offroadodge

@MATT-yes im gonna tape every seam off, 1st clean all the glass, tape-off edges, re-clean glass, START... Here is a teaser, the wife and I dummy'd up the tank to see how the fit is. It was all good and WOW its beautiful!!!

i didnt have hardly and cycle with the rock i got last time, and critters NOTHING...guess i got lucky. Atleast with nothing in the tank but new rock and sandbed, if i see a rock thats an issue i can just take care of it. I think the big key may be to NOT get liverock locally. Majhonos and amtasia are crazy here local. I will put the new rock in a brute trash can with water and scrub and blow off any debree i can before i put it in the new tank. Lighting may be my only thing, since im gonna use my light i have presently on the new tank i wont be able to use it while the new tank is cycling. Maybe just room light and ambiant daylight will do for this. IDK im sure that i will go threw the headaches of a new tank and not want anyone over to see it for a few months. Time will tell. KEVIN- did i give you the itch to get your big tank going?

my thought was that id get 100 more pounds of cured LR from the same place i got my rock last time, put and inch or so of crushed coral in bottom and 100#s and start the tank, adjust levels-break in skimmer, and just figure out my flow pattern W/O any corals or fish in new tank. Once its where i want it move everythng CORALS,ROCK, and rest of EQUIPMENT. whatcha think?

@TEG- so once you start the silicone it depends alot on humidity as to how long you have before the silicone starts to skin over, and with the humidity here when i glued the overflow box on it took literally 2 minutes before it started to skin over, that being said my wife will take some pics but as far as tryn to get a piece by piece pictures IDK if its possible. Ill try, there are some YOUTUBE videos of guys putting tanks together in literally 7 minutes start to finish. One the back glass and one side glass is together its a one man operation, it holds itself together. Tryn to wipe the edges and get a good bead laid down will be my main objective. There is 10 minutes MAX before you should be pretty close to all put together. Then strap it top and bottom to hold it as tight as possible until dry (7-10 days) I will probly wait atleast the maximum before i water test it. A little update, not much but i got all the inside primed tonight. Planning on doing the outside tomorow night, then the next night sand it and bring it inside. Im going to paint it once the tank is built ontop and trim board is on. That being said this weekend is a long weekend for me so im gonna attempt to build the tank then. Once thats done im gonna build the canopy and the "H" brackets on the back to have linear actuators lift the hood off of the tank. ALOT of things to do still. If anyone has an extra WAVEBOX controller there not using i may hit you up to borrow it while im cycling the new rock and sandbed, that will be a month or more away.

ok, well i had to go to FtWorth yesterday so i didnt get to work on the stand till today. I started at 8am and finished just a little bit ago. Finish work has to be done now. The board that is missing at the top is going to be installed once the tank is on top of the stand. All 3 doors were hand made, the one on the end is where the electronics will go, and the holes in the back of the stand is where all the plumbing and chiller lines will come in and out of. Here are some pics... @BALLISTIC: it may be awhile, probly after i get back from Iowa in June. 1st of July. I still have to build the canopy and the lifting device.

ok well guess what came in today and its realy nice. The edges are beautiful and im very impressed. I started with the back glass and installed the overflow box, and let me tell ya its not easy trying to put something this small together and make the silicone look PERFECT. Its ok but...its just an overflow box. The serious stuff comes when putting the tank together. Heres some pics.

So here is my thoughts of how im gonna layout the sump are. #1 will be the 10G ATO resovoir, #2 the CO2 bottle, #3 the CA Reactor, #4 on the other side of wall will be all the electronics and monitors, and #5 once the outer skin is on there will be shelfs for chemicals. And thought i would give a teaser pic of the new equipment, the sump makes the skimmer look small IMO.

ok, my wife and i got the wall done. She needed it done before June 2nd for a wine tasting here at the house so i met her deadline. Thank to everyone for the offers for help, when the time come i will message yall. It will probably be a month or o away depending on how time goes. Thanks

Oh well...it looks like i may just cart the stand around the house and in threw the front door, i dont realy wanna have all the chemicals and sanding dust in the house. I will need help when it come to that cause the skeleton is already to heavy for me to move other than lifting one end and sliding it. This stand is gonna be a TANK. I need the bottom glass before i can add the skin to the outside of stand so i will have to wait. I bought the hinges for the doors and the birch to put the outer skin on. PATIENCE....i need some.

