57.2 gal cube build

[nurjrk]

Hey all, starting to build my cube tank and thought I'd try and document it as I (we) went along. Building this with a friend who has a very impressive 110gal reef.

The tank is made of 3/8" thick glass. Dimentions of 22x25x24 high
there will be a 3", or so, overflow wall, so viewing space will be 22x22x24. This will be a mixed reef tank, my first try at SPS.

In this picture you can see my crude drawing of the basic tank. There will be an overflow wall leaving about a 3 - 3 1/2" space in the back for plumbing. The standpipe, return from sump and 2 CL returns from OM super squirt compact in there. CL pump will be a Sequence Snapper rated at 2500 gph. In the overflow wall will also be the 1 1/2" CL drain. The other two CL returns will be in a eurobrace across the top front.

This is a look from the top down. You can see the three holes in the overflow area (eurobrace not shown in this pic).

There will be a sump and fuge in the stand. Skimmer will be ASM G2 with gate valve mod (picked up for $100, we'll see how it works) Return pump is a PanWorld Pxx at 1100 gph. Yes I will have massive flow in the tank. Looking at having a seperate fuge on shelf above the sump and gravity drain into sump.

Lighting will be 250W DE HQI in Lumenarc reflector.

I'm sure I've forgotten something, but that's the basic plan. Everything is up for discussion.

Thanks for looking,
Jeff

 

[nurjrk]

Started the build last week with purchasing the 3/8" glass from Tucson glass and mirror. Holes were cut and some plumbing was ordered.

The pile of glass

This pic showes the eurobrace with two holes for 3/4" OM return.

Me and overflow wall. We harvested this and the eurobrace from another tank we took apart. Cutting this was a bit of a challange, but it turned out ok. There will be about 3" of black plexi on top of this wall for the overflow teeth.

Today we started with assembly. We are using black GE Silicone II (I know there is much discussion about which type to use, but we decided on type II). The pic shows Scott putting a bead of silicone on the bottom front and right edge. We are only siliconing the seams and not putting a bead in the corners. The bottom, however, will have the normal corner or silicone. We only set the front and side today, will let that set, then continue later in the week. Got kinda messy, we've got some cleaning to do.

Thanks for looking,
Jeff

 

[BruiseAndy]

If you lay down a section of tape 3/8" away from the edge then silicone the seams it will make clean up a whole lot easier. Like the design btw

 

[nurjrk]

We thought about the tape trick afterwards. I think we're going to use it for the rest of it though. Thanks for the input.
Jeff

 

[nurjrk]

Anyone for plumbing? Well, part of the plumbing anyway. A few of the bulkheads are on backorder, and the 2 - 1 1/2" bulkheads are white (not in pic).

I needed to paint one of the white bulkheads and the 45 degree elbow for the CL drain. Krylon Fussion worked great for this.

Here is the overflow wall with the plumbing in place, the white you see around the black bulkhead and 45 is pipe dope, will be cleaned off or painted later. The CL plumbing needed to be installed at this time because once the tank is together their would be no way to install it then. It actually held the wall up when we siliconed it in.

As you can see, we used tape this time when we siliconed, it made cleanup a little easier. Things are moving allong, slow and steady. More to come.

Thanks for looking,
Jeff

 

[nurjrk]

Oops, don't need to see the paint can twice.
Here is the overflow wall with CL installed (hopefully).

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[nurjrk]

Not sure why that's happening, I'll look into it.
Jeff

 

[nurjrk]

Hopfully this is it (fingers crossed)

Jeff

 

[nurjrk]

Got the other side attached.

One more to go. We left the back off so we could get in back and clean up the silicone. The back will go on later this week.

Let me know what you think, good, bad, or otherwise.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[golf4lyfe]

its looking really good, any idea of what your planning to stock it with

 

[nurjrk]

Thanks, looking at doing a mixed reef. I've never attempted SPS so I really want to give them a try.
Jeff

 

[msuzuki126]

I love the look of black silicone. Good luck!

 

[TripleP]

looking good so far

 

[redmonkey0019]

It's looking real good so far, I too am about to start a build similar to yours, im looking at a 24" x 24" x 25" project, it will be my second reef tank, my first was a standard 55, and while I was happy with the volume, the tank depth was unacceptable for aquascaping (only 12") so this should give me lots more room to work with, keep us posted on how your build goes!

 

[nurjrk]

Thanks, guys. looks like I'm gonna have about 21" front to back. The overflow wall got pushed out to about 4" or so due to the size of the CL bulkhead and plumbing. We should have the back wall on this weekend, then comes the all important leak test. I'll keep you posted.
Thanks,
Jeff

 

[nurjrk]

Update

Update

Not much done this week, still waiting on some plumbing before putting on the back wall. We did get the eurobrace in place, and return bulkhead and 45 in place that comes from the sump.

In this picture, the tank is on its front side with eurobrace and some plumbing in place.

More to come when plumbing comes in.

Thanks for looking,
Jeff

 

[nurjrk]

Hey all, got a little more done today:

Looking from the back, you can see the 1" return from the sump with check valve in place. The standpipe on the right is 1 1/4" that reduces to a 1". The plug on top is not glued in, so with the use of the little hole, the plug can be turned for optimal performance of the standpipe. It might not be needed at all, but it's there if I need it. The 1 1/2" CL drain is in the middle.

Right side view of tank.

 

[nurjrk]

Back of tank in place.

Tank on front side, looking down into tank and the back overflow area.

Still waiting for the backordered 3/4" bulkheads for the CL.
Questions, comments and critiques appreciated.

Thanks for looking.
Jeff

 

[BruiseAndy]

Looking good...I find this usually slows down my projects though.

 

[nurjrk]

Ha Ha, Good pickup, I wish that's what it was. Actually it's olive oil. We tried that first as a lubricant for drilling the holes. While it smelled good when heated, it proved to be too messy and not any better a lubricant than good ol water. The remaining holes were drilled using water....Beers were consumed after the use of all tools

Jeff