dotcommer
Active member
:lol2: Now that's one way to solve it.
Dotcommer's Reef - 300 Gallon 10' x 2' x 2' Mixed Reef Build, Scottsdale AZ
- Thread starter dotcommer
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:lol2: Now that's one way to solve it.
dotcommer
Active member
I came back from Boston this past week to find out that two of the fans in my 60 Gallon Redsea Max Canopy stopped working and my chiller was disconnected. So the result was a water temperature of 85 degrees in the morning. I can only imagine what the temperature rose to when the lights were on.
I lost most of the corals and my flame angel. My bubble tips went from red to pink and are a lot smaller. All the other fish are doing fine along with most of my zoas and mushrooms.
I have my new Apex Controller sitting in the box waiting to go on the 300 Gallon.
I can definitely see the importance of a controller.
My acrylic guy just got back from vacation this weekend, so hopefully he will be able to make some progress on my tank this week.
I lost most of the corals and my flame angel. My bubble tips went from red to pink and are a lot smaller. All the other fish are doing fine along with most of my zoas and mushrooms.
I have my new Apex Controller sitting in the box waiting to go on the 300 Gallon.
I can definitely see the importance of a controller.
My acrylic guy just got back from vacation this weekend, so hopefully he will be able to make some progress on my tank this week.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Man that's a bummer. Good thing you didn't lose everything but still sucks you did lose some stuff. You reefers do it big in AZ so I know you will bounce back.
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dca22anderson
New member
Can't wait for you to get this bad boy rockin'! You will love the piece of mind the apex provides...I can view tank stats on my phone and check the webcam feed to see that all is well when I travel...I hope you have the same success with yours! Keep up the sweet progress! ;-)
Chihuahua6
Premium Member
First off congratulations on your family! That's amazing. I am a mom of four kid all close in age so I can relate. They have their own 75 gallon freshwater aquarium. It was kindly given to us by a neighbor leaving the hobby who knocked on my door after seeing my lights in the window ; )
I love the dimensions of your tank! I am currently refinishing my second acrylic tank. I am curious how you started the refinishing process and why you didn't finish it? Did you run into problems. My tank is finally scratch free after many grits of micro mesh and a random orbital sander.
I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.
I love the dimensions of your tank! I am currently refinishing my second acrylic tank. I am curious how you started the refinishing process and why you didn't finish it? Did you run into problems. My tank is finally scratch free after many grits of micro mesh and a random orbital sander.
I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.
I am currently having the exact same tank built for me the builder is also making me a custom stand and canopy out of oak. This will be my first acrylic tank ive known the builder for a couple years now and he says he will guarantee everything for life. My question is how thick is ur tank my builder is making the whole tank out of. 5in acrylic with the whole top eurobraced with 3 large openings. I know acrylic is much stronger than glass and my last marineland 220 was made of. 5in glass so im assuming especially with a lifelong guarantee the builder knows what he is doing and. 5in is fine especially with the bracing on top. Also what are you going to be using for heaters and lighting? Im thinking of 3 evolution 200 w leds parellel with the tank a sro 5000int skimmer and 2 500 watt titanium heaters
dotcommer
Active member
Thanks for the post. It was a great learning process on polishing out the tank. I tried a few different methods ie: by hand (way to long) straight line sander, orbital sander etc.. at first, i wasn't going with a low enough grit and it was taken for ever to get some of the deeper scratches out. I practiced on the top of the tank and was able to get amazing results going as low as 400 Grit and working my way up to 3000 grit and then polishing it.
I was getting ready to do the front of the tank and got busy etc.. then I took the tank to the acrylic guy to have my overflows put in. He does sanding and polishing, so I decided to have him finish it up for me.
I am going down hopefully tomorrow if I have time to see the finished product.
dotcommer
Active member
Yeