nice I've seen these on youtube, very cool tanks

looks awesome.

how are you going to incorporate flow into the braced section?

what if detritus and stuff gets stuck in the corners there?

maybe you should do the bracing length wise and then have a closed loop intake at the end and have water constantly passing through

Neat, should be really interesting to see how this works out!

I agree. I'm not sure your design for the accessible areas is going to work out that well. I do love the drop off idea though! Since I learned of this style I am reconsidering the brand new tank I have sitting in the garage! ACK!

this was my mini design of a drop off.

worked great for a the month i had it set up. might try this in a 70 gallon when i have some time

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...9at80229PM.png

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...9at80223PM.png

water flowed into main area, down through the rock wall, and rose up into the pipe and into the sump... basically the opposite of an overflow

Crabs and shrimp can always find detrius.

There will be a circulation pump on the back end to pull water through the area.

That's not going to work in the long run. It'll build up in the corners for sure.

Also, once you start filling it up, how are you gonna get rid of the air that's gonna get trapped at the top of the chambers?

The top piece will not be siliconed in. It will be sitting on top with a hole in the middle. Air won't be trapped. Two glass pieces make up the top of the shelf and are removable in case I ever need to get in there.

Also the braces are sitting on top of those two side pieces on the bottom so there is about 3/8" clearance for sand and water to flow through under the bottom. Same goes for the top piece. There will be a slight gap. I have lots of tiny snails that bury themselves in the sand so they will help keep things clean as well.

Hope it works out for you

I hope so too. You guys can learn from my mistakes. :p