The155BowFrontBuild

TheRealChrisBrown

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#1
#1
The 155/180 bow front has long been my dream tank. Recently a 155 popped up here on the forum, and it met my price criteria....free. Thank you @68RUSTANG! And big thanks to @68RUSTANG @SynDen, @Gabe&Brandi, @kchristensen8064, @Dr.DiSilicate for helping me move it on either end. My thoughts are to replace my 150 tall with the 155 bow front, but use the existing sump (located 1 floor below display, in my basement)...so more of a tank swap with construction of a new stand for the bow front.

Pics of tank at Tony's house on his back porch:
View attachment 13174

View attachment 13173

Once I got the tank to Loveland I began work on cleaning it up. I decided I wanted to remove the corner overflows and install a Reef Synergy overflow. I also wanted to add 2 holes for the return lines so I didn't have anything running up and over the back wall like I currently do on my 150 tall.

View attachment 13176

View attachment 13175

Since I was removing the overflows, that would likely mean a complete reseal as well since the overflows were in place with the original factory seal. When I removed them there was a gap in the silicone where the overflows used to reside. So I painstakingly removed all of the silicone, and prepped the area well. I went with the black colored Momentive RTV-103. I used blue painters tape to make straight lines and went to town sealing it up. Turns out I applied too much silicone and/or didn't remove enough of it...when I pulled the blue painters tape it left a lip of silicone that was about 1/8th of an inch! I let it fully cure to see if it would lay down, but it didn't. After a week of staring at it, I decided to re-do it. So, again I painstakingly removed all the silicone and started over! What a PITA.
 
TheRealChrisBrown

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#2
#2
The bow front stands can be tricky to build because of the angles, makes it a little more complex than a rectangular stand. I found plans on one of the national forums...but they didn't include the angles of the cuts on the front of the stand. So after a little trial and error I figured out 15 degrees seemed to work well. I went with all 2x6 construction, except for 2 supporting 2x4's that I added at the junction of the angled pieces. There are 10 2x6's that will carry the weight of the tank (~2000 pounds), which should hold way more than the full tank (12,000 lbs)...should be a safety factor of 6x. Then I cut some 3/4 inch plywood to the exact tank dimension and added it to to the top, my thought being to disperse that weight as evenly as possible.
Image I found, and used as starting point:
View attachment 13181

View attachment 13180

View attachment 13179

View attachment 13178

View attachment 13177

I glued a lot of the connections and spots where 2x6's were laminated together. And used 3in screws on everything except the 3/4in top....I used 2in. screws there.

I'm going to "skin" the stand in something, my wife and I can not seem to agree on much...but I'm thinking something that involves maple/hickory/walnut with slate stacked stone on the corners....
 
Dr.DiSilicate

Dr.DiSilicate

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
MASC Vice-President
#4
#4
I think I would have used 3/4” ply and cut 1/2 through it so it could be bent. Yours is much stringer though.

Hard to agree with the wife on stuff for sure. We are cutting out kitchen and picking finished with two artists is hard... I’ll let you know now that “I work at a university and you just teach high school” isn’t a great way to make a point. Just trust me. Lol


Sent from my iPhone using MASC mobile app
 
Legonch

Legonch

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
#7
TheRealChrisBrown said:
The bow front stands can be tricky to build because of the angles, makes it a little more complex than a rectangular stand. I found plans on one of the national forums...but they didn't include the angles of the cuts on the front of the stand. So after a little trial and error I figured out 15 degrees seemed to work well. I went with all 2x6 construction, except for 2 supporting 2x4's that I added at the junction of the angled pieces. There are 10 2x6's that will carry the weight of the tank (~2000 pounds), which should hold way more than the full tank (12,000 lbs)...should be a safety factor of 6x. Then I cut some 3/4 inch plywood to the exact tank dimension and added it to to the top, my thought being to disperse that weight as evenly as possible.
Image I found, and used as starting point:
View attachment 13181

View attachment 13180

View attachment 13179

View attachment 13178

View attachment 13177

I glued a lot of the connections and spots where 2x6's were laminated together. And used 3in screws on everything except the 3/4in top....I used 2in. screws there.

