# how to take the rim off a 75 gallon???



## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

does anyone know how to take the rim off the *bottom and top* of a *75 gallon aquarium tank*? Will the tank be able to hold all the water used and the other stuff as well? Or will the tank be too weak?????????

*HELP...*

kakkoii


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## bigstick120 (Mar 8, 2005)

Im guessing that it isnt broken, you just want a rimless tank. There is now way you want to remove the rim of a 75 and have it hold water, at least not for very long. Rimless tanks are built with much thicker glass and are specifically designed to be rimless.

Take a gallon of water and dump it on your floor, now multiply that by 75 and that is what you will have!


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## megasycophant (Oct 22, 2007)

As far as I know, the only supporting piece in the plastic frame is the crossbrace on top, keeping the glass from bowing. You definitely need that bit.

Why would you wanna do this anyway? Even if it would work, it would be ugly -- I'm guessing the covered-up silicone seams aren't pretty.


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## joshjv (Oct 6, 2004)

Everyone has their own thoughts on this... I won't throw mine into the mix, but there are a few threads on this subject already:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...quarium-projects/4363-removing-tank-trim.html

-josh


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## imeridian (Jan 17, 2007)

bigstick120 said:


> Take a gallon of water and dump it on your floor, now multiply that by 75 and that is what you will have!


With my cat recently knocking over a bucket containing only a gallon of water, and the resulting mess on my laminate floor taking SIX towels to clean up...

If you want a rimless aquarium, buy a rimless aquarium.

Just keep in mind that those folks that say it's okay won't be there to help you clean up the mess if you do suffer a failure.


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## megasycophant (Oct 22, 2007)

Wow, that's the sort of thinking that keeps folks standing in line for toilet paper in proletarian societies.



indiboi said:


> Just keep in mind that those folks that say it's okay won't be there to help you clean up the mess if you do suffer a failure.


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## imeridian (Jan 17, 2007)

Rimless/frameless aquariums use thicker glass and stronger silicone so that they can withstand the pressure of all that water. A standard aquarium above 10 or maybe even 20 gallons will not only have the standard thinner glass bow out, but it will very likely also pop the standard strength silicone at the corners. 

Scolley built his own rimless aquarium, used the appropriate thickness glass, but on some seams he didn't use the especially strong silicone necessary. He had a seam burst open catastrophically a year or so later.

This isn't oppression of the lower classes, it's just the reality of the situation. The removal of a 75 gallon aquarium's frame is a whole different situation compared to that of a 10 gallon.


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## megasycophant (Oct 22, 2007)

Well, now that is a significantly more informative response than "don't experiment". In fact, it's the most informative response in this thread. Thanx.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Something to consider: when you buy an aquarium, especially a big one, the expense is something to agonize over. Most of us went through that and tried to whittle that cost down as much as we could, finally patting ourselves on the back for getting a really good deal. But, then we found we had to spend several times the cost of that tank on lights, on a tank stand, on substrate, on filters, on CO2 systems, on plants, on fish, etc. By then, the big cost savings we thought we had on the tank seems like nickels and dimes. All of this to say it doesn't change the total cost of a big planted tank much to buy a real nice tank in the beginning. And, when you do that, you always have a real nice tank, unlike having a DIY job that always annoys you and keeps you wondering when the total contents of the tank will be on the floor.

Of course, every tank I have ever had, with one exception that I can remember, was the cheapest I could find!


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## howie (Jan 5, 2007)

I have a 75 gallon tank and the centerbrace broke. I took a chance filled it to the rim. It bowed a whole inch. I was very uncomfortable with that so I fixed it.


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## Amiga276 (Sep 18, 2005)

All this talk about the dangers of removing tank trim has made me nervous, since I have recently removed only the top tank trim off my 60 gal cube. Since then I had not filled with water to see if it would hold. I went ahead and filled it up, the hole time taking measurements to see is the glass bowed or moved. FOR NOW it seems to be holding it's integrity with no real concerns on my part. I don't know how thick the glass is on other 60 gal tanks by mine has 1/4" glass. I am only replying to give my experience thus far, and do not suggest others try, unless they are ready to deal with mess that could ensue. I will leave full of water for a week or so and if anything changes, such as having 60 gallons of water in my living room I will post.:rain:


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## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

I don't think your tank would bow/break even though the glass is really thin(for a 60 gallon), the water is distributed on all sides equally.

We'll see what happens.:heh::heh::heh::heh:


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

One quarter inch thick glass seems about right for a 24" x 24" x 24" tank. I don't see why it would bow out, since that is not a long tank. The only question would be the depth of the tank causing a need for thicker glass, but that would have been a problem with the rim still on it, if it is a problem. You could temporarily set it up outdoors, then fill it with water. If it holds that for a week I'm betting it is going to be just fine.


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## Amiga276 (Sep 18, 2005)

hoppycalif said:


> One quarter inch thick glass seems about right for a 24" x 24" x 24" tank. I don't see why it would bow out, since that is not a long tank. The only question would be the depth of the tank causing a need for thicker glass, but that would have been a problem with the rim still on it, if it is a problem. You could temporarily set it up outdoors, then fill it with water. If it holds that for a week I'm betting it is going to be just fine.


