Building My 375gal Glass Reef
- Thread starter GlassReef
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edandsandy
Active member
WOW! The packaging of that tank is unreal!
let us know if you need help unpacking!
let us know if you need help unpacking!
PaulieWalnuts
New member
i love how they put fragile all over it....and the forklift extenders is a good idea lol, that would suck if they did not use them!
OK - I guess it's time for a little update on the build process.
I've been working on the setup of some cooling fans. My plans called for installing the fans on both the right and left sides of the light rack. I wanted to be able to use my ACIII Pro to turn the fans on and off based on the water temperature - so their installation was foreseen in the wiring when I built the rack. I would like to keep noise in the fish room to a minimum, so I thought I'd try 12V PC fans. I've used fans from the Austrian firm Noctua in the past. I found them to be both powerful and quiet - and probably more important - I've never had one of them go out on me.
I decided to use 6 120mm fans. This is what they look like:
I wanted the fans to be mounted on to the light rack itself, so that when the rack was slid out of the way the fans would move with it. This meant I would have to build some kind of box to hold them. I started looking for some material that wouldn't corrode and was as light as possible. I finally decided on expanded PVC sheet. It's basically just like normal PVC sheet, but (from what I understand) has had microscopic bubbles of some gas injected into it during production. The bubbles are so small that you can't actually see them. Their effect is that the sheet is very light. It doesn't have the rigidity of normal PVC, but is more than adequate for my purpose.
Before I go into some of the details of the build, here is a pic of the (mostly) finished fan box - so that you'll have an idea what I'm talking about as I describe the build. The back plate is rather large so that it can serve two purposes. It holds the fan box, but also blocks light from entering the fish room it's bottom edge will be flush with the top of the tank:
What is missing here are the grills (guards) that go over the fans for finger protection. They are ordered but haven't arrived yet. Also, the bolts holding the box together will be exchanged for nylon bolts as soon as they arrive.
I've been working on the setup of some cooling fans. My plans called for installing the fans on both the right and left sides of the light rack. I wanted to be able to use my ACIII Pro to turn the fans on and off based on the water temperature - so their installation was foreseen in the wiring when I built the rack. I would like to keep noise in the fish room to a minimum, so I thought I'd try 12V PC fans. I've used fans from the Austrian firm Noctua in the past. I found them to be both powerful and quiet - and probably more important - I've never had one of them go out on me.
I decided to use 6 120mm fans. This is what they look like:
I wanted the fans to be mounted on to the light rack itself, so that when the rack was slid out of the way the fans would move with it. This meant I would have to build some kind of box to hold them. I started looking for some material that wouldn't corrode and was as light as possible. I finally decided on expanded PVC sheet. It's basically just like normal PVC sheet, but (from what I understand) has had microscopic bubbles of some gas injected into it during production. The bubbles are so small that you can't actually see them. Their effect is that the sheet is very light. It doesn't have the rigidity of normal PVC, but is more than adequate for my purpose.
Before I go into some of the details of the build, here is a pic of the (mostly) finished fan box - so that you'll have an idea what I'm talking about as I describe the build. The back plate is rather large so that it can serve two purposes. It holds the fan box, but also blocks light from entering the fish room it's bottom edge will be flush with the top of the tank:
What is missing here are the grills (guards) that go over the fans for finger protection. They are ordered but haven't arrived yet. Also, the bolts holding the box together will be exchanged for nylon bolts as soon as they arrive.
The first thing I did was make some mounting plates out of scraps of 3/8" black acrylic sheet that I had laying around. These would be riveted to the frame of the light rack and have threaded holes where the fan box back plate could be mounted. Whenever I'm threading acrylic, I like to leave the protective paper on the sheet. I find it helps prevent chipping:
This is what the mounting plates look like mounted on the light rack (I didn't bother to clean up some of the edges
):
Here are the individual pieces of the fan box. These are made out of the expanded PVC sheet I described earlier:
And this is the back plate:
I routed the 4 1/2" holes using a 1/2" spiral flush trim bit and an MDF template I had from a previous project:
I attached the MDF template the the PVC sheet using bouble sided tape:
This is what the mounting plates look like mounted on the light rack (I didn't bother to clean up some of the edges
):
Here are the individual pieces of the fan box. These are made out of the expanded PVC sheet I described earlier:
And this is the back plate:
I routed the 4 1/2" holes using a 1/2" spiral flush trim bit and an MDF template I had from a previous project:
I attached the MDF template the the PVC sheet using bouble sided tape:
EnglishRebel
Retired Rebel Reefer
Your attention to detail and the quality of everything you build is as if it was done by a company in the business of custom work. Duct tape covered bricks as weights :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
The finished product is mounted on the light rack with 1/4"-20 nylon thumb screws:
Each bank of 3 fans will be connected to a 12V 1000mA power adapter (haven't arrived yet). The adapters will be connected to the central power distribution box on the top of the rack.
There will also be panels along the back of the light rack (if you look closely you can see the mounting brackets - same as for the fan boxes). They will stop light from leaking into the fish room.
All that's left is to hope it all works - yes, I know - and the edges have to be cleaned up.
Each bank of 3 fans will be connected to a 12V 1000mA power adapter (haven't arrived yet). The adapters will be connected to the central power distribution box on the top of the rack.
There will also be panels along the back of the light rack (if you look closely you can see the mounting brackets - same as for the fan boxes). They will stop light from leaking into the fish room.
All that's left is to hope it all works - yes, I know - and the edges have to be cleaned up.
Last edited:
Thanks for the compliment.- Status
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