could always get some gray/black/white paint and touch up any areas where the background comes together if you need to. Good luck let us know what you end up doing.

 

[gliebig]

I don't think I'm getting the inner piece off. If I want to mess with it, I'd have to try and get the entire side off. It would probably be easier to cut the background, but that's a little scary, too.

 

[mdlnewman]

Nah they go over cutting it on their website. Just have to be careful is all.

 

[gliebig]

Had to do some trimming but managed to get the background in tonight. Front shot didn't turn out to good because of the glare...

 

[cmcpart0422]

Sweet dude looks awesome!

 

[gliebig]

Oh, forgot Greg's safety tip of the day......Wait until you are done playing with the sharp knives before consuming vodka.