Ryan

I for Isopod:

I had plenty of room to pull the pins....I placed them on the inside so I would have more room to work when laying the cement. I also wanted the the side pieces to be right up against the tape so I would know it was straight and to prevent cement from running.

If your going for a quiet tank, you should not go with an external pump. It's hard to beat the Ehiem 1262! What are you doing for an overflow?

Wish my new tank was up and running! I would take a McCosker and a couple yellow tanks!!! Great deals, Garrett!!!

Thanks, Garrett! I have been dreaming, planning, and re-planning this build for months, so it feels great to finally get started on it! I just pulled the backing up on the back panel to take a look at the seams. The side piece seams are crystal clear, and the baffle seams have a few small bubbles here and there... Guess I'll have to scrap the whole thing.... DOH! Just Kidding...Im am actually very pleased with how they turned out so far. It actually looks a lot better then most acrylic tanks I see out there....EXCLUDING ENVISION!!!! Heres a few pieces I cut yesterday for the mock up/test fit on my DIY Sea-Swirls:

Wow, I can't believe I have never seen this thread! Your tank is amazing!!! What I wouldn't do to have a "fish room" like you do. I can only dream....someday :-(

Well...I picked my tank and sump pieces up today! Everything looks GREAT! I started assembling my sump as well today... This is BY FAR the largest acrylic project I have ever done, and the first time I have done anything with 1/2". As expensive as it is, its a bit nerve racking working with it. Here is what I designed in SketchUp: It's made entirely out of 1/2" Cell Cast Acrylic. It consists of the following parts: -28.75"x19" (1) Bottom -28.75"x16" (2) Front & Back -18"X16" (2) Sides -18"x8" (1) Baffle 1 -18'x15" (1) Baffle 2 -18"x10" (1) Baffle 3 I had James at Envision cut the pieces for me, as I had no means to do so. Here is what I started with: At James recommendation, I used stripped down twist ties instead of T-pins: Laying the first cement seam: (then hang over will be routed flush with a flushing bit) It was a bit tricky, and I have nothing buy respect for James after staring this project. Laying the cement was a cinch, but pulling the pins was very difficult. I don't know if I didn't wait long enough or what, but I nearly pulled the two pieces apart when I pulled the pins. After 5 seams, I still haven't figured it out. The Baffles: The baffles were a pain because they were so close together (1" between each one). I actually accidentally smudged the center baffle with cement pretty good when I was pulling up the tape. Luckily it wont be visible when the sump is running. The finial side: The sides and baffles cemented to the back panel: I am going to let it harden for 24 hours before I cement the front panel on. After the front panel hardens for 24 hours I'll cement the whole thing down to the bottom panel.

Garrett, You'll be the first since I originally go it from you! Im not going to touch it until I have to transfer it from my current tank to my new tank. Im sure I'll end up with a couple of them since its encrusted onto a rock... (scratch)

Not really....Its kind of between 2 rock structures, so its in a calmer part of my tank... My tank is pretty high flow though...

The sunset milli continues to recover! The polips are probably half as long as what they used to be, and the orange is still coloring up, but I am very pleased with its progress!!! From this (10/08/2009) (the red circle shows the only visible sign of polyps still remaining) To this (11/22/2009) In 45 days!

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Yes, what does this coral look like?

1 RPM is very slow, slower then I want. I perfer a more chaotic and random flow. If you look through swirlstine thread on RC you can find videos of just about every RPM motor up to 5rpm. Most people who bought the 1 & 2 RPM motors ended up switching to at least the 3rpm. 3rpm is by no means fast though...its 1 revolution ever 20 seconds.

I got the motors from http://www.mcmaster.com/# They are Synchronous Gearmotors. The specific one I bought is part #: 3867K7. They are $22 The original motors I bought were from https://www.surpluscenter.com/. Even though they are much cheaper at $5.99, they are much noisier and do not seem as heavy duty. I'll hopefully get a lot done on the Sea-Swirls today!

Congrats on the new build! What are the deminsions of your tank?

THE TANK!!!! I stopped by Envision to take some pics of my tank! James did an amazing job! The seams are perfect, as expected!!!! He just has to polish the edges, and it will read for pickup. Again, this is 42x27x21: If you are in the market for a new tank, I HIGHLY recommend contacting James at Envision. The price will be much better then you expect, and you will be getting a TOP NOTCH tank!

