120g tank project begins

shyland83

shyland83

New member
I finally decided to start my next tank. I plan on getting a 120g AGA 2x4x2. I'm going to start with the stand, then wait to go any farther until after nerac. I attached a rough sketch, the stand will be 2x4's, the rest of the cabinets and exterior of stand will be birch plywood frames with poplar face frames and doors. I would like all the doors to be the same width for asthetics, but i want to be able to fit a 24" wide frag tank in the cabinet on the right, so it needs to be a little wider. Now the questions...

1. Is a 120 AGA tank exatly 2x4x2 including the plastic framing? if someone could measure their tank for me and give me an exact measurement that would be awesome.

2. I haven't decided on corner overflows or a coast to coast "ala Calfo" overflow. If i go coast to coast with bulkheads in the rear, how much clearance do i need between the back of the tank and the wall to get the bulkheads and elbows in?

3. I'm sure i'll have more soon.. And please feel free to give me any opinions on whast i'm doing wrong

thanks for any help

tankstand.jpg
 
Go with low E or starphire glass for the front Panel. the difference in clarity is worth it. Best price I could find on a tank was from Glass Cages
 
Nice design! Sorry I can've help you with any of your questions though. That kenya frag is doing great. It's about 5 times the size it was when you gave it to me. Thanks again!
 
I want to go starphire front, but i'm afraid it's going to skyrocket my budget. Just when i thought i settled on a tank, I'm going to check out glass cages.
 
Also is going with a custom tank, I would go with Euro bracing to eliminate the support down the center of the tank.
You should also look at the cabinet doors over the tank.
It's hard to describe but you may want those 2 doors to be one piece ( false doors) so the entire section can lift up towards the ceiling giving you total access to the tank without worrying about a center divider between the doors.
 
my plan on the cabinet above is to have them swing out, and the center divider will be attached to one of the doors instead of cabinet, so it will be all open. But that is a good idea, i'll have to think about which one i like better.

I sent glass cages an email for a quote on a tank with starphire, we'll see what happens. I didn't mention the eurobracing, i dont know how much thats going to change the price. Now that i'm talking custom, what about goaing a coast to coast external overflow? I dont know if that makes bracing difficult?
 
Glass cages emailed me back already. 300 for tank 48x24x25, 80 for low iron front panel, 70 to deliver to reptile show on long island march 17(week after Nerac i think). A grand total of 450. Can't beat that with a hammer. I have to check on whether thats eurobraced, but unless someone chimes in with a reason why i shouldn't, bad experience with glass cages, etc... I'm going to order it within a week. Fragmented, thanks for suggesting it, I didn't realize i would be able to do it for so cheap. I was looking at the oceanic tech series, but its $800 price tag and all the recent bad talk about oceanic scared me off.
 
Could you do the bracing yourself ? Maybe instead of a brace across the center go with a long thin piece of glass parallel to the front (were you at the tank-building talk in Jan?--it was described there) or just corner pieces?
 
I was at the meeting. That's a good idea. I'll ask what they typically do, if they dont do it that way, or if it's going to cost me a lot more I might tell them to make it rimless and ill do it myself. I like the thin strips around the top edge. Now i just have to decide on my overflow. Calfo really convinced me that the coast to coast is best at the meeting, and i'm in the middle of his book now. But i just dont like that i lose area for lighting on the top. Especially if i go with T5's (which i also havent decided yet). And i think i might go with low iron glass on the sides too, might be worth the little extra.
 
Ok, since they are building the tank, why not put the overflwo on the outside? Have the back wall made 1/2 or an inch lower, then build the box of the overflow on the back? That way there is no interference with light, and no tank real estate taken up. If you do a narrow glass brace across the front and sides it won't interfere with light or access, and if you do triangles in the corners and have the cutout for the overflow not go all the way to the edges, nothing should interfere with anything else.
 
