Hey guys,

I know I haven't posted here in a while but the last time I had a DIY repair type job this place helped quite a bit. Thanks btw my patched tank is working great.

Yesterday I struck up a deal with someone and traded two of my smaller tanks for a 90 to 100 gallon. We haven't come to a conclusion on the size yet.(60x19x20) Its a decent tank but it only has one edge of the bottom trim. The person told me I can buy the trim from a certain place but its going to cost $31 and I have to wait for it to be mailed. The tank is also a bit bigger then what they told me so it may cost more. Honestly at the moment I don't have that in my fish fund and the tanks I traded had fish in them who are now in plastic tubs in my living room. They have their filters/heaters but come on now a plastic bin is really a crappy motel. lol I wasn't really aware of the trim issue before I got myself into this mess. My fault I should have asked more questions and looked more carefully.

So anyway what I am wondering is it possible to build a bottom frame or trim out of wood from home depot (at a cheaper price obviously) Also how would I go about doing so. I did some googling for a while last night and I really couldn't find much on that. Most of what I found were plans to build your own tank which I thought would include trim but did not. Maybe I didn't look for the right thing who knows.

I appreciate any tips. Thanks

Here is a picture of my new tank in the garage of a person who used to own it. This particular tank has been passed to three different forum members in our city. lol Come to think of it so has my 55g that I traded. Anyway I figured I would post the pic in case you guys were unsure of which trim I was talking about.

if your talking about the plastic boarder around the tank , its plastic with a wood decal on it. im pretty sure the bottom one is just for looks. i know the top has the lip for the hood to fit in. i guess if you dont like the way it looks get really thin Wood moldings from homedepot cut it to size and maybe use a tube of Liquid-nails to hold it on. I think they come in 6 foot or 12 foot strips molding. price usally depends on design so a plain one is probably like $5-$10(taking a guess) and the liquid nails maybe another $5.

ide be more worried about why there is tape on each corner -_-

Thanks, I was just wondering if it had anything to do with the way it held water because I was told it would cause bowing in the glass or even cause the glass to crack. If its that simple of a fix them im happy. The tape is on there because the dude who originally gave away the tank had completely resealed it. It actually has a really great seal. He had to get it out of his garage before finishing the project though because he needed the space.

honestly tho if you think about it . doing it your self with wood would be about $20 if you can get the actual bottom for $31 ide do that instead. would be better in the long run if you wanted to sell it i guess.

Yeah but I kinda need the tank functional asap. Ive also got some wood that I can use.

Use 2x4's you get a much sturdier tank, no chance of real breakage, protects it from little ones and sheer oops.

Id spend the 20 on wood to be honest, you can further brace out the bottom better and well you can do the same to the top, have em match, wont take you more then a day to make them all, paint them all and install it, fill er up and wait the 48 hours and put the fish in.

Use screws not nails as well as a bead of wood glue where you fasten them together at.


That is masking tape on the corners, not capable of holding itself together, the guy more then likely put that on there to mark the glass edge so he didnt smack it accidentially, very common practice with tank storage.

The masking tape may well have been holding all the glass in place while the new silicone sealer cured. The biggest concern about not having the plastic bottom edge is that it will then place the bottom glass directly on the supporting structure. Any slight irregularity in that support structure would then result in a failed bottom glass. The most common way to accommodate this, short of having the right bottom trim, is to place a thin sheet, a 1/4 inch thick should work, of polystyrene foam under the bottom to absorb any local stress points.

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Fishless cycling

Thanks guys. Ok for a temporary fix I took some spare wood that is a bit soft and build a frame for it to sit on. It seems to be working alright for now. I will either buy some trim or build a better one after payday which is in just a few days. I will also get some of that foam you mentioned. I think this will turn out to be a really nice tank.