They will be really nice when they are done. Im not necessarily making them to save money, I am making them because I think I can make them better, smaller, and more reliable then the real sea-swirls. I got my new motors today! I am very happy with them. They have a larger shaft (.25" vs. .125"), and are much shorter (.95" tall vs. 1.32" tall). They are also DEAD SILENT!!! You cannot hear them until you press them against your ear! They also have a lot more torque then the other ones. They were a bit more in price, but still very reasonable! I'll be heading over to Envision at 2pm to take some pics of my tank!!! It wont be ready for pickup until tomorrow, but I am to excited to wait to see it. Unfortunately, I work all day tomorrow, so I wont be able to pick it up until Monday. :-( Pics of the tank coming by the end of the day :-)

Jake...I havn't seen you on in a while! How did your Vortechs work out? Do you have any frags of your Pokerstar? I grew mine out to about 2"x2", then a table arco grew into it and killed it before I could do anything. I like the Crayola!!!

I have seen it! Its a typical Envision work of art! You guys are missing one heck of a deal! Just the acrylic alone is probably worth close to twice what Brandon is asking for! I WANT!!!!

Not a lot of progress yet...I'm still anxiously awaiting to pick up my tank! In the mean time I decided to get started on the DIY Sea-Swirls. I started out with a 3/4" Span Coupling: I cut them down to size: I am actually going with a "hybrid" span coupling. I bought couplings from Home Depot, Lowes, & A-Boy plumbing because they all sell a different brand that are slightly different. I settled on a combination of the Lows lower housing and A-Boy upper tube. The A-boy upper tube is the same diameter all the up and down (1") whereas the Lowes & Home Depot upper tube start at 1" then step out to 1.13". Since the upper tube will eventually be cut down to fit in the outer housing, it will make it much easier to plumb with a standard off-the-shelf 3/4" PVC fitting will fit right onto the upper tube without having to machine it down. I also prefer the o-rings on the A-Boy upper tube. I chose the Lowes lower hosing because the A-Boy upper tube rotates silky smooth in it & very ease (while still maintaining a strong seal) which is good, cause the motors I'm going to use do not have a ton of torque. Lowes/Home Depot upper tube (top), A-Boy upper tube (Bottom): Differences in O-rings Lowes (left), A-Boy (right): They will be powered by synchronous gear motors: I actually had to re-order the motors. I meant to order 2.5 RPM motors, but they were actually 2.5 RPH (as in rotations per hour!!!). I ended up going with 3 RPM motors. As soon as the new motors get here I will be finishing up the design of the outer housing and cutting the parts on the laser cutter. To be continued....

Wish I had a garage!!! I would love to tie this into my new system.... :-(

#1!!!! How are your other parameters? SPS do not tolerate high nitrates well... Is this your first SPS? How long has your tank been up and running? How many T5's are you running? What kind of bulbs? What kind of fixture? Can you give us a run down of your system?

I just listed everything except the Co2 tank on ebay (because the tank is full). If you are interested in the tank, I could be a little flexible on the price.

One last shot if anyone needs any of this stuff. It all goes on ebay tonight.

Its time! My 36g bowfront is at max capacity!!! I ordered a 90g Envison tank with external overflow last week to replace it. I'll be picking it up sometime next week! I have been planning this tank for some time, Im VERY to finally excited to get started on it!!! I probably will not have salt water in it until the beginning of the year, but will be accumulating and building parts for it in the mean time. I'll be documenting my progress over the next couple of months in this thread. Requirements -Must be nearly silent! I hate the gurgle noise my 36g overflow makes, so I will be using the "Herbie" style overflow. -Must not use an insane amount of electricity, so I will be using T5's which will hopefully allow me to not use my chiller. -Must be KISS! Equipment Display: 42x27x21 Envision tank w/ external overflow Sump: 28.5x19x16.5 made entirely of 1/2" acrylic. Acrylic cut by Envison, assembled and routed by me Skimmer: RoyalReef CS200 Cone Skimmer Return Pump: ATB Flowstar 1500 (based on Askoll 1500) Flow: (2) 3/4" DIY Sea-Swirl returns & (2) Vortech MP20's (will upgrade to MP40 drivers if I need more flow) Lighting: (8) 36" ATI T5 bulbs, (8) Aquaillumination Reflectors, (2) Icecap 660 Ballasts Media Reactor: DIY 12"x4" dual chamber for BRS GFO & Carbon Cal/Alk: (2) Parastlic pumps controlled by AquaController & BRS chemicals Cooling: (4) 120mm 12V fans (quietest ones I can find) controlled by AquaController. Will keep Chiller around just in case... Auto Top Off: autotopoff.com solenoid connected to RO/DI unit, controlled by (2) float valves & Aquacontroller Plumbing All Schedule 80, Hayward Bulk Heads, Spears 1.5" Gate Valve, Lots of unions to make plumbing easily removable Stand: Steel powder coated stand built by Spectra, removable dark wood skin for easy access to equipment. Controller: Neptune AquaController III w/DC8 Rock: 75lb of BRS Reef Saver Rock Sand 1" of CaribSea Aragonite Special Grade SketchUp Drawings: Tank: Sump: Stand: All Together: Skimmer (neck cracked in shipping, RoyalReef is sending me a new one) More to come....