New house (sorta), new tank!

apex_seeking

Cleaner Shrimp
#1
I wanted to get something started here before I procrastinate too long and never posted.

About a year ago we had to break down my custom 30 gallon tank I built so we could add another story onto our home. I had intended on getting it set back up once the work on the house was complete but one project led to another and it’s been about 6 months since we moved back in and the tank is still empty.

Some conversations with friends and adventuring out to some reef shops (Aquatic art FTW!) really got me and my wife motivated to get back into the coral game. Thing is, I am not a person to leave well enough alone. While the 30 gallon setup was a really nice tank, and I had some good success with it, bigger is always better, right?! I work for a glass company so getting glass isn’t an issue and have all the tools and most of the skills to fab nearly anything I can dream up…

…so here we are.

The plan is plan is to start with the cabinet. An aluminum frame seemed like a great choice as my last steel frame began rusting about a year in despite my best painting efforts. It’s gonna get a glass panel exterior with white vinyl backing to give it a glossy lacquered look and easy to clean up.

That’s gonna get topped with a roughly 100 gallon tank. I’m thinking 48” long, 24” deep and 20” high. I believe I can get that done with 1/2” glass and silicone without much issue. It’ll be bottom drilled. It’s location will slow it to be viewed from all sides so I really need to figure out what to do for the overflow.

Originally, I was going to build a sump and refugium to live in the cabinet but I can run lines straight down from the tank into the unfinished basement for an aquarium work station. That will allow me to oversize my sump and run a separate refugium. Also I can keep all the electronics and controllers down there away from salt creep and splashes.

I’ll add details as I go but I’m looking for input from you guys and gals. This will be the biggest tank build I’ve done so please, chime in. My feelings won’t get hurt when you tell me that those fish choices aren’t a good idea or to plumb the return pump differently.

Sorry for the long post and can’t wait to start getting some pics up!


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SynDen

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#2
Sounds like a great project, look forward to seeing it come together. Bigger is always better for corals.
For the overflow, if you are going to make it viewable from all 4 sides, then consider doing it in the middle of the tank. You can build up a rock tower around it to hide it, and then you wont be able to see any of the plumbing in it. Other options would be to put in a ghost, or coast to coast overflow on the least viewed side. In that case you would drill the side instead of the bottom, but then the plumbing would run down that side of the tank. In that case I would likely use some colored pvc to make the plumbing as attractive as possible.
For the stand. Aluminum can be nice but it also can be pretty expensive. It is also not magnetic like steel so skinning it can be a bit more work . Steel frame with a nice power coat finish would likely do pretty nice, and you can make magnetic panel to hide it easily enough. Either way, you might talk to @High Plains Reefer as he builds some awesome metal stands and can help you figure out what's best there
 

apex_seeking

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#3
That’s the suggestions I like to hear! Thanks. I’ll reach out to high plains to get some advice.

As far as magnetic, I’m not too concerned. I was going to use stand offs to mount the glass to the frame and if I need to magnetize something, I can always use a magnetic decal or something like that.

You’re very correct in that aluminum can be pricey but the cost of steel vs the cost of aluminum will be marginal when I consider how much I’ll need to buy. I can probably get away with 2 1/2 stock lengths. But I’ll look into both. That doesn’t hurt to price it all out.

I’ve looked at the ghost overflows. I like them. But for the display tank, I think having the plumbing outside will be less than ideal. Now the center overflow is a really cool idea. I like that a lot.


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Tinyreef

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#4
Center overflow tower would be the way to go for 360° viewing. I would go wider than 24" on the tank though. If the tower was 6" wide and centered your only talking 9" between glass and overflow wall. Makes rockwork kinda a pain imo.
 

apex_seeking

Cleaner Shrimp
#5
If I go 48x24x20, can I get away with 1/2” glass? Going up to 3/4 is a hefty increase in cost.


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SynDen

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#6
Height is what determines the thickness of glass. 1/2" likely would be okay for that height, as long as its braced right at the top. I would only go to 3/4 if you want to do rimless. If you really want to be sure, there are calculators out there that can tell you how thick the glass needs to be based on length and height of the tank
 

apex_seeking

Cleaner Shrimp
#7
Height is what determines the thickness of glass. 1/2" likely would be okay for that height, as long as its braced right at the top. I would only go to 3/4 if you want to do rimless. If you really want to be sure, there are calculators out there that can tell you how thick the glass needs to be based on length and height of the tank
I am planning on rimless. But hadn’t planned on a brace. I know the bond silicone has on glass can be pretty epic so I was trying to avoid adding anything like braces for a super clean look.

After doing a little research, I’m thinking I might just run an overflow mounted on the rear of the tank offset a bit. Maybe 2/3 from one end. I can blackout the overflow to hide the “business” portion of the tank. And it will allow enough room to run 3 drain lines and a return without having to eat up valuable realestate.


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SynDen

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#8
Ya, if you are going to go rimless then it has to be 3/4" or the glass will bow in the middle, and eventually will fail. 1/2" is not strong enough to hold that kind of weight long term, without bracing.
 

apex_seeking

Cleaner Shrimp
#9
Ya, if you are going to go rimless then it has to be 3/4" or the glass will bow in the middle, and eventually will fail. 1/2" is not strong enough to hold that kind of weight long term, without bracing.
I’ll start making a cut list and get a quote for 3/4.

I need to finish making a cutting board project with the kiddos and then a mirror frame for the wife. THEN I’ll start fabbing the stand frame and ordering glass.