Thanks for the reassurance! Let see what happens.:heh:


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## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

Would it be safe to take the rims off a 20 gallon (24x12x17in) with glass 1/8 inch thick? I have to reseal the tank anyway so I would use a really strooooong silicone also. would this be possible?  

if so, we'll see how it goes...:heh::heh::heh:


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## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

anyone? I'm gunna try it... here I go... someone better stop me...lol!!!!!!!!::mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

If that 20 gallon tank only has 1/8 inch thick glass I wouldn't even consider taking the top trim off. But, I probably wouldn't even consider using it with the top trim on either. That is thin glass. Are you sure it isn't meant to be a terrarium instead of an aquarium?


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## NotoriousPTG (Mar 30, 2006)

I once recieved a 55 gallon with cracked rims. I removed them and after about a year it began leaking, from multiple seans all at once. Luckily my tanks are in a lab room with waterproof floors with drains.


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## imeridian (Jan 17, 2007)

I had an old 2.5 gallon laying around unused, so out of curiosity I took just the top rim off this morning. I suspect its rim was held on much less strongly, with less silicone, than something larger. It was a decent amount of work, and while the glass wasn't jaggy or sharp, etc, it was still nasty as a result of all the silicone, even with considerable amount of work removing that silicone, it'd never look nearly as nice as an ADA Cube Garden.

I have to reiterate "if you want a frameless aquarium, buy a frameless aquarium." The level of work involved to still have a sub-quality glass box, combined with the questionable water holding ability over the longterm, well... that $95 for a 60-P doesn't seem bad at all. I say that because a couple weeks ago I had put a tiny bit of consideration energy into buying a 15 or 20 gallon and popping the trim off of it to emulate the 60-P.


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## Amiga276 (Sep 18, 2005)

Amiga276 said:


> All this talk about the dangers of removing tank trim has made me nervous, since I have recently removed only the top tank trim off my 60 gal cube. Since then I had not filled with water to see if it would hold. I went ahead and filled it up, the hole time taking measurements to see is the glass bowed or moved. FOR NOW it seems to be holding it's integrity with no real concerns on my part. I don't know how thick the glass is on other 60 gal tanks by mine has 1/4" glass. I am only replying to give my experience thus far, and do not suggest others try, unless they are ready to deal with mess that could ensue. I will leave full of water for a week or so and if anything changes, such as having 60 gallons of water in my living room I will post.:rain:


Well, day 2 now. Showing no signs of breakage or leaks in any of the silicon. If my tank does fail I hope it is just a small leak. Could you imagine one of the sides just popping off.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

I woulnd't recommend removing the plastic rim from standard AGA tanks. They are there for support. 

IF you do decide to do it anyway you'll likely need to sand the top of the glass as it can be quite sharp and dangerous.


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## kakkoii (Jan 18, 2008)

well my aquarium is about the same shape as a 10 gallon, the glass is twice as thick, and I'll be using really strong silicone(as mentioned above). If people can do it with a 10 gallon I can surely do it with a 20.


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## rountreesj (Aug 14, 2007)

well i tried this with a 40breeder and although it didn't leak...it had bubbles forming in the silicone.

DO NOT remove the rim of anything bigger than a 10 gallon tank...that is my opinion. An aga 40 breeder cost me $150 from petsmart. I just bought a 40 breeder rimless with 1/2" glass for $231 picked up off a truck like 40 minutes away. just save and spend extra to do it right.


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## dj2606 (Oct 15, 2008)

So removing the rim off a 10 gallon would be ok?


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## Jackalope (Feb 5, 2009)

I used to be a glazier, I've build 10's, and 15's out of 1/8 " DSB. for 20's we used 3/16" float, 25 and above were 1/4" float. Anything 35 up to 45 should be 3/8" and more, 50 gal. should be 1/2 " or more. These were either longs or talls, however, with longs, you should go with the larger thickness glass for piece of mind and safety. The best silicone (at the time) was Rodorsil (the French (I believe) Company that first invented silicone rubber caulk and then licensed it to companies like GE, DAP, etc.). These aquariums were all "rimless" if you want to call them that, because the guy who we built them for, just glued Oak, Maple, or Cherry trim onto the outsides for looks, they had no strength factor to the trim.

All that being said, I agree with most of the people in this thread -- I'm not sure that I would remove the trim off anything commercially-built today


....... just my two centavos


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## Jackalope (Feb 5, 2009)

Forgot to say this .... if you want a custom-built or a rimless aquarium, either buy it or build it yourself, don't try to re-engineer something that is already built


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## bgr (Feb 1, 2005)

i have a 50 gallon aquarium that measures 36 in length 24 inches in height and 13 inches in width. This aquariums glass is very thick i mean way thicker than my dads 29 gallon tank. The aquarium has an oak rim on it and i would like to take it off for my upcoming scape. Any suggestions iam scared of it collapsing on the floor that would be a big mess and would most likely damage the floor and the equipment under : / any suggestions


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