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Neelixx

Jumping in, Head First

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by
Neelixx
, 02-16-2011 at 06:25 PM (2683 Views)
So, I'm jumping in, head first, in a 5 foot deep pool. It's possible I will crack my head, or at the very least, bust my lip open, but I'm not one to just walk away from a risk. Okay, that's a lie... I usually don't take too many risks without an ENORMOUS amount of research.

I've kept a 55g FOLR tank for a couple of years now. I've been wanting to do a Reef Tank, but never could get my water quality good enough. 2 things I've learned: 1). having a sump seriously decreases the maintenance, and makes things so much more stable. 2). I seriously under-rated the amount of time it takes for this hobby.

Well, I'm getting a little extra cash from my day job, so, it's time to expand my hobby. My wife wants a divider between the living room and the kitchen. What better place to put a tank? The risk becomes, it's an 8 foot divider, and will be a custom tank.

Yep! That means, I'm actually thinking about "making" my own display tank. Living on the edge!

My initial designs show an 96" X 18" X 24" tank (approx 190g) with a 3/4" acrylic. Probably overkill, but, better safe than sorry. I'm designing the sump, plumbing, and electrical now. I'm going to put the sump underneath, but I wish I can do the sump in a different place. The only place I can think of is in my garage, but too much debris flying around, and winter gets too cold.

Well, we'll see how it goes. Just joined, so I thought I'd just stop in and tell everyone just how crazy I really am.

Cheers!
--Aaron

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Updated 02-16-2011 at 06:45 PM by Neelixx

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‎ DIY projects

Comments

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  1. Coventry's Avatar
    If this is going to be a divider between two rooms, are you planning on designing and building a custom/decorative frame to go around the tank as well? Surely that would help secure the tank as well.
  2. Neelixx's Avatar
    Yes, this will be a divider, and I will be building both the bottom frame and the top hood. With Robb's comment, I may go with GlassCages, but will still build my sump. Need to call them for pre-drilling my drains.

    Being a divider, I will have my overflows on both ends, which will allow the tank to be viewed from both sides. I did finally convince my wife to giving me a 24" divider, so that will make Jessy happy. ((grin))
  3. Robb in Austin's Avatar
    Now that you have her up to 24", might as well ask for 36". It's only another foot; 6" on each side! Just think of the aquascapeing possibilities! It'll look great!
  4. melev's Avatar
    LOL - Robb you are such a trouble maker.

    24" wide is nice. You'll have to do your rockwork in a narrow fashion (12 to 16" wide, if possible) so you have some sand along the viewing sides to enjoy invertebrate shenanigans.

    I totally agree on getting someone else to make the display tank. Even with all my acrylic experience, I don't make display tanks.

    Take your time and really think everything through and you'll end up with some good results. I took my time with my current tank, and it looks like it will be rock solid for years to come. Those 7.5 months were long, but rushing it seemed like a recipe for disappointment.
  5. Neelixx's Avatar
    Yeah, I'm going to stop while I'm ahead, with the wife! ((grin)).

    I know 18" or 24" was going to be tight with the substrate. So, I was going to make 3 islands of rock. Left, Right, and Center, leaving space in my substrate between the islands, but still giving enough space between the rock and glass for them to walk through (if they don't go over the rock).

    Nothing has been purchased yet. I've got designs on paper (well, most as crinckled up disasters in the trash can), got a purchase list started, and now being challenged where to put my return. As mentioned before, the drains will be on both ends of the tank, so you can look through it, but be covered up by "fake wall", to make it look like an "in wall" tank, but easily removed to view the drains.

    Being a network engineer by day, most of my time is in designing alarms and monitors (i.e. tracking water levels using reed switches, flow meters for supply and returns, etc). Granted, most probably will not find it's way into the production system, but I like "gold plating" everything, then remove what's not really needed due to time and money.
  6. melev's Avatar
    Feel free to read through all of my blog entries for ideas. http://www.reefaddicts.com/blog.php/2-melev

    You could have three pillars rising from the substrate. It's an usual configuration and not everyone's cup of tea, but it looks interesting to see the fish swimming around them. At the same time, it's tough for coral placement.
  7. Neelixx's Avatar
    Well, thanks to Robb, I'm going to call GlassCages and get some more info. Jessy was vocal enough to get me to confront my wife to extend my width ((talk about guts)).

    This community is great! Good work, Marc!
  8. Robb in Austin's Avatar
    If you need to use me as a scape goat with the Mrs, I'm cool with that.
  9. Jato460's Avatar
    If you have a basement I would put the sump there, I met a guy who had one and it was so cool he was running two tanks from it and he didn't have to make it fit inside a cabinet. If you do this you will need a pressure rated pump that will cost a little more.
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