270 build with pictures and updates

[mms_citrus]

so im trying to figure out how to post pictures. in the meantime, my kitchen flooded so we are going to do some remodeling. we have a 220 reef right now, but my wife wants a bigger tank and i had a bunch of 5/8 glass from a couple big tanks i broke down, so we decided to make one. ive build smaller tanks and sumps maybe up to like 90 gallons, but never something this size. we wanted 36" deep, and approximately 30" height. length wasnt a consideration but the wall we decided to go on only has 8 feet so i cut the glass down to 60".
she also wants to be able to see it from the bedroom so ill be setting it 3.5" into the wall.
i decided to do a ply lam bottom since i didnt have a piece 36"x60" or so, and i laminated one wall because it was just easier for me than cutting another piece of stupid thick glass.....
i got momentiv rtv 100 series clear....this stuff sets up a little faster than i thought which leads me to my only concern so far....on 2 seams it started to skin over......i took a blade and swiped it full length, and put another fat fat bead in it. i got it all strapped down and pulled tight and it squeezed some from the seams but im a little nervous about the adhesion... i guess ill know tomorrow when i water test it. im contemplating leaving a strap on the bottom and the top since its going to be recessed into the stand a couple inches and since the top will cover about 3 inches of glass up high.

anyway, long start. hope to figure out the photos soon. if you have any experience with the rtv100 product and have any thoughts on what happened and what may happen let me know.

 

[mms_citrus]

so i just uploaded them to imgur. i atleast know how to do that. the seams are hella ugly because the silicone was setting up to fast...sigh, but i had planned on capping the ends with a 2" corner cap anyway. cutting 5/8 glass is not easy and the cuts arent perfect or polished.

http://imgur.com/a/qCUa1

 

[tigger2577]

I would check the cure time. I thought it was a min of 3 days to cure. And I personally would double the time

 

[bigzman]

Roger setup a 72 long. He might have input

 

[CuzzA]

Just an FYI, if my calculations are correct, you're running a safety factor of 2.5. The industry standard is 3.8. This all but eliminates any errors or imperfections from poor quality glass. Something that would be impossible to tell by the naked eye. I believe the correct glass thickness for this build would be 19 mm glass.

It's an ambitious project, but it also comes with a huge risk of dumping a **** ton of funky saltwater on to your floor. You have more balls than me my friend.

Good luck.

Edit: The more I look at this build, I see a disaster. Your bonding glass to ply with silicone? Is this rimless? If so your safety factor would need to be 7.6.

 

[mms_citrus]

Garf site says 1/2 is acceptable. Ill only be running 27" of water maybe 26, and it doesnt have a frame but it will be, I think its called, euro braced. What site are you using for calculations.http://www.garf.org/tank/BuildTank.asp

Also I may be wrong but I dont see the issue with bonding glass to epoxy with silicone. I stciks to both just fine as far as I am aware. Theres a lot of wood builds out there.
Thanks for the concern tho. Im gonna let it cure and fill it up and let it sit for a few days and see what happens. Only have 200 bucks invested.

 

[mms_citrus]

Also I dont know if this puts your mind at ease but the panels were from a 72x24x31 center braced tank so I assumed if they worked for that they would work for this. **** now I wont be able to sleep haha, until I fill it anyway. Just a couple days.......

 

[CuzzA]

Here's the link for calculating the safety factor. I do not know how ply laminate effects the calculation, but I would assume it is weaker.
http://www.theaquatools.com/building-your-aquarium

https://www.momentive.com/products/showtechnicaldatasheet.aspx?id=10289
The most notable part is the "Surface Preparation" section.

I don't think it's going to adhere to the laminate, at least not long term. Ply tanks are usually constructed with a window and the water pressure aids in maintaining the seal.

I only know of one commercial builder, AGE, who uses a mix of materials to build tanks. The mix is PVC sheet and glass. They supposedly use a special adhesive to seal the tank between the two materials. They also route a groove into the bottom PVC pane where the side walls sit inside it. I assume this is mostly due to the fact it's a weaker bond compared to that of silicone and glass or acrylic and solvent. The routed groove likely helps to prevent the glass from seperating from the PVC.

I'm not a tank builder, but I know a little about the process. If I were you I would start a thread on the national forums and get some feedback from the few guys on here who actually build tanks for a living. I would be weary of anyone who doesn't have some engineering perspective to back up their responses. Really a message board isn't the best place to get this information from, but I suspect most will agree with my assessment that this tank is going to fail at some point. When? Who knows.

No need to lose sleep over it right now. It's not in your home filled with water.

 

[rogergolf66]

Roger setup a 72 long. He might have input

Yes I did build mine but I have no insight on how the glass will bond to the other material. I can't really answer with out a lot of research that being said that size tank I would not try it. Glass thickness is mostly about the height of the tank. My glass was for a 24 tall tank and I cut it down to 10inch for a Zoa look down tank. As mentioned pvc sheets are used all the time. My display has a pvc bottom but I have never seen any tank builders use the material u used. That scares me if they thought it would be a good material to use then I would think u would c a builder using it. Did u talk to ant tank manufacturers about the use of the material u used as a mix? I know silicone doesn't still from glass to acrylic at all... I am not a tank builder but I would sure call a tank builder and chat with them before I even filled it outside. Jmo

 

[mms_citrus]

I didnt talk to a builder. I just did a bunch of reading on the interwebs. Seemed viable.

 

[rogergolf66]

I didnt talk to a builder. I just did a bunch of reading on the interwebs. Seemed viable.

Well keep us posted on thread. Very interested

 

[mms_citrus]

Well you all made me super nervous. so my wife and I decided to just redo the 210. So im going to make this a 210 thread since were practically starting over. The 270 is still curing. Im gonna fill it and cover it for a month or so and see what happens. If it checks out then ill break it down and take more time to clean up the cuts and revisit this another year or so down the road

We're gonna do a bb. Try to get away with closed loop and no powerheads.want to do some sps.

I ordered 2 jebao dct15000 pumps. Was going to use one for return and one for closed loop. Will still try do do that.(i have a few jebao powerheads and theyve been running perfectly nonstop for like 2 years so I figured id try these, plus theyre cheap)
ive been on led lighting for few years but I think were going to go old school and do mh.
anyone have a 72" fixture for reasonable let me know.
Im also looking for a controller, reefkeeper or apex I guess. Not looking to sync lights and all that jazz, just run timers and monitor a few levels.
Ill be reconfiguring my sump so ill get some pics when thats sorted and im going to make a modification to my skimmer to try to get more efficiency. I havent been very happy with it of late. Otherwise ill be looking at a new one. Suggestions?

How do I change the thread title?
Ok, thanks for all the input. Ill update on the 270 in a few weeks.

 

[Safir]

There was someone giving away a diy mh fixture a few weeks back if i recall correctly - you might want to look for that thread.

I run the jebao dc pumps on both of my systems and love them. they save so much power/heat that my heaters run now, when they didn't using a mag drive and a quiet one. Also, they are cheap enough to keep a spare around just in case.

 

[rogergolf66]

I have 3-4 mh single bulb fixtures I would sell cheep. Pm me if interested

 

[chimmike]

if you could have someone build an aluminum frame top and bottom that may add significant additional strength.