Sunshine Coast - 10ft 500G build
 

Hey Guys

I recently moved to the sunshine coast and was wondering if there were any reefers around here?

I'm starting my 10ft 500G build and could use some ideas / muscle :) I have the stand welded up and the 10ft glass panels waiting for me in the garage... and 16 large tubes of RTV silicone of course!

Cheers,

hey thats awesome,finally another reefer on the coast,i dont think their are to many of us out there. I currently am re setting my 72bowfront

Awesome! They say size doesn't matter, but sometimes it DOES!

Hey Beauroy, slim pickings eh? Good to make your acquaintance!

Any issues with power outages around Sechelt area? We bought in West Sechelt. Wondering how much time I should spend thinking about backup power...

Ask the guys in the lower mainland about recent power outages. :( It can happen anywhere - plan for it.

That looks like its gonna be a sweet build.My builders used as I recall 18 maybe 20 tubes of silicone.
What are the dimensions,I would help lifting panels but a little far from you and those could get heavy.

Power goes out once and a while,my neibourhood has all underground power so it hasn't been that bad here,the only down side here is there are no reef shops,I always have to travel to Jl. If you need any help let me know,I'd love to see set up as I'm kind of going through withdrawal as my tank is down at the moment.

Thanks for the offer beauroy! I'll let you know how I progress... might definitely need a hand maneuvering those panels into place :) I have the stand in the house now. The original location wasn't working out so we went with option B. Think it's going to look sweet, it's huge!

Eli, the dimensions are 10ft x 3ft x 30" high... I would have loved to go 12ft but even fitting 10ft in the house will be a challenge for sure :) And then there's the price of starfire glass. Ouch. Can't wait to get your awesome shelf rocks in there one day! They're still boxed up and waiting for me in the garage.

Myka, wise words... I'm thinking of just getting an inverter for now and using my mobile generator in the garage, the two door one I drive around in ;p

Some pics of the stand move... on it's side the stand JUST slid through the door with 1/2" to spare :)

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b...12-Ic42/19.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-D...12-Ic42/20.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-o...12-Ic42/22.jpg

Epic is all i got to say tagging along

That window on the left end of your tank stand position may cause major algae issues when you have the tank set up, if that is the final spot for this epic tank.

Just something to consider.

Anthony

Totally, hear you on the algae Anthony. I'll board that window up and vent out that way... get rid of some of the moisture :)

Is there a beam or concrete wall under that wall the tank is against? Which way are the joists running? Have you reinforced the floor at all?

Hey Myka. You bet!

Hence the change in location. Where I initially wanted to put the tank would have meant ripping up half the finished basement below (myself on a budget) for support but this new location is pretty sweet.

The tank will be sitting over a crawlspace, between a concrete perimeter wall and a beam underneath about 3 foot away and perpendicular to the joists... I wall also put 8 supports under the joists directly on top of the slab juuuust to be safe.

Even with my old 140G rimless, in a 2nd story apartment, I was always worried about vibration and bouncing floorboards. Hate having people over and then having to tell them to not all stand around the tank at once because the floor might break. lol.

:lol: @140-gallon story.

Sounds like good planning for the new tank, I'm not sure you need 8 supports though - just a small beam with a support on each end would be good. Or do a pony wall. :)

Balls
 

Soooo...

https://https://lh3.googleuserconten...00-Ic42/24.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-G...00-Ic42/23.JPG

After spending much time and effort on getting the main panels in place and the main seams siliconed last night, I found a ton of bubbles and irregularities in some key places.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b...00-Ic42/25.JPG

More than I'm willing to live with... this is going to be a lot of water and livestock and I just wouldn't be comfortable with bad seams.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3...00-Ic42/26.JPG

That's what $150 worth of RTV 108 looks like, don't think it's going back in the tube like that ;p

Ah well, I've stripped silicone before. I should be back to square-one in a week or so, assuming the new silicone arrives in good time. I can only get it from the states and then they insist on shipping it as HAZMAT, charging an arm & a leg for duties.

Just wish I knew what went wrong? I've built multiple tanks with the black RTV, maybe now I'm just seeing the bubbles for the first time?

Maybe it's the time involved with laying the 10ft beads (thought my hand was gonna fall off!), the stuff starts to skin a bit before I can clamp it.

Are you using spacers? Why not order a case of Aqueon silicone? Is that RTV stuff stronger or something? I think "a popular aquarium manufacturer" uses that SCS 1200 stuff.

Yeah I was using 1/16" spacers... but one got pushed out when we clamped.

The Momentive RTV 100 series is an adhesive, as opposed to the usual silicone which is a sealant, so it has way more tensile strength. With 10 foot seams I want the extra piece of mind and the price difference would have been okay if I didn't have to do the job twice!

Anyway, I have the panels apart & in the garage again thanks to some help from a new found friend. Going to try the dremel trick to get the silicone off faster than the razor blade route.

You're sure that adhesive is reef safe? I've never heard of it. How did you find out about it?

might be cheaper to get some ge scs1200 from concept, reef safe and its a "structural" silicone (adhesive)

I would go with SCS1200 as its a product that has been used and tested.Be safe than sorry. Silicone when dry always has an air bubble or 2 not as much as seen in your photo.I you want SCS1200 and cannot find it let me know and I will see what I could do for you.
Never heard of using a dremel for removing silicone especially off glass, be careful on what tip you use.

RTV 100 series is reef safe and provides a very strong bond.

Thanks for the input guys.