I like that idea. I'm going to have to call to order it anway, hopefully they can do that for me. They want 150 for the overflow and 4 holes for bulkheads. I cant imagine it's any more work to make it on the outside. Then i can have the holes for the bulkheads in the bottom of the overflow and they can go straight down, no elbows
 
Scott,

Word of caution, GC tanks are great due to the cost being less then an AGA tank before options BUT........
I'm sure you heard about the extremely sloppy silicone work and here's a biggie:
They do not always place the "wet" side of the glass pane in the right direction. Took my GC 120g tank about a year before I noticed it on one of the low iron side pane, it started to develop pits in the glass. At first I had no idea what it was and I had to rack my brain out in order to try and remember if I had ever brushed any rocks against that pane. I did a little research and end result is that if a aquarium manufacturer does not put the "tin" side out, saltwater will cause pitting on the glass over time. This does not occur with freshwater though.
 
I actually hadn't heard about the sloppy silicone work, and this wet side business is new to me. I just looked up info about the "tin" side versus air side, but cant find any info on how it effects an aquarium. Thanks for the warning. I was just about to call and order it, now i dont know again. I knew the prices were too good to be true. I'm not good at making decisions(especially expensive ones). With low iron on front and sides, and the overflow and delivery i'm up to 670. I'm not willing to pay that much more than an AGA if the glass might start pitting in a year. Anyone else with a low iron glass cages tank having this problem?????
 
Ok, What if i decided to shove a crowbar in my wallet and take a step up to a quality custom tank. Are there any local places i can get a good custom tank built? or maybe a place thats willing to ship? I might go with glass cages if i cant get anything else at a reasonable price, but i keep finding more horror stories,, looks like its a crapshoot.
 
Scott,
Don't get me wrong, I would still rather order an GC tank over an AGA or Oceanic because I can somewhat customize an GC tank. When I ordered the tank back in early '05, there were no exterior overflow option but I was able to get the following in which it wasn't an option for an AGA or Oceanic tank:
Low Iron glass
Center overflow
Eurobracing so that there was no center brace to shadow the light
Holes drilled for closed loop
It was a good price, at least less then an Oceanic standard 120g tank, but like you said, it's a crapshoot on the quality.
Silicone, I can live with cause I used wood mouldings to cover the edges and match my stand/canopy. With the idiots putting the tin side inwards, well that's a whole other story. I've heard other custom builders such as Aquariums for you in Jersey had did the same thing here an there so GC is not the only one prone to idiotic manuvers. It's what happens when you expand and don't hire & train good people.

Do a search on Glass Cages and you'll see some satisfied and some swearing.

The best work that I've seen so far is a place called Miracle Aquariums up in Canada. Two former lira buddies had tanks built, one was a 72"x30"x24 and the other was a 36"x36"x26". Both tanks were gorgeous and had true "starphire" brand glass which is clearer than the low iron generic brand that GC uses. Having said that, you do pay for quality. The 225g cost around $2200 shipped and the 140g cube went for about $1600 shipped. Both had 3-sided Starphire glass and external overflows.
 
Also, FWIW there is a guy in PA called OceansImages that may be worth looking into. His tanks I've heard nothing but praise for.
 
thanks, i requested a quote we'll see how it comes back. And it's only 3 hours away so i might save on shipping. I would be willing to pay a little extra to avoid glass cages due to the stories. But if i have no other options i'm going to take my chances with GC. I'm off next week so the stand build begins with or without a tank decision!!!
 
I ahve a glass cages tank with starphire since May & no Problems. As far a glass having a wet side, never heard of such a thing and cant see how this could be true. Tin side of glass. I thought glass was made of glass, why would there be TIN in it?
 
well when they make it it's made on top of tin. so theres the side that was in contact with the tin "tin side" and a side that was in contact with the air "air side". I dont know about how it effects an aquarium, but that much i do know is true. The tin side is supposed to be smoother, I decided i'm not going to worry about it. I'm most likely going to order a glass cages this week, without the overflow and holes, and drill it and make the overflows myself. I want to add a closed loop, and 25 a hole starts to get expensive. And i want to make the overflow out of tinted glass. that keeps my price down to 520, and a little sloppy silicone doesn't scare me. Thanks everyone for the input
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Re: bean animal help!
Replies
2
Views
141
wvned
wvned
D
Bulkhead Installation Question
Replies
2
Views
435
wvned
wvned
S
Newbie!
Replies
2
Views
110
Uncle99
Uncle99
E
4x2x2 Acrylic reel tank and stand for sale
Replies
4
Views
235
ebe
E
slathrum
Where to buy a reef ready aquarium these days
Replies
8
Views
293
wvned
wvned
Back
Top