One of the things that’s been dictating the overall tank size was the light spread from most standard lighting systems to be 24”x24”. At 48”x24” I should be good with 2 lights, in theory. Am I off base here? Is there something I’m not considering?

Thanks for the suggestions.



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SynDen

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#10
what kind of lights exactly, and what do you want to keep for coral? Tank size shouldn't determine how much light you put on it, but rather what kind of coral you want to keep should. Softies and LPS you can get a way with minimal lighting but if oyu want an sps tank then you will need to put as much light on it as you can.
 
#11
I guess I was referencing the claimed “spread” of a light and it’s par dispersement vs the actual real world numbers people are seeing.

I’m open to suggestions for lights. Cost needs to be considered but I do want something that will last and be low maintenance.

I plan on having a mixed reef. I like sticks and my wife likes lps so I have to mix it up. I’m the past I’ve used prime 26. But I done mine trying out something new.


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#12
So I have done a bunch of homework on glass thicknesses.

After going through several calculators and charts, I am going to go with 1/2” but with a cross brace. It’s obviously not as stout as 3/4, but it’s sufficient. Adding the brace will give it that little bit more of piece of mind for me.

That and I got pricing for 1/2” vs 3/4”. For those of you who have a 3/4 tank, I envy you for making all the right choices in life to afford it. Just the glass came back at $2800. And that’s right at cost. Prices have gone up but that’s crazy.

Tonight I will start getting glass sizes figured out to get it ordered.

Any suggestions on hole sizes for bulk heads? I was thinking three drain holes and a single return peninsula style. How wide should the overflow be? That’ll determine the distance I keep the holes from the edge of the glass.



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SynDen

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#13
Ya, with a brace 1/2" will do just fine, but ya that is why large rimless tanks are so expensive to make or have made. Mix in options for low-iron or even starfire glass, and the prices tend to go through the roof. Not to mention rimless tanks weigh more then most cars.
For overflow I would likely do 3 holes, 2 drains (main and an emergency) and one return. I would likely do both drains as 1 1/2" pipe, and bulkheads (that's a 62 mm hole I believe) and the return as a 1" (45 mm hole). Be sure to leave about 2" between each too, so that you leave room for the bulkhead nuts, and hand space to work them.
There are multiple ways to go about this though. That would be one of safer ways to go, but you could get rid of the emergency and go with 2 holes or you could even go up to 4 holes so you get 2 returns as well.
 
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Tinyreef

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#14
I think the widest overflow thats esthetically pleasing is what I would do. The bigger it is the less likely it is to clog.
 

scmountain

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#15
... I can blackout the overflow to hide the “business” portion of the tank. And it will allow enough room to run 3 drain lines and a return without having to eat up valuable realestate.
check out my tank and you will see my "blacked out" weirs on a blue background. Obviously mine are giant compared to an overflow, but if I could do it all over again I would make the weir the same color as the background. hard to hide with rocks and corals...

And as Syn said... have the drain be larger than your return diameter and go for the emergency drain hole! the peace of mind is worth it
 
#16
So I’ve made some decisions. The overflow will be at the end of one side. It’ll be 24” wide and that way I believe I can accommodate 3 drains and 2 returns.

I’m thinking about using plastidip in the overflow portion to black it all out from the overflow to the side piece of glass.

Ive been going back and forth over sand or BB and I’m going BB. But I’ll paint the bottom of the tank white. My last tank had the black star board and I loved it except the shadowing was really intense and it lifted up on the edges and trapped detritus. Keeping it bare glass will allow more flow if need be and I can minimize my need to get into the tank as I plan on automating my water changes in the basement.

I started my aquascape. I’ll get pics tomorrow. I still need to mortar some of the joints but it’ll be pretty minimal.

Thanks for the suggestions! Please, keep them coming.


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#17
Alright. Finally got some pics. Unfortunately, aquascape pics always miss so much. It’s hard to capture the entirety of a scape and show each little cave and hole. But I’ll try.

View attachment 20072 View attachment 20073 View attachment 20074 View attachment 20075

The black line on the table is the overflow wall. It’ll be black. The tank bottom will be white, similar to the table. I tried to keep it simple and clean.

Any suggestions? I tried to follow the rule of thirds. The foot print is 48x24.


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SynDen

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#18
Looks great. Nicely balanced
 

apex_seeking

Cleaner Shrimp
#19
Well, the glass got postponed which is a bad thing. It’s given me more time to think about the design. That’s never a good thing.

I was going to place a single brace across the center. The problem is that if I need to run 3 lights, and that looks like a distinct possibility seeing as I want to make it a mixed reef, then the center brace will look strange with a light right over it.

But…

If I do euro bracing…

I wanted to avoid euro bracing for a lot of reasons, one being I can’t hang my lights from the ceiling which makes clamping to the tank my only option. Until I discovered full length racks for light mounting.

So, my question is, would the single brace be an issue with lighting? Should I just redesign the tank to have euro bracing?

Also, an suggestions on tempered vs heat strengthen vs annealed. I was going to temper the bottom but I was thinking about heat strengthening the rest of the glass.


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SynDen

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#20
A single brace shouldnt be much of an issue with lighting. I have had many tanks with a glass brace in the middle, eg Oceanic tanks. Just wipe it off every so often and good to go.
That being said Euro bracing would be stronger as it would provide support all the way around the tank. It will look a bit more uniform too. Why would Euro make it so you couldn't hang from the ceiling?
You are going to temper the glass yourself? It is pretty typical for tanks to have a tempered bottom but don't know that you would gain to much from doing the other sides. And never seen any annealed or heat strengthen so not sure if that would be needed or not
 
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