1300gal ... plywood build.....

[camaroboy8691]

well this has been a long time coming , but i finally started it . after the past few yrs of ups and downs , buying a big acrylic tank , then reselling it , and alot of other stuff i dont want to get into . i finally started putting it together . earlier this year i already purchased the acrylic for the viewing area , so i just gotta put the tank together .

like all big builds this will take awhile , but hopefully within 2 months its up and running i have a good bit of stuff already from hoarding like lights , solar tubes etc .


the tank , it will be a room divider , and have alot of depth to it instead of being wide . i like the wide tanks , but the area im putting this into has a odd size to it so im making the tank to fit .

size of tank

44" deep 74" wide 94" front to back .

im far from a carpenter but heres some pics so far .... its 3/4 cabinet grade oak wood , it has like 7 layers not the mdf stuff .... the small wood is 3/4 oak . im hoping to atleast get all the wood work done this comming week so next week i can start the resin and fiberglass .

 

[camaroboy8691]

to you other wood tank builders , whats your spacing on biskets and screws ?? im putting a bisket every 6" and a screw every 6" between the biskets , any advice on that ?

 

[TheFishTeen]

Awesome! I love really deep tanks like this. When you look into it you feel like your looking into a real reef in the tropical coastal waters.

I can't wait to see this tank mature.

 

[freetareef]

awesome...i'm following along...

 

[freetareef]

are you doing a sump in the basement? what about filtration and equipment? have you made these choices yet?

 

[camaroboy8691]

are you doing a sump in the basement? what about filtration and equipment? have you made these choices yet?

sump and pumps will be going in the basement , i actually have a room that is 9ft wide and 20ft long for the equipment . probably only things ill have with the actual tank are the closed loop pumps {thinking 2 hammerheads with ocean motion 4 way or 8 way} still undecided on the closed loop .

for filtration , i have a PM xl2 this i actually bought when i was going to use the 600 i bought a few yrs ago , its rated for 750 gals . but im a big fan of filter socks . so im hoping {pending approval from comments} with just the filter socks and xl2 this will be enough to handle the job .



for lights , im installing 4 18" solar tubes next weekend if its nice out , and then supplimenting with others , i have 6 250w icecap pendants i hoarded awhile back , so im thinking between the tubes , and a few pendants ill have the lighting covered ....... im going with the solar tubes becuase this building this is going into is in the sun light pretty much all day long and can easily get 8+ hours a day

 

[camaroboy8691]

Awesome! I love really deep tanks like this. When you look into it you feel like your looking into a real reef in the tropical coastal waters.

I can't wait to see this tank mature.

i was back and forth on what i wanted , and last winter i knew what i wanted when i really thought about actual layout of my building ..... now the biggest thing i have to decide , is do i want to creat a "canyon" with rocks on both sides of the tank and see right through the tank , or create a big rock mound diretly in the middle and block seeing through the tank .....

im thinking canyon , but not sure yet .....

 

[TheFishTeen]

i was back and forth on what i wanted , and last winter i knew what i wanted when i really thought about actual layout of my building ..... now the biggest thing i have to decide , is do i want to creat a "canyon" with rocks on both sides of the tank and see right through the tank , or create a big rock mound diretly in the middle and block seeing through the tank .....

im thinking canyon , but not sure yet .....

Here's another really deep tank, and its really nice:

Mo's 6ftx8ftx3ft SPS Reef Tank.

Build thread: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2073747&highlight=moser

 

[camaroboy8691]

mo does have amazing tank . if i had only 1 viewing panel its how i would do this one .


im thinking maybe rocks on each side with maybe a few arches ....

 

[HASBRO]

Enjoy the build! My 8ft 420g took almost 3months and was great way to kill a cold winter. I would love to do another just for fun but with somebody's money not my own.

 

[myfin]

I used 3 inch spacing for biscuits and the screws using gorilla poly urethane glue for my 220 gallon plywood viewing window. Are you going with a closed loop for water movement?
IN my 1000 gallon
I'm using a gyre 7.5 - 15 min powerhead set up. Maybe adding a 1.5" seaswirl in the future. My tank is has 42" of saltwater to the bottom.

 

[dave.m]

im thinking maybe rocks on each side with maybe a few arches ....

I would leave out the arches. They can look kinda cheesy. Just vary the width of the rock walls on either side so the path wanders down the centre in a natural way. But these are matters of personal taste.

Dave.M

 

[camaroboy8691]

Are you going with a closed loop for water movement?
IN my 1000 gallon

yes closed loop , i like power heads , but i dont want them in this tank .... i recently found the ocean motions 4-8 way , i been in this hobby for about 3 yrs now and just found out about them , so im going to go with 2 hammerheads , with 2 4 ways i belive , possibley the 8 ways

I would leave out the arches. They can look kinda cheesy. Just vary the width of the rock walls on either side so the path wanders down the centre in a natural way. But these are matters of personal taste.

Dave.M

the more i look at deep tanks the more i think i might just go with some rocks on the sides .... and then maybe some decent sized "shelves" to put some corals near the top

 

[camaroboy8691]

got alittle more done , got the other end finished up and the top caps .... even cut the over flow in , its about 36" long and will let 1" of water above the viewing panel ....the over flow is off set alittle due to an object that will be in the way of the end of the tank , other side of the tank will be up against a wall so cna have anything there .

 

[camaroboy8691]

the next thing i need to do is the corner gussets , and then the top of the tank and front openings im going to double up the wood and stagger the 45's so there are not double seams .


the top of the tank im going to sort of let open , i got 2 4x8 sheets of 1" acrylic , and the opening is only 36x70 , so ill have about a 9x96" long piece of acrylic 2 of them actually , im going to figure out a way to make a bracket and attach them to the top of the tank to allow light through so there is no shadows ..... some guys are using wood , but since ill have these 2 fall offs im going to incorporate them .

 

[camaroboy8691]

so im thinking about pumps lately , im going to use 2 hammer heads for 2 closed loop systems with either ocean motions 4 way or 8 way , undecided yet .

but what about a return pump ? im going to have my sump in a basement and it will need to pump up about 15ft to get to the main tank im looking at the high pressure reeflo pumps , but is there anything better out there ? how many pumps would be needed for this size tank ?

 

[trickedout900]

Nice progress, thanks for sharing.

 

[HASBRO]

With you overflow being that shallow do you think you might run into a problem with your plumbing? Bulk head plus a tee then a 90 degree back under the water, ran into a problem when i made mine. You might have something different planned for that already. Just a thought.

 

[camaroboy8691]

With you overflow being that shallow do you think you might run into a problem with your plumbing? Bulk head plus a tee then a 90 degree back under the water, ran into a problem when i made mine. You might have something different planned for that already. Just a thought.

honestly , i think i should have made it an inch or 2 deeper , but it looked good so i went with it .

im pretty creative and have a full fab shop so if i need to 1 off a part or something it should be no issue .

also , did alot of looking at the BEAN over flow , and honestly i dont think ill need to worry about noise if i even just did a simple spill away type deal where it was just bulk heads with nothing in them .

i guess i will figure something out if its to much of a noise issue

 

[freetareef]

lookin good!!!