Diy Fever Taken Hold And Its Out Of Control

[Crazy fishes]

Many of you may have realised my relatively recent acquistion of some DIY skills. I am actually making stuff that works which you may also realise is a real revelation to me. I am actually enjoying it as well. Anyway my dream, ever since I got into fish keeping, has been to eventually own a 4ft reef aquarium that houses a powder blue tang; nothing big and flash. Just enough to house a few tangs and a couple of clarki clowns and have a mixture of SPS and Maxima clams along with my current beautiful live stock. Well today I had an idea why not use these new skills to build a tank from scratch. Anyway, I popped in the glass shop and have found out that I could actually afford to do this. I am thinking of about 90 gals (US), originally looking at 120 gals (US) but the depth was an issue much easier to light the 90 gal as it 18 inches deep as opposed to 24 inches. The proposed dimensions are 48"x24"x18" out of 6mm glass (Big C you work with glass right? Is 6mm up for the job??) and I intend to have the sump/refugium filtration.

I would like some help to accomplish this feat if you are up for it.......
As the tank is a fair size and therefore will have some pressure on the silicon seals, a brace or two will probably be required. Would acrylic do for this? I was thinking maybe getting a sheet that is a couple of inches all round bigger, bending the edges over and then cutting two large square openings as to leave a relatively thick central brace. It would then be siliconed in place. How does that sound? Any issues people have with that and/or additional suggestions?

I would like some help with the plumbing side. What size holes should be drilled for the outlet and also for the return back to the tank. I am thinking maybe two holes for the outlet (2 1/2 inches each centrally placed) and two for the return (1 1/2 inches each) sited at either end of the tank. Additional flow could be produced by the addition of Hydor koralias. Anyone have any suggestions on this issue. If those holes are the correct size then what size pump will be needed?

I think for now that is probably enough to think about but I do have lots of questions and uncertainties.

Many thanks and kindest regards

CF

 

[rabbut]

Thats a big tank to start doing DIY tank builds on I'd advise you to start with a few 2ft, then a 3fter or two and finaly move onto your 4ft tank If you don't glue a tank of that size right, it gets messy and expencive rather fast...

For a tank of those dimentions, you realy want 8mm float, though 10mm would be better Bracing will be lighting dependant. If you are going T5's or T8's, you want two 3" wide glass braces at either side and a third across the center, as well as two "runners" 2" wide across the front an back, both top and bottom If you are having Halides, more thought needs to be given to the bracing, as if a brace bar runs across the bottom of a halide, there will be a big shadow in the tank Realy, before finalising bracing, you want to finalise lighting

With regards to hole size, this is all dependant of flow rates Choose the flow rate you want through the sump, and then the pump. The inlet feed will be the same as the pump outlet. The retrun if a single line is to be fitted wants to be twice the size of the feed for safety, or you want two returns of at least equal size to the feed line if you are using two returns

HTH
Rabbut

 

[andywg]

Unless you work as a glazier then the DIY route will cost a lot more than just ordering a tank.

The better way to approach is to DIY the stand, hood and filtration and even the lights. I have made tanks, and it is a nice achievement, but costs a lot more than just ordering them.

 

[SkiFletch]

Depth

I hate that term when people use it discussing tank dimensions because it can mean two different things; top to bottom or back to front. Far better choice of wording is length, width, and height. Having said that, which did you mean when you said "depth"? Height or Width? Also do you have a length restriction from where the tank will go in your home? While 4' tanks can hold a Powder Blue Tang (PBT) for some time, they really do grow big and should eventually be moved into 6' tanks or even 8' tanks.

Furthermore the only reason really to build custom tanks is if you want a dimension that you can't buy. Andy's right, most of the time you can't beat the manufacturer's cost on a tank with standard dimensions. However when you start getting into the larger dimension tanks you oten can't get them the size you want especially if you're fitting into a tight space. Lastly, do you really want to risk your house and livestock to newly found DIY siliconing skills? I mean a 90g tank will have 900lbs of water weight in it creating pretty extreme forces on your silicone joints, especially along the bottom and in the corners. Even tanks made by near-perfect machines sometimes loose a seal, would hate to see you loose your tank and the resulting mess to a busted seal yourself.

To answer some of your other questions your best method for bracing would be "Eurobracing" which involves fitting the entire top of the aquarium with glass. Have a google search for it, hard to describe without pics . Do not construct your bracing from a material DIFFERENT than the walls of the tank. If the tank is glass, use glass bracing, and vice versa.

As for holes, you actually need larger holes for drains than you do for returns. Typical sumps are 5x turnover. So using a 90g as an example, that's 450gph which would require at least 1" for drain. I personally would reccomend going with dual 1.5" drains. Always go with dual drains for not if but when a snail crawls up in there and clogs the drain line. Dual 1" or 1.5" returns should be nice.