I'm going to "skin" the stand in something, my wife and I can not seem to agree on much...but I'm thinking something that involves maple/hickory/walnut with slate stacked stone on the corners....
Click to expand...
looks great!!!
 
TheRealChrisBrown

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#9
#9
Lmmchops said:
Looking good!

Sent from my SM-G892A using MASC mobile app
Click to expand...
I can't tell you how many times I chuckled to myself this week as I was scraping silicone out of the bow front.....laughing because I've told countless people (including you) things like "it's not a hard job","piece of mind" and things like that. As my back is all jacked up tonight from working all hunched over I can confirm that those were ALL LIES! lol
 
Lmmchops

Lmmchops

Cleaner Shrimp
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
#11
TheRealChrisBrown said:
I can't tell you how many times I chuckled to myself this week as I was scraping silicone out of the bow front.....laughing because I've told countless people (including you) things like "it's not a hard job","piece of mind" and things like that. As my back is all jacked up tonight from working all hunched over I can confirm that those were ALL LIES! lol
Click to expand...
Haha agreed but I'm glad you said it at least the piece of mind part is true

Sent from my SM-G892A using MASC mobile app
 
kchristensen8064

kchristensen8064

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
#16
#16
TheRealChrisBrown said:
The 155/180 bow front has long been my dream tank. Recently a 155 popped up here on the forum, and it met my price criteria....free. Thank you @68RUSTANG! And big thanks to @68RUSTANG @SynDen, @Gabe&Brandi, @kchristensen8064, @Dr.DiSilicate for helping me move it on either end. My thoughts are to replace my 150 tall with the 155 bow front, but use the existing sump (located 1 floor below display, in my basement)...so more of a tank swap with construction of a new stand for the bow front.

Pics of tank at Tony's house on his back porch:
View attachment 13174

View attachment 13173

Once I got the tank to Loveland I began work on cleaning it up. I decided I wanted to remove the corner overflows and install a Reef Synergy overflow. I also wanted to add 2 holes for the return lines so I didn't have anything running up and over the back wall like I currently do on my 150 tall.

View attachment 13176

View attachment 13175

Since I was removing the overflows, that would likely mean a complete reseal as well since the overflows were in place with the original factory seal. When I removed them there was a gap in the silicone where the overflows used to reside. So I painstakingly removed all of the silicone, and prepped the area well. I went with the black colored Momentive RTV-103. I used blue painters tape to make straight lines and went to town sealing it up. Turns out I applied too much silicone and/or didn't remove enough of it...when I pulled the blue painters tape it left a lip of silicone that was about 1/8th of an inch! I let it fully cure to see if it would lay down, but it didn't. After a week of staring at it, I decided to re-do it. So, again I painstakingly removed all the silicone and started over! What a PITA.
Click to expand...
Where did you find your silicone? I have had a hard time finding the RTV in black.
 
TheRealChrisBrown

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#17
#17
Haddonisreef said:
Just the reseal scares me!
Click to expand...
You really freaked me out because I read somewhere on the internets that one should never reseal a bow front...but then I found other threads that said it was entirely possible. I'm going to fill it about 1/3 of the way for a week....then another 1/3 for a week...then full for a week or 10 days.

I'm going to drill it first though...nothing worse than waiting a month to make sure it hold water, then cracking the glass while drilling it!
 
Haddonisreef

Haddonisreef

Orca
M.A.S.C Club Member
#20
#20
TheRealChrisBrown said:
You really freaked me out because I read somewhere on the internets that one should never reseal a bow front...but then I found other threads that said it was entirely possible. I'm going to fill it about 1/3 of the way for a week....then another 1/3 for a week...then full for a week or 10 days.

I'm going to drill it first though...nothing worse than waiting a month to make sure it hold water, then cracking the glass while drilling it!
Click to expand...
Ya man if it was me I’d spend the $ for new a peice of mind is priceless! Don’t want to derail you cause anything is possible I truly beleave w proper execution you will be fine. Allow for proper cure of seams and drill when you can lay the glass flat on a surface amd all will be fine.
 
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