ScubaSteve's new Tank Build - The Coral Cube Redux

[reefwars]

i got mine in edmonton for 120 or 140 and it basically was a tank but not siliconed, i got the five panes,3 holes,3 bulkheads,and 1 large piece of black acrylic for i think it was 140, and it was all beveled and polished 12mm glass.silicone was only a few bucks, your gonna need tape,razorblades,clamps,and rubbing alcohol as well.not to mention the tools plus drillbit if you plan on drilling it yourslef.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by reefwars

i got mine in edmonton for 120 or 140 and it basically was a tank but not siliconed, i got the five panes,3 holes,3 bulkheads,and 1 large piece of black acrylic for i think it was 140, and it was all beveled and polished 12mm glass.silicone was only a few bucks, your gonna need tape,razorblades,clamps,and rubbing alcohol as well.not to mention the tools plus drillbit if you plan on drilling it yourslef.

That ain't half bad! I'm planning on having someone local cut and polish the glass and do the notch of the overflow weir. If they can drill the holes for me to save time, Awesome; if not I've got no problem doing it. I've been trying to find a ballpark figure to know what's a fair price.

[ScubaSteve]

Glass has been ordered! It'll be here Friday so I'm building a new freakin' tank over the long weekend!

I decided that since I am going to do this, I'm gonna do it right and go all out. 3/8" glass all around and I've asked for all visible edges to be polished and for the supplier to cut the overflow notch and drill the holes in the back glass and the overflow. Yes, I could have done those cuts myself but the way I see it, my time is worth X dollars and I have to go buy the tools to do it, so really... it makes sense for me to have them do it. Plus they'll make it way prettier than I can. So all said and done, it's more than I was first planning in my head, price-wise, but it's still not half bad.

I went with a 20" high tank, so that'll be a 50G plus a 15G sump. I'll be covering the back of the tank with a sheet of 1/8" acrylic. I decided on a beananimal-style overflow (1 full siphon plus secondary open channel drain plus emergency drain). I have designed the overflow system to handle well over 800 gph (can go as high as 1400 gpm if for whatever reason s*** goes really sideways) but I plan to operate it down around 500 - 600 gph.

I'm going to be shoehorning a Vertex IN-80 under the stand and am looking for an ATO and a carbon reactor. I don't plan on going any more complex than that because, well, I am poor and I want it to be as simple as possible. If I can find affordable 2-part dosers, that'll be it.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by reefwars

i got mine in edmonton for 120 or 140 and it basically was a tank but not siliconed, i got the five panes,3 holes,3 bulkheads,and 1 large piece of black acrylic for i think it was 140, and it was all beveled and polished 12mm glass.silicone was only a few bucks, your gonna need tape,razorblades,clamps,and rubbing alcohol as well.not to mention the tools plus drillbit if you plan on drilling it yourslef.

Hey Denny, quick question for you. Did you use long spread clamps or just use tape to hold the edges together as it cured? I'm definitely using corner clamps to keep the whole shmozzle square but have been debating whether I really need the big spreaders on a tank this size. What are your thoughts?

[Dive_dry]

i will be following this build as my glass will be in soon for two tanks

[bleevin]

Where did you get your glass from in the vancouver area and how much did it cost for them to do all the cutting and drilling?

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by bleevin

Where did you get your glass from in the vancouver area and how much did it cost for them to do all the cutting and drilling?

I went with Niki Glass in North Vancouver on the recommendation of a fellow reefer. They've been pretty good so far. They are CNC cutting all of the glass, polishing and beveling the visible edges, drilling the holes and cutting the overflow weir notch in 3/8" glass all around for about $260. The glass itself was only $120 or so (tank glass + overflow glass). The rest of that cost is mostly the polishing and the remainder is the other finishing stuff I had them do. Bit on the steep side for what I had originally planned but I figured if I'm building a tank I might as well just go all out and do it the way I've been dreaming of.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

Hey Denny, quick question for you. Did you use long spread clamps or just use tape to hold the edges together as it cured? I'm definitely using corner clamps to keep the whole shmozzle square but have been debating whether I really need the big spreaders on a tank this size. What are your thoughts?

hey sorry just noticed this, i used tape and small clamps in the corners to keep the glass from falling inward, corner clamps are a good thing to have but i couldnt find any in newfieland lol glad to see your on the way with the build ill be following along cheers buddy

[ScubaSteve]

So by tank upgrade I apparently meant "start from from scratch, including livestock". I've done transfers and rebuilds in the past; this was the smoothest and yet things are really not happy (though getting better). I think I ended up having a far bigger cycle than expected for some reason and that took out a lot.

Params:
pH: 7.8 (at night. Won't go up no matter what I do... could be do to acids from cycling)
Alk: 9 dKH
Calc: 440 ppm
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm (Test kit old and I don't trust it)
Nitrate: 10 ppm
Temp: 79-80F

Just did a 20% water change because I found my pistol shrimp dead in the sump and didn't want another cycle (and nitrates were at 10 ppm).

So far the losses over the past 2 weeks are:
All my blue millies
Blue tenuis
6" Flower petal monti
Pistol shrimp (just found him in pieces in the sump. WTF?)

My bonsai is receding a bit on one area. My tabling acro (sp?) was receding at the base but stopped. Rainbow montis receding a bit. Big green milli has no polyp extension. Sent the expensive frags to a friend's tank for safety. Really happy on that call.

Sigh... F***.

Zoas are doing well though... so you know, that's good.

Tank looks gorgeous. I'll post pictures up once things settle down (if they settle down).

[kien]

You didn't post what your phosphates are at?