If you ultimately want clams/sps consider your tank flow too. 30x minimum, I'd go with more like 50x and you'll want some surge or wave motion...

Lots to consider, looking forward to this

 

[Crazy fishes]

Thanks for the input guys most appreciated. The reason for building the tank is because I want to build something for myself; as I said I am really actually enjoying this DIY stuff. I was actually going to follow the Juwel design as a template i.e the Rio 400 has 6mm float glass with the plastic bracing and trim. The glass will cost around £100, I think with the 4 holes it comes to about £98. The 6mm is £94 for the spec. above and a pound per hole. It would cost about £10-20 for the sealant and maybe another £40 for the acrylic bracing and trim. So in all about £160-£180. The cheapest I have found for a tank this size was round the £250 mark hence I am actually going to save some money. I also get the satisfaction of building the tank but do as you correctly point out run the risk of having a huge amount of water damage because of a bust seal or fracture in the glass. My feeling is the silicone should not really have that much stress on it as most will hopefully be transmitted through the bracing. Rubbut I did originally try to get 8mm but the glasier said they don't do 8mm; 6mm or 10mm that is as close as you can get. I could try another shop but this guy is really helpful and has lots of others that buy glass for tanks.

For the drains two 1.5" holes and 1" for the returns, sounds more managable. What size sump are we talking here, two foot?? I have just finished a two foot sump I would just need to upgrade the return pump. I was thinking of a Ocean Runner; they should be better than the Newjet. Not really that impressed with the Newjet, it lacks any woosh!! If a bigger sump is required I could make that first, a little more practice before the big one. I am definitely going with two 150 watt halides, I chose the tank spec around the lighting. I can also add power compacts/ T5 straight fluoros for more actinic if needed.

Any problems with what I have said above..... I really do want to do this and am going to research and plan thoroughly before any purchases etc.
I am also in the middle of another project and just started my finals; hopefully in 6 months I will be a fully fledged doctor!! Woohoo

Many thanks again guys

Kindest regards

CF

Sorry Ski 18" is from top to bottom like the depth of the ocean etc. It is all planned for the lighting!!!

 

[rabbut]

If you are going to glue a tank for the first time of a 4ft size, you must have 10mm for the gluing area more than anything else. Yes, you can get away with less, but untill you are practiced at it and can be considered and "advanced" builder, you are asking for trouble going thinner. One error in gluing with 8mm on that would lead to the pane being far more likely to just come out, shattering on the floor and dumping the contents there also, shortly behind it. 10mm gives the margin for error you need as a human doing a tank of this size for the first time

I would use 10mm glass for the braces Tanks of this length are usualy braced at the bottom as well as the top. Silicone doesn't stick well to acrilic IME, you don't even need a knife to remove it It would have to be glued to the glass with something else, or it just won't work

You want a sump of at least 20% of the volume of your tank under there, so 80l. A standord 2ft will be 60l. In a power failure with a 2ft sump, you will get a wet floor. I'd look into doing a 3ft sump

I can't realy help with the pump choice TBH. Ocean runners drive the AquaMedic skimmers at work, and the 2500lph modle does more like 500lph wihout a significant head height and seems rather prone to clogging. There is a needle wheel impeller fitted though, so that may be the caurse...

You also need a bottle of meths and lots of masking tape. Without the tape, the finish will be rather dissapointing. Silicone can and quickly will get everywhere

All the best
Rabbut

 

[andywg]

Just to add, I found that even custom sized tanks (such as my 60x24wx18h main SW tank or its 60x8x12 fuge) were far cheaper ordered through my lfs than trying to DIY them myself.

DIY on the tanks just isn't really worth it (save drilling and setting up weirs and the like.

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, remember this; The bracing only protects the glass from bowing so that you can use thinner glass. The force of water weight is still transmitted to the silicone seals, brace or no brace. 6mm glass in the Juwel model is right on the "engineering" edge and is meant to be be done with a nice even machine or a trained professional. I totally understand the feeling of accomplishment when DIY things work, heck I DIY just about as much stuff as I can on my tank. But I know my limits and know I'm not as good as a machine/pro.

If I were making a tank this big, I'd go with at least 8mm glass, prefferably 10mm. This way I have some room for error in the silicone seals. If I have a little bubble on the wider glass there's still room for the silicone to make the seal with the extra width. Also, I'd definitely make my bracing with glass. Either a thick piece for a center bracing, or top-round eurobracing. Fabricating an acrylic brace is going to be a royal pita since you have to shape the acrylic around the top and bottom of the tank because as rabbut mentioned, you can't glue acrylic to silicone well.

Also, I agree, a 3' sump would certainly be a better option. And an Oceanrunner 3500 would probably be your best bet for a return pump. Or if you can find one (dont know much about UK availability), a decent external pump would keep some heat out of the water which would be beneficial in the summer if you're using halides...