darrellw

Been working away at the stand for the most part. Got the framing on, cut and routed the doors, and test mounted them.

What are the important parameters to test, both during cycling and on going? Temp, SG, ph, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, ...? Also, are the electronic ph meters accurate? Thanks, Darrell

Look for "Glass" in the yellow pages. Also, if you have an Ace or Tru-Value hardware store, many of them will cut glass.

Didn't get much done today, it being Christmas and all, but did get a little time to work on the project. Got the my overflow and return installed, and did some more layout on the stand.

Me too, I went back and forth on the lighting choice for a long, long time. BTW, I thought I'd share my stocking plans. I plan to have a collection of zoas and rics, with one hammer/torch/frogspawn. I'll have a clown fish, or maybe a pair, and a goby, probably a clown. I really like hermits, so I will take a chance on a few, and maybe some type of shrimp. Does that sound reasonable? I masked and painted the back today, and continue to work on the stand, which just looks like a plywood box at the moment. -Darrell

Thanks for the tip. I do have an ATO, but I'm only going to be able to put about a 1 gallon container of top off water in my stand. But the skimmer isn't on the side of the sump that will vary in level, it is before the bubble trap which will keep the water level at 9". -Darrell

It is from their professional line, so it is a bit hard to find. Grainger carries it, but won't sell to individuals anymore. I found it here: http://www.drillspot.com/products/338801/GE_Silicone_RTV103_Black_Silicone Ironically, they drop-shipped it from Graniger in Portland, and charged less to boot! -Darrell

Thanks! I'm using GE RTV103. Supposedly it is better (stronger) than the silicone sold for aquarium use. It is reef-safe as it is pure silicone (no mildecide, food-safe, etc).

My sump build went well, so I built my display. The display is 17" x 17" x 18" deep (about 20 gallons), and I used 3/8" glass, with all the edges polished. The tank is going in a corner, so I have two "fronts" and two "backs". The two front panes are Starphire glass. After building and leak testing, I drilled the tank for my glass-holes overflow and return. You can also see me testing VorTech MP20. Then I spent the morning shoveling out the driveway so that I could get the cars out and cut the wood for my stand, which I'll work more on tomorrow.

Well, with our lovely weather I've been making a lot of progress building my system. And when I say build, I mean it! I decided to build my own glass display tank, and as practice I first started with a glass sump. The sump is 13" x 14" x 14" deep (about 10 gallons), size to fit inside my stand. I used 1/4" glass and black silicone. Here are some pictures from the build.

Welcome! I'm in about the same state, will be building and setting up my nano over Christmas. I'm building a 20 gallon glass cube, along with glass sump (as practice) and a stand. -Darrell

Wet sanding If you have some scrap acrylic, you might try some paint stripper, to see if it affects the acrylic. I would try something without any MEK (which I'm pretty sure would melt the acrylic).

So, any to definitely stay away from? In particular, for a nano reef.

If the filet lines are not perfect, they will show up much more with black than with clear. The actual process isn't any more difficult, it is just that mistakes are much more visible. 3/8" should be fine for rimless up to (and perhaps beyond) a 24" cube. 1/4" should be fine up to a 20" cube (that is what the Solana is, for example), and would have been fine for my tank. But I went for 3/8" because after the edge polishing, I still have a little over 1/4" to glue (the edges are slightly beveled with a flat polish). -Darrell

FYI, I picked up my glass today, and thought I'd share some cost information. I didn't shop around, I went to a local shop (D & L Glass in Hazel Dell) that I had used before (they did our shower enclosure), and knew them to do good work. Anyway, my tank is going to be a 17" cube (actually 18" tall), 3/8" glass (overkill for this size, but I like the look). I had the edges flat polished, which added considerably to the cost. My tank is going into a corner, so I have two "backs" and two "fronts". I bought Starphire for the two fronts, each panel was just under $100. The regular glass (backs, bottom) were about $50 each. I also had 1/4" glass cut for my sump, approximately a 14" cube. Each of those was about $10. I just had the edges "seamed", which means just removing the sharp edges.

I'm going to build my own tank also, but not quite so large (17" cube). I ordered the glass from a shop here in Vancouver, but they have not finished it yet. Joel at Waves builds 24" cubes, if you want to go that route, and you might also ask Envision for quote if you go acrylic. I plan to post a thread on my build, but I probably won't be building until December.

D&L glass, off of 78th, close to Grover.

29 to 125!??!!? That's quite an upgrade. Next step would be a saltwater pool! Looking good!

Thanks, I see how that works for an over the side return. But what about a drilled through the wall return? Does it mean you need to put the return hole close to the waterline, and drill a hole in whatever you have coming out of the bulkhead (LocLine bits, in my case)? Thanks, Darrell