mr_alberta's 1/2 cube build

[mr_alberta]

Well, the time has come to say goodbye to my 4' tank and welcome my new, 32"x32"x16" half cube! Hopefully this will be my last tank for a while (at least until I buy a house!)

Unfortunately my pictures are at home, and I am unfortunately at work lol.

However, I'll give you all a breakdown on the equipment I'll be running:

Tank: 32X32X16 acrylic tank w/ external overflow
Sump: 24X24X16" acrylic tenecor tank
Return Pump: Mag 7
Closed Loop: Red Dragon 8
Ballast: SLS Blue Wave 3
Bulb: 20000K Radium
Reflector: PGS Lumenarc
Controller: Aqua Controller Jr.
Skimmer: Bubble King Mini 180
Wavemaker: Ocean Motion Squirt
Substrate: Starboard/Cutting Board (HDPE)

I haven't decided what type of Reef Setup I'd like to do, Mixed Reef, LPS only or SPS only? Currently I have no SPS in my tank and have mainly LPS and softies, but I do miss the shapes and colors of SPS...

Also, I'd like to thank the following people for all their help:

Russ and Dez for helping me build my tank :biggrin:
Lando & Josh for all the sweet deals at Marine Aquaria :mrgreen:
Agnes for all her patience and understanding :wink:
Ed, Eric & Pat for buying my old tank and equipment and funding my new one! :razz:
Ryan & Chris for the deals on the reflector and wavemaker

Pictures will come soon...I swear!

[muck]

I assume you are going home at lunch to post pics? :razz:

[fishytime]

I assume you are going home at lunch to post pics? :razz:

Guess not...:lol:

I too, would enjoy seeing said pics. Sounds like a cool looking shape.

[Boomboy]

pics or it didnt happen :lol::lol:

[muck]

*poke*

[mr_alberta]

Sorry for the delay, didn't get a chance to finish the tank off quite yet, but here are some pictures of the build thus far:


First, the external overflow weir...normally you would cut the weir in BEFORE glueing things together....but I got a little too excited with the Weldon 40 and forgot to do this first :lol: As a result, we had to cut it after everything was glued together.
http://members.shaw.ca/harvwong/2009%20Cube%20Tank%20Build/DSC08693.JPG

Here is Des helping me align the bottom of the tank after epoxying.
http://members.shaw.ca/harvwong/2009%20Cube%20Tank%20Build/DSC08709.JPG


Here is Des and I admiring our work.
http://members.shaw.ca/harvwong/2009%20Cube%20Tank%20Build/DSC08710.JPG


Here are my banana hands mixing the Weldon 40.
http://members.shaw.ca/harvwong/2009%20Cube%20Tank%20Build/DSC08720.JPG


Here is Russ routering the edge after the Weldon 40 dried (a few days later)
http://members.shaw.ca/harvwong/2009%20Cube%20Tank%20Build/DSC08715.JPG

That's all I have for now, hopefully I'll get to finish off the tank tonight at Russ' place and will have more pics soon!

[Joe Reefer]

Whoa! Russ is super focused.

[Delphinus]

Looks .. um .. very constructiony and stuff. :) Looks nice though.

What are the wooden boxes for, are they just weights for pushing on the seams?

[bignose]

Nice work! Do you have alot of experience building tanks?

[Boomboy]

Go russ go, get that acrylic!!!

[mr_alberta]

Hey Tony, yeah, the wooden blocks are just weights for the joints.

This is the first acrylic tank I've ever built, but I've built a couple glass tanks before and Russ has built a lot of glass tanks before as well. Des and I both used to build acrylic skimmers, reactors, etc so we do have a little bit of acrylic experience.

Weldon 40 is actually not too difficult to work with. The hard part is mixing the two parts together and getting all of the air bubbles out of the solution.

A few things I have learned though is to:

1) order your top and bottom pieces a bit oversized so you can router everything flush and get a nice clean edge

2) peel the paper farther back and use masking tape instead. Now that the epoxy has dried I'm having a heck of a time removing the paper.

The tank is almost almost done, went out to Russ acreage last night to put some of the finishing touches on it. I just need to glue/silicone on my aluminum trim on the tank to hide the messy epoxy and the tank should be done!

[saltynuts]

any more up dates(pics) looking good any way!
i am glad i could help you out with the build( funding)
now i can get my tank build going too!
going to have to plan a reef meet or 2 this fall!

[mr_alberta]

Well Ed came and got my old tank and I've got everything into the new tank now. Need a few people to come by and pick up some of the fish as they'll need bigger homes, but for now they seem to be adjusting well to the new enviornment. Here are some pictures, enjoy!

http://members.shaw.ca/harvwong/2009%20Cube%20Tank%20Build/01%20June.23.09/Tank%20Shots%20June.23.09%20004.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/harvwong/2009%20Cube%20Tank%20Build/01%20June.23.09/Tank%20Shots%20June.23.09%20003.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/harvwong/2009%20Cube%20Tank%20Build/01%20June.23.09/Tank%20Shots%20June.23.09%20002.jpg

http://members.shaw.ca/harvwong/2009%20Cube%20Tank%20Build/01%20June.23.09/Tank%20Shots%20June.23.09%20001.jpg

[banditpowdercoat]

What is on the tank floor? Looks kinda like sand, But to nice of a hole around the center outlet, and too flat.

[mr_alberta]

Its HDPE Plastic (aka Starboard, aka Cutting Board). It was all the craze a couple years ago haha.

What is on the tank floor? Looks kinda like sand, But to nice of a hole around the center outlet, and too flat.

[banditpowdercoat]

Ahh, OK. Well, HDPE is better than UHMW I guess LOL Kinda a neat idea tho

[fishytime]

Do you have the starboard siliconed in, or is it just sitting on the bottom?

[Delphinus]

Nice ritteri :)

[mr_alberta]

The starboard just sits on the bottom. The rocks are what is keeping it down :biggrin:

Hey Tony! That's no Ritteri, that's a torch coral!

[Delphinus]

:redface: Wow. Nice, uh, torch. It looks like a ritteri!

[Skimmerking]

dude the tank build looks great, and Russ doesn't look focused he's thinking that Man if I slip i'm in so much crap....:lol: