600g Acrylic Glass Hybrid Reef

[pwhitby]

In January 2008 my old 600g tank developed a really small leak . And, while the leak was pretty small, I had no option but to just bite the bullet and drain the tank. All the corals and fish went into barrels until new homes could be found for them.

For those who havent seen my old tank....here is how she looked:

Immediately after finding the leak this is how it looked:

I was fortunate enough to be able to obtain a spare frag tank and make lots of frags of my nicer corals. I then took over my office:

The fish were moved to a spare 220g tank that was loaned to me as well.

After carefully considering the options I decided to talk to Tom of AGE and see if we couldnt come up with an acrylic tank with a glass front panel. Ideally starfire.

After much discussion we came up with the Hybrid tank:

 

[pwhitby]

When I purchased the old tank I thought I could be careful enough to keep acrylic scratch free and I was determined to keep it clean and avoid scratching it....no magnets, new cloths, soaked pads to remove calcium traces etc.

The first time I cleaned it I caught a grain of sand and left a scratch. This was pretty much repeated over the 3 years of owning the tank and depressed me to the point I vowed to swap the tank one day for a glass fronted one.

Well....thats what I ultimately decided to do with the new tank.

Originally I was thinking of a fiberglass body with a glass front. Having talked to a tank designer/builder we decided to try a hybrid tank.

The premise is really quite simple. You can not glue glass to acrylic, but you can seal it. So....Tom built a tank almost identical to my old one, all out of acrylic. This time the front and back panel are of black acrylic. During construction, the middle of the front panel was cut back out to leave an approxiamte 2 inch strip all the way round. On the inside of this a special silicon is used and a panel of starfire glass placed, inside the tank, and sealed to the rim of acrylic. the result....a lightweight acrylic tank with a starfire front. the best of both worlds.

this is the back - just prior to fitting the overflows and sealing the top down,

and this is the front- fully assembled tank

the following are a few pics of the back panel being made.

Hopefully from the the top two pictures you can see the recessed glass panel and acrylic flange all the way round.

 

[pwhitby]

Over the last few days I finally had time to work on the tank with my task the installing the internal plumbing for the closed loops.

The tank has 4 holes across the back, 8 inches down from the top. 2 are feed (suction) from the tank to 2 baracuda pumps. (one to each pump). In turn, the pump feeds back to the tank tghrough one of the two tother two remaining holes.

Here is a shot from the back of the tank:

the teo pipes coming down are the overflow pipes and the others are the inlet/outlet of the closed loop. The suction is towards the middle of the tank and the return is at the corner.

The plan with the two loops is to have a racetrack of piping connected to each loop, and a pillar support column at each end. Along the racetrack and on each pillar will be a series of penductors. 2 on the back rail pointing one way, two on the front rail pointing the opposite way and 2 on each pillar. This will give 8 penductors facing in a circle. The idea is that the flow will cause the water in the tank to circulate, like whirlpool.

loop 1.

loop2

and the two laid one inside the other:

The reason I wanted to do this is so that I can alternate the flow in the tank. Loop 1 will run for 3 hours and stop. Loop 2 will then run for 3 hours and stop, then loop 1...etc.... This will have the effect of simulating a tidal motion through the tank. At the changeover both pumps will run for approximately 15 mins for a chaotic flow pattern.

Moving the tank water in this manner will ensure all of the water is moving through all of teh rock and corals placed in the system.

For anyone wondering if the pumps will take this, we checked with Reeflo prior to doing this set up and they say that the pumps will take 30,000 starts...so not a problem.

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

i am right confused....

is there a new tank coming? the old looked beautiful..i think i remember following the build...

LOL...i must got on the page as you were buiding/ editing...

new tank is looking awesome..

 

[pwhitby]

Hopefully these extracts from my tank build thread will give you an idea of the project I am undertaking. All of the details can be found in this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1423726

In our local club forum.

Please stop by and say hello and offer any comments or suggestions, or add any questions you may have.

regards,

Paul.

 

[pwhitby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13767538#post13767538 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NanoReefWanabe
i am right confused....

is there a new tank coming? the old looked beautiful..i think i remember following the build

Yes a whole new tank...the one in the pictures hasnt existed for 9 months.

Paul.

 

[mpoletti]

Very nice Paul. I look forward to watching the progress and seeing the end results.

 

[pwhitby]

Hi Mark,

Thanksgiving is my proposed time set aside for the aquascaping.
Thats the time I am looking forward to.

P.

 

[PaulieWalnuts]

sounds very cool...following this one...sorry about the leak btw

 

[Crazy One]

WOW simply amazing, I wish I could have started off with a new tank. Your last tank was awsome too. Good luck with everything. I'm going to keep an eye on this project it might give me some ideas for my own tank .

 

[Untamed12]

I'm thinking that you deliberately broke the last tank just so that you could give us another outstanding build thread to follow! Subscribed....again.

 

[stunreefer]

Looks awesome! Love the hybrid front panel, congrats on the new AGE!

 

[Ed Reef]

I remember your old tank...was an inspiration for me to get into SPS and I'm sure your new tank will be even BETTER

 

[Elliott]

your old tank was amazing, are you going to use a similar aquascape for the new one? how will it differ? still using the tunze's in addition to the cl's?

why did you choose acrylic/glass instead of a pvc/glass hybrid?

 

[m0nk]

Wow, that tank was truly beautiful. I can't wait to see the new setup complete.

 

[Typhon]

Paul.. this is a great idea!! Looking to see more updates.

Just wondering what do you mean by the glass will be sealed? Do you mean the builder will apply a layer of silicone and just allow the water pressure to hold the glass in place?

 

[pwhitby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13768181#post13768181 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Untamed12
I'm thinking that you deliberately broke the last tank just so that you could give us another outstanding build thread to follow! Subscribed....again.

I have heard that a few times...lol.

I think I really jinxed myself by saying i would ultimately replace the old tank with a starfire one.... At least the idea of a better tank was sufficient to prevent me from throwing the towel in and calling it quits.

 

[pwhitby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13769026#post13769026 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Elliott
your old tank was amazing, are you going to use a similar aquascape for the new one? how will it differ? still using the tunze's in addition to the cl's?

why did you choose acrylic/glass instead of a pvc/glass hybrid?

Hi Elliott,

I am doing a different aquascaping plan, hopefully a nicer layout with rock better positioned for corals to grow, unlike last time where they grew into each other...more on that later....

I will have two tunzes in there. These will be on a UPS supply in case of power failure. The UPS will kep the tunzes running around 6 hrs so plenty of time to get home and get the generator fired up.

I didnt go glass PVC due to the weight. This tank is around 500-700 lbs lighter than the glass PVC. The acrylic body also allows me to drill the tank should i decide to add more loops or something

And the starfire front is awesome.

P.

 

[pwhitby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13769611#post13769611 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Typhon
Paul.. this is a great idea!! Looking to see more updates.

Just wondering what do you mean by the glass will be sealed? Do you mean the builder will apply a layer of silicone and just allow the water pressure to hold the glass in place?

Yes, there is a silicon seal gasket all the way round. It holds the glass in place well enough, but will compress under water pressure.

I have had the tank full of water while testing the closed loop and it works very well. Withe the black acrylic front it resembles a TV.

------if you want to read more on the closed loop development, please come read in this thread,

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1423726

on the last few pages.

there are more pictures of the tank in there as well.

Thanks to all for the kind comments,

Paul.

 

[savethereef]

these tanks turn out really nice. there is a girl here on the boards that has a tank like this also she was one of the pioneers that made a tank like that 1st. full body is acrylic and the front panel is Starfire her user name is Macimage.

Cant wait to see the rest of your pictures of your tank.