New Tank Diary! 70 Tall (36x18x25)
 

OK everyone - I've finally got to the point where I'm ready to start posting some pics of my progress!

Basic specs are:
Tank - 40 Breeder
Lighting - 4x39W t5 (2 actinic, 2 daylight) 2 Icecap 430 retros
Skimmer - CSS 125
Sump - TBD (Prob 20L)
Stand & Canopy - Homemade! (OK - Dadmade)

I still have a lot of work to do regarding the overflow and circulation.

Right now I'm thinking of having a horizontal overflow near the top of the tank which a drain on each side, 1 for a CL and 1 for the sump. However if i decide on in-tank seios or something, i may just have 1 hole drilled for a sump drain.

Here's a link to horizontal overflows if you're not familiar -
[url]http://www.creativereefing.com/viewtopic.php?t=151[/url]

Please let me know if any of you have thoughts or ideas as I'm an extreme newbie and could use all the help I can get!

Onto the Pics!

Sorry about the time lapse! Had to set up my RO/DI and eat dinner...

First some pictures of the canopy

Here is the inside of my canopy
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philbys/255194580/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/118/255194580_ed2c632b36.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Inside Canopy" /></a>

It's only half wired cause one side of my wiring harness isn't long enough so I'm going to have to extend it a bit.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philbys/255197159/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/116/255197159_f41f353677_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Lighting Detail" /></a>

Here it is on the tank
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philbys/255194582/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/110/255194582_c850370979.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Canopy" /></a>

And now onto the stand
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philbys/255194584/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/104/255194584_adc0e4b8b0.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Stand" /></a>

with the doors open
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philbys/255194585/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/92/255194585_0772a8a9b3.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Stand Inside" /></a>

Closeup of the powerstrip and ballasts
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philbys/255197164/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/89/255197164_6ab73bedf1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Ballasts" /></a>

Finally everything altogether!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philbys/255194587/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/96/255194587_825eb16253.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Stand, Tank, Canopy" /></a>

Here is a shot showing where the skimmer will go
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philbys/255197167/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/110/255197167_575bb0daa2.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Stand open" /></a>

and here is a side shot showing the canopy from the side
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/philbys/255197163/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/87/255197163_64f4331f58.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Canopy Open Side" /></a>

So there's where I'm at so far! Let me know what you think

Where are you from Philby?

Looks good so far. What are you planning to keep?

4xoverdriven T5s on a shallow breeder are going to be BRIGHT!

I can't wait to see more photos of your tank! I love 40 breeders! The T5s are going to look great on that - I really love them on my 75.

Anna :)

I'm curious about the CL drain in with the over flow drain. Depending on the CL flow rate and pump you use, I would be concerned about sucking the overflow box dry as generally you will be pulling a lot more water through the CL drain than the overflow/return.

But that's speculation, because I've only just finsihed the plumbing on my first reef tank...

Covey - I'm from DM - and I'm hoping its bright....bright as the sun actually!!!

When i was looking for lights, I wasn't sure if i was going to do icecaps or someother cheaper ballasts (since I wanted 2) and then i found a decent price on a whole retrokit and a decent price on a ballast alone - so i took the plunge! i actually ended up spending a little under $300 for 2 Icecap 430 retro's which i thought was a great deal!

I plan on doing SPS and LPS w/ fish TBD at this point. You can see in the background of some of the pics the starboard that I'll have as the substrate. I really like the clean/modern look of BB, which is why i went with it. EventuallyI'd like to turn this into a clown/anem tank (i already know I'll need another, bigger tank, although its prob like 5 years off...and i might actually go smaller before i go bigger due to the fact there's nowhere my GF will let me put a larger tank in our current condo...but lets not get ahead of ourselves here)

Thanks anna - i love 40B's too - originally i was going to have to do something smaller, but then i saved my money a little longer and went with this size! I prob won't have more pics for a little while cause i gotta figure out what to do with my plumbing! and i need to save up some more money

Liquid - i hadn't even thought of that, but you may be right...anyone else care to speculate and/or share their experience on this?