I love the RTV silicone, even though it's a little hard to get a hold of. I did some digging and found out about it online some years ago... mostly from DIY rimless builds. I used it for my previous build, this 100Gal seahorse Cube:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-q...00-Ic42/31.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-L...76-Ic42/76.jpg

It dries really quick, skins in 5 minutes, which makes the process a little stressful though.

Thanks for the offer Eli, but I'm sticking to my (silicone) guns :) Besides, UPS is already en route with another 7 tubes & should get here by late next week. Gives me some time to catch up on the stand cladding and canopy design.

Where did you source the glass?

So I was debating getting a tank made. However it doesn't look too hard to do your self. Any tips?!

Definitely watching and subscribing to this epic build. I am so jealous.:mrgreen:

Rynoe, we have some contacts and could source the glass directly from a supplier through my fiance's work. Still cost just north of 2 grand though for the starfire. ouch

It's not too hard to build smaller tanks, as long as you do your research & buy a ton of clamps. That being said, after buying 14 clamps, good silicone and making wooden jigs you're probably not going to save much money compared to a off-the-shelf tank. Unless you're trying to build something custom or rimless... or 10 foot long :)

Looks like my silicone cleared customs this morning in Washington, should be here by Friday / Monday.

Still have 3 panels left to scrape... running out of fingers here. lol

Any ideas on where to buy schedule 80 plumbing supplies online this side of the border? My new small town surroundings seem to have left me Home Depot-less...

That's still a very good price ,I have a quote for a 4x4x10 tank 2 sapphire panels4x10 for 7000$

That's still a very good price ,I have a quote for a 4x4x10 tank 2 sapphire panels4x10 for 7000$

mihaivapler, what thickness of glass did they quote?

For 4ft tall they're probably going with 1", maybe even 1" laminated?

30" tall is really the very upper limit for doing a tank in 1/2" glass if you brace the hell out of it. With my waterline 2" below I'm only supporting 28" of water pressure plus the bottom is euro-braced in 6" wide strips so there's 1" for the silicone to attach to the sides. With the bottom 1" and 2" waterline there's only 27" of unsupported glass.

Although I'm aware that I'm on the limit with 1/2" glass the cost would double for 3/4" glass and with a proper 2" steel frame I'm confident it'll work. I'm also basing my build off two other reefers with the same dimensions and glass thickness that have had long term (5yrs +) success with their tanks.

Basically the same dimensions as my recent build. Shocked you went with 1/2". I braced the hell out of mine and I still went with 3/4". Coming close to limits with a 10' box of water is scary.

Nice work on the stand...looks very nice.

The quote is for 3/4" glass. 2 panels for 4x10 by 3/4" shapfire for viewing panels,as will be a room divider tank one panel of 4x10 for the bottom that is 2 3/4" panels laminated and 2 side pieces of 4x4 by 3/4"..and will be in the wall so does the have to be pretty so for that the tank will be framed with steel L profiles and lots of cross braces.its a bit scary so i think I will drop the hight to only 40"..another option was acrylic 1 1/2" for the same cost but I'm afraid of the acrylic bowing because of the 4 feet high and will be easier to scratch and in case that I want to change the house it will have to be cut in pieces and waisted so with the glass just cut the silicone and reassemble it..will research some more until then as this will happen next summer..

And off course after the foundation will be built:)))))) will require a good one as it will be around 1200 gallon,so that gives about 12000 pounds including the tank the water and rock.....

Nice one! Sounds like an epic build. I'm a fan of glass myself... although acrylic is clearer, I wonder if 1.5" acrylic is clearer than 3/4" starfire...

UPS just dropped my silicone off and I have a friend coming over for the weekend to help with the build tomorrow.

Fingers crossed!!

Yes it will be.can't wait to start it.not to mention my wife , she want a bigger tank for her blue tangs,she loves this guy's so much that after buying one we went over to another reefer and rescue another one that was sitting in his sump and few month later she went to the store and bought another 2 without telling me so I just ended up with 4 of them.poor fish don't know how they made it because she just dump them in the tank without acclimate them:))

how are things moving along?

Major breakthrough! Some friends came over from out of town unexpectedly and I put them to work :)

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-G...2-Ic42/29b.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-v...12-Ic42/33.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-w...20-Ic42/35.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5...12-Ic42/39.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3...12-Ic42/42.JPG

We got the panels in place and the new seams glued. I used 11 tubes(as opposed to the previous attempt's 6) to lay the main seams so now I'm out of silicone again. lol. Good news is this time the seams look absolutely amazing! No bubbles and good spacing throughout as far as I can tell. Thing of beauty! I'll only be able to inspect the rear seam once I've taken the jigs off though... but it looks really good so far.

So happy it worked this time!! Woohoooo

I'll give the main seams a week to dry and then add the bracing, give it another week and then we have to lift this sucker up to get the foam underneath.

In the meantime I've been stocking up on plumbing supplies and have the Reeflo gold dusted off that I bought a couple months ago in preparation. One more box should be shipped by later this week with some valves and couplings.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--...12-Ic42/38.JPG

Looks good

Hey Guys... so 3 days into my perfect silicone seams curing, still clamped, these bubbles / tears started forming in the center of the seams.
Anyone seen this before? Almost lost control of my bowels when I saw this last night and have been up googling ever since to no avail.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-o...12-Ic42/43.JPG

The darker portion in the photo is the structural seam, then the corner bead to the left and the blue painters tape...

Any chance that this is normal? That the black silicone does it too but you just can't see it?
I'm close to the end of my rope here :(

Could it be slight imperfections in the glass edge that is being filled in by the bubbles? I am no expert at tank building, but just a thought.

There are vendors (ie Dave at Concept) that are experts on this forum, and would be nice to hear from them.