i Agree...i wanted a partial cone skimmer and realy wasnt sure what brand i wanted. I looked at these for about a week and decided to bite the bullett. Also i wanted a skimmer that if later on i wanted a bigger tank then i wouldnt have to buy another one. I just hope that all my planning goes as PLANNED...inevitably something will change. I guess the only bad thing right now i if i trim out the tand it wont fit threw my garage door, i will have to cut all the outer skin and put it together in the house. Meaning final sanding of the edges,staining,painting etc will be done inside. I could take the inner trim that eals the door off and it would fit. IDK what route im gonna go.

well i got the wall finished and the plug installed 2nt, ohh.. and some equipment showed up today. The sump, skimmer, and wavebox extension. Im gonna use my electronics from the wavebox i have for the extension. I went with the Precision Marine R36+ sump, there equipment is just awesome!!! The skimmer is a new company that alot of ppl are talkn about on Reef Central with good reviews so far, its the SM201. Cant wait to getfor the glass to show up, there is still alot of work to do, canopy, chiller moveing outside, just a bunch of things to think about.

no, once this one is set up i will be selling the 120G

thats what the taped up areas are for, i used a whole saw bit to drill across the studs and run wire, the fun part was having a vaulted ceiling with a roof line thats almost the same. The wire is already in the box

just a little update, cut holes in wall tonight for the 2x20amp circuits, i had my helper with me supervising. Also i mocked up the oveflowbox. The back of the box is actually on the wrong side, just seeing how everything fit.

well the frame work for the stand is almost done today, gotta add 2 braces and then is on to the trim work. I put the tank to where it will be at eye level look ing at center of tank, top of tank will be right at 6'. I know ill need a ladder to get into it but i hate looking down into a tank. Also give me tons of room for equipment. got some cool ideas on what im gonna do down below. Im ordering the new sump,skimmer, and wavebox extension this week. Glass was orderd Saturday and shld be here in a week n half or so. I went ahead and splurged a little to have them end and polish all the glass so there are no imperfections there, also it will make the fit and finish alot better. the top is DBL 2x4s, the legs are TRIPLE 2x4s. I staggered the 2x4s on the legs like you build a corner in a house for strenght. And like i said i still have to add the center bracing. Enjoy!!!

.44" is .06" smaller than 1/2". 5/8"=.625, 3/4=.75 I may go ahead and eurobrace the top but it wont have a center brace. I cut all the glass tonight for the overflow box, just need to drill holes and clean up the edges before i glue it together. Here is a calculator. The top # is side glass minimun thickness and the bottom # is the bottom glass thickness.

so yes its gonna be 1/2" glass, DALES is 3/4" and its a 440G. The water height will be around 24" so the 1/2' will be fine, my 120G i have now only has 3/8" glass eurobraced. I looked online and found a calculator for glass thickness and there rating is 0-4, 4 being overkill thickness and my dimesions came in at 3.64, it all has to do will the height of the water. If i were gonna fill it the whole way then maybe id go with 3/4". As far a what the overflow box will be? IDK yet how i wanna go. Right now box on back with (2) 1"drains, i know it will be noisey so i just need to look at the options. Oh the actual water volume will only be 185ish to 190

So here goes, after looking at alot of different tank manufactures i have decided.....IM going to build my own tank. YEP thats right from flat sheets of glass to a 200G rimless. I wanted a tank built a certain way and nobody offerd it so Im going to just build it. Its gonna be 60"x30"x27" (actuall height will be 27 1/2") the 1/2" will be glass on the bottom so it doesnt count. The actual measurements are 59"x29"x27" inside, the overflow will be at 24" so that i have 3" of space to the top for making the wave. I have a hand drawing and a quote on the glass i am just waiting for a business proposal to come threw on Saturday and the glass will be ordered Monday the 9th with about a week of wait time. Oh the front glass will be LOW IRON (starfire). The RG means regular glass and SF means starfire. It will have (2) 3/4" returns, and will be square on the inside and will have an overflow box external on the back with (2) 1" drains. Whatcha think? THis is gonna be fun!!!

agreed, u could modify it small IMO and it wouldnt hurt. But it shldnt bother having it there, my current 120 is euro braced all the way around and has a center brace like yours.

If i get ahold of another tank it will be moved in the house as well. Gonna make the room back into a room and move the tank to the back of the dinning area. Ill check craigslist.