Thanks for comin over to check my 40B out, hopefully i can speed things up a bit and our tanks can grow up together!

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8243556#post8243556 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Liquid Hobby [/i]
[B]I'm curious about the CL drain in with the over flow drain. Depending on the CL flow rate and pump you use, I would be concerned about sucking the overflow box dry as generally you will be pulling a lot more water through the CL drain than the overflow/return.

But that's speculation, because I've only just finsihed the plumbing on my first reef tank... [/B][/QUOTE]

I did a little searching on here and it does look like it would make more sense to drill the drain for the CL separate from the horizontal overflow...so i guess its back to the drawing board.

Now i'll need to figure out how many holes I'd like to drill in the back - what are people's thoughts on 5 holes in the back of a 40B...

that's 2 near the top and sides for the horizontal overflow, then 3 for the CL drain and 2 returns...

Either that or i could just do 3 with only 1 CL drain and have the returns over the top of the tank...

So many choices and i have so little experience in this area!

OK - I've been thinking more about flow in my tank - and I've decided that i will go w/ 3 holes in the back - 2 for the horizontal overflow and 1 for the CL below the overflow.

The return from the Sump will be to a spraybar across the bottom in the back behind the rocks.

Due to the depth (or lack thereof) of my tank, i think i can get by with a CL return out of 3/4 outputs with lockline from the top of my tank.

That way i would have minimal "equipment" visible in the tank, and I think i would have enough flow.

Anyone have any opinions as to if my plan will work? Also need some recommendations on pumps for the CL...

Finally - does anyone know anyplace around here that will drill glass? or maybe someone in the DM area that has done it before and feels confident enough to drill my tank?

Thanks!

I'm not sure it's a good idea to have your electrical stuff over your sump. I'd be worried about salt spray.

Chris

Dremel drilling is pretty easy. If you not sure on how to do it I am sure theres a DM GIRS member that has done it before.


Are you sure your tank isn't tempered?

tibbs - yes people have warned me about that and i plan to build a "sheild" of some kind to protect my ballasts and plugs from the sump.

Covey - i don't know if its tempered, but i'm assuming at 40 gallons if anything is tempered its just the bottom...but we all know what happens when one assumes...

Who made the tank?

If it is All-Glass you should be Ok
[url]http://www.all-glass.com/services/index.html[/url]

BUT you have to be sure.

It's an O'Dell aquarium...which i'm having a hard time finding info about - anyone know if their back pane of glass is tempered?

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8346626#post8346626 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Philby [/i]
[B]It's an O'Dell aquarium...which i'm having a hard time finding info about - anyone know if their back pane of glass is tempered? [/B][/QUOTE]


any glass shop can order new for you. for example Auto glass center, midwest glazing, and allied glass. when ordering ask for seamed, swiped or flat/pencil polished edges. I do believe it should be 1/4 inch(0.25) glass. any of the above shops would be able to have the swiped edge glass to you with in 2 days and any other style edge work within a week. they can also drill the glass just tell them it is for a tank and to use water instead of coolant when drilling.

Thanks for the tip wenszoo - but hopefully i won't need to order a new pane...

Holy old Thread Batman!!!

For a variety of reasons (money mostly) I haven't done much of anything to get this tank any closer to getting wet - but things have started up again lately - so I thought I'd do an update (especially after helping Brad on Sunday - man I can't wait to help more with that tank!)

So the first thing that happened last winter was that my water level got too low in the Brute I was cooking the rock in, exposing my heater to the cold air - and it broke. Unfortunately I was on vacation when this happened so I didn't notice it until I got back...so I just decided to let the rock dry out and a couple weeks ago I threw it back in some SW and it's cycling again (eventually I'm probably gonna need a little piece of LR to seed it, but Brad and JJ have already offered, thanks guys)

The next major event was drill day - took it over to JJ's so he could dremel me a couple holes in the back for a CL (Brad talked me into a HOB overflow) and after drooling over his tank (and home theater) for awhile we got the holes drilled. The glass wasn't tempered!

However it was thin - and the next day my GF needed to move the tank out of the backseat and I wasn't home - and while she was moving the back pane shattered. :( She was fine but we did have to vaccuum out the car pretty good.

