jadams7 Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 So I have had my dream tank now for a while, sitting in the garage empty collecting dust. It is a 3' wide by 3' deep by 2' tall custom built glass tank, with 1/2" thick glass. Those dimensions come out to just under 135 gallons. I bought the tank a while back, and really wanted to take my time with this build, get everything I want done exactly how I want (stand, lighting, etc). So recently I got the stand and canopy completed (minus caulk, primer, and paint), and figured now would be the time to start the thread showing my (often slow) progress. The plan is to have the tank sit in our living room (where the white shelf thing is now) and run the plumbing through the back wall into the garage, where I will have my sump, skimmer, and extra tank running all in one loop. I have done this previously with my old 120gal tank, and love how quiet it makes the display. Plus, the holes are still in the wall, so it was easy to convince the wife on that one! As of right now, the plan for the tank will include running a lumenarc reflector with a single 250w bulb over the tank. Also I have 2x 2bulb 36" t-5 fixtures for supplemental and actinic lighting that will go over the tank as well. I do not plan on doing any SPS at the moment, so this lighting should be plenty for my needs. For my return to the tank I will have a seaswirl going, and for additional flow I have a tunze turbelle stream 6100 with controller and deco rock to hide it in. If for some reason that wont cover everything well enough, I have a few newer koralias I can throw in there as needed. For the skimmer, I have an ATI Bubblemaster that I have used before and love. I also have a Reef Angel controller that I will be running on the setup as well, which will control the timing of my lighting, powerheads, moonlights, ATO, PH, temperature (inside the tank, in the living room, and in the garage), along with whatever else I decide to hook up to it. With the stand and canopy, I really took my time getting this the way I wanted. I am a tall guy, so the stand my tank came with was not going to cut it. I also wanted something that will match our living room, and have access from all sides of the tank. So this is what I came up with. The stand has a removable door on each side to allow for easy access underneath if needed. On the back side of the stand, I added in a sliding door instead of one that pops out (to tuck cords and other stuff back there without having to remove the door completely) Also, anything white you see on the stand is the caulking I just put on there, so it will all be prettied up before primer and paint. The canopy has a frame which allows me to slide in and out my access doors as needed (I didnt want to fight with hinges, and wanted to keep everything as light as possible for removal ease). Here are a couple pics of the canopy sitting on the tank (yes, the tank is upside down, I had to drill the overflow box for the bulkhead and have not flipped the tank back over yet, mainly because it is one heavy SOB) And that is pretty much where I am at with it right now. I have some more caulking to do (heyo!) and then the next step will be some VERY heavy coats of primer, followed by paint. I have most of the live rock i will be using in a tank I have running in my garage, along with the big piece I have in my 34 gal solana, so that will be pretty much ready to go whenever I get this thing into motion. Anyway, I will update this as I get some new progress. In the meantime, if anyone has any comments or input/ideas feel free to let me know! Nothing is set in its ways right now, I am open to changes if need be, and I would love to hear your thoughts! ps- if the pictures are huge, or a link, or non-existent I apologize in advance, this is my first crack at using photoshop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Off to a good start! Looking forward to seeing more pictures and progress later! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harold B Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Nice canopy design. Looks good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gill Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 I can't wait to see this filled ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkBirkett Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 The tank is sweet, rimless starfire glass and a cool overflow external box I would of had this set up and running along time ago. Gonna be a sweet set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mohaynow Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Thats awesome Jace! I cannot wait to see it all fired up. If ya need any help you got my number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 Thanks guys! I am going to try to finish up the caulking this week, and possibly get some primer started this weekend. I am debating doing black sand...I have a bunch that was given to me, I have never used it before and know it will end up looking like a salt/pepper mix after a while, but for some reason I am considering doing it. Any suggestions? Has anyone used it before and if so would you recommend it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Very cool, great dimensions on that tank. What kind of overflow are you doing? I'm also curious why you went with a rimless tank but are putting a canopy on it. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a rimless tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 You should ask Joel, (aka Waves), he had a setup with black sand and can give you the pluses and minus' if any to using black sand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drunkreefer Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Ive had black sand and its fine if you are using and or dosing calcium as there isn't any or as much in black sand... gets old after a while though because you cant see anything on it because its so dark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 Very cool, great dimensions on that tank. What kind of overflow are you doing? I'm also curious why you went with a rimless tank but are putting a canopy on it. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a rimless tank? Thanks, the overflow is glass and is already on the back of the tank, so it is external. The glass is beveled out to have the overflow, i can snap some pictures next time I update everything with pics. I plan on making a durso standpipe type deal to keep everything silent. As for the rimless, thats the way the tank was built. I bought the tank like that, new and never used (but for a used price!) and seeing as these tanks dont pop up all that often, I wasnt going to worry too much. I do like the rimless style, but only if I am running one light so everything is clean. With this setup i will have a few different lighting fixtures running under there, moonlights, and the seaswirl, and want to keep everything looking as clean as possible. If I decide to scale back lighting at some point then I can just take the canopy off, but as of now I want this to have more of the 'furniture' look to blend in as much as a big tank can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 You should ask Joel' date=' (aka Waves), he had a setup with black sand and can give you the pluses and minus' if any to using black sand.[/quote'] Ok yea I will probably shoot him a PM at some point. He helped build this tank too, so maybe he remembers it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 Good point, I didnt even think of the calcium factor. Did you have a problem with being annoyed by random pieces of white sand or shells that ended up in there? Or was it something that wasnt that big of a deal once its all in there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Thanks' date=' the overflow is glass and is already on the back of the tank, so it is external. The glass is beveled out to have the overflow, i can snap some pictures next time I update everything with pics. I plan on making a durso standpipe type deal to keep everything silent. As for the rimless, thats the way the tank was built. I bought the tank like that, new and never used (but for a used price!) and seeing as these tanks dont pop up all that often, I wasnt going to worry too much. I do like the rimless style, but only if I am running one light so everything is clean. With this setup i will have a few different lighting fixtures running under there, moonlights, and the seaswirl, and want to keep everything looking as clean as possible. If I decide to scale back lighting at some point then I can just take the canopy off, but as of now I want this to have more of the 'furniture' look to blend in as much as a big tank can.[/quote'] Thats awesome its an external overflow, those are the best IMO. No elbows or boxes in the tank and maximizes the area for rock/corals! I can see the reasoning behind the canopy now, all those different types of lights. I'd love to get one of those Sfigoli lights with a 250w MH and a couple T5s built into it. They look so awesome but cost so much!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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