EDIT: I must have been :drinking: when I checked out OIs site the last time, since this time I found it much easier to navigate and found the live rock (and the protein skimmer that I had found on an american site that doesn't ship to Canada) right away. It's actually a better price than the J&L rock, so now I'm on the fence. I might take the plunge and order some of this rock (shipping from Ontario should be slightly less expensive) and then order some other rock to mix it up. Diversity is good.

Thanks for making me look again, Rbacchiega :idea::biggrin:

So a little more thought about my constant water change system. Fresh aerated saltwater, properly mixed with distilled water (relatively cheap since it's produced and bottled here and guaranteed to test less than 0.9 TDS... and I can have it delivered! :lol:) will drip in to the circulation pump chamber right at the pump inlet, where it will mix thoroughly with the tank water. As the water level rises in the pump chamber (and falls, since it's a surge tank), excess water will splash down into a drain chamber and run away through a hose to a disposal. The amount of water changed over time will equal the water dripped in, as long as the drain hose doesn't become plugged (and assuming 0 evaporation, or a perfect amount of makeup water added constantly).

This system isn't foolproof, I can already sense that I will have some issues with 'salinity creep', though I can't really say how bad it will be. I may be able to get away with mixing my change water with a slightly low SG (since the bucket will be sealed evaporation from this container will be negligible). I haven't decided if I'll go open top yet, since I haven't planned to have fish I just may do so.

And I have a question to post to you DIY types... how thick do I have to go if I do acrylic? I'd like to use 1/4", but don't want to brace and I worry that with the 24" span of the main panels, I may run into a problem with bulging near the middle. I'll go thicker on the long sides if I have to, I'm just not sure if I'll need to.

Help with acrylic, anyone? See above post also...
 

So, further to this acrylic thing, I use Methyl Chloride to bond it? Could I make the long panels out of glass and silicone them into the rest of the acrylic?

I don't think silicone bonds well to acrylic. It's okay for baffles or overflow boxes that aren't under alot of pressure but I don't think you would want to do a mixed acrylic and glass tank.

That being said, I thought I had seen a company doing glass tanks with acrylic bottoms to facilitate drilling for drains, returns. closed loops etc. But they may be using a special silicone or adhesive to do that.

Hmm interesting. I don't think I'll attempt it then, I was just thinking that with glass being more scratch resistant...

Anyhow, I'm ordering my acrylic from Online Metals, the only place I've found that ships to hobbyists from an online site. I'll be ordering 1/4" acrylic... I think this will do the trick. I hope.

You could see if Colby at Bayside Corals in Saskatoon would ship you LR on the bus.

Hmm, I hadn't really considered that... that would actually be an excellent option, since the bus ride from S'toon is only around an 8 hour trip.

I'll look into that... thanks for the idea :biggrin:

So, I got my J & L order today... it came 3 days early! Thanks Canada Post! :biggrin:

I received a HUGE 100 micron filter sock (much larger than I expected it to be, I'll need to do some chopping and sewing to use this thing... good thing my mom owns a serger!), a freshwater and saltwater test kit for the basic stuff (pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate), a Vertex refractometer (excellent build quality intstrument, though I think it needs recalibrating... bleh), and a full sized tube of black(!) silicone.

Things look promising... I'm phoning the local glass place tommorrow. Originally I was planning acrylic, but since I can't get acrylic locally, glass it is! I'm going to build my upper sump first, to see how good I am at siliconing glass... I can run a nice bead on a tub, but this is a little different. And I've never built a tank before... Is isopropyl alcohol good enough to clean the glass before siliconing?

On a side note, I e-mailed Bayside today about salt, sand, and rock, but the inbox was full. I'll be phoning tommorrow if I can't get an e-mail through.

I ordered a Taam Rio 800 RVT last night, so I can begin the building of my protein skimmer. Has anyone used this modded pump before?

Ron99 is correct. Silicone does not bond to acrylic. I have it in my sump and it does come apart with pressure.