So that means I need a new display - and since I've had much more time to research the hobby (and save some money) I've decided to go a little bigger than my original 40B plan. I'm gonna stick with the same footprint (since my stand/canopy are already built) but I'm gonna bump it up to 24" H instead of 16". This gives me 65 gallons of volume which will help water stability, and give my corals a little more room to grow (as long as they want to grow straight up :))

I think my lights should still be sufficient to support anything I want to have in the tank (although if I decide to go ONLY SPS/clams i might put in 2 more regularly driven T5's to supplement my overdriven ones)

Glasscages has a delivery scheduled for Oct 14th in DM that they can probably get my tank done in time for - so hopefully before too long I should have my display (again). I'm gonna get starphire on the front/sides as well as a built in Overflow to hide some of the plumbing since the back of the tank is partially visible. Do you guys have any other suggestions? (does black silicone look that much better? it's like $35 more)

Also since my last post I've purchased:
return pump - quiet one 3000, JJ says they leak, but it will be in sump so it'll have to do for now
3 heaters - 2 for the tank, 1 for water changes
Sump - 30B with some baffles already, but i'm gonna do a little work on it still
CL pump - reeflo snapper, should be PLENTY of flow, thanks for finding that sale JJ

So all I have left is get the tank and then plumbing! hopefully Brad and JJ will need a break from plumbing Brad's tank and want to work on something about 100 times easier!

It was good to meet those of you that were at Brad's and hopefully I'll see you again sometime.

If anyone has any thoughts let me know. I'm getting close again and its exciting!

Nice to hear you are finally getting this thing going. I think it will be a really nice setup. I had a tank (that I never set up) with black silicone. I thought it looked awesome, but I have no idea how it would look over time. If it were me, I would go for it.

I think the new dimensions will be great. Good choice! It is esentially a 3ft version of a 90 gallon tank. You should be able to get the rocks up off the bottom, and both keep the bottom clean and give the corals plenty of light.

As for the plumbing, you can definitely count on some help.

If you can get everything ready by the time the tank arrives, we can have that bad boy up and running before my tank.



Brad

I forgot to mention one thing. If it were me, I would run 2 drains in the overflow (one main and one backup) and I would run the return over the back. Since you will have to keep the tank off the wall to accomodate the closed loop, you might as well put the return back there too. You have already had one tank explode, and a heater break and destroy your rock. Your reefing luck hasn't been great.

Safety (and redundancy) First!



Brad

anyone else have any opinions on black silicone? is it worth $35??

I agree on the height it'll definitely give me more options when aquascaping - and it will allow me to keep a variety of coral (can move non-sps lower/shaded if the light is too intense up higher)

What plumbing could I buy before the tank gets here? I know i need valves (which kind again?) after the main drain, before the skimmer, CL (how many? 1 on each side of the pump and 1 for each hole in the tank? 1 drain 2 returns so 5?).

Also i need 1 more bulkhead - JJ I think you said you got those 2 (2" and 1 3/4"?) from savko, which ones were they.

Should I get any locline for my CL returns? (which are going to be down near the bottom, 4 or 6 outlets) or should I just use PVC? what about penductors (although the snapper is flow rated not pressure rated) or those little things that spin around (can't think of what they're called)

I was definitely contemplating 2 drains in the overflow and the back of my canopy is currently open (might have to do something about that if the light is too distracting) - looks like I'll have to get some black PVC from Savko (i think the return will be the only visible plumbing if I can keep the CL down low enough.)

About time you start your dang tank! yeah those are form Savko if you go to there site they will list the dimensions of the bulkhead so you can give those to glasscages to have those holes cut, or we can just do it again here. I think they charge like $15 a hole but a nice clean cut or I can do it for free but not as clean.

good luck man, update with pics!

The cuts you did on my last tank were very clean! plus when the bulkheads are in place you can't see them anyway, so i think i'll have you do them again...save me some $$ for other things (like fish and corals :rolleyes: )

I'm gonna call them today, so hopefully 30 days is enough time for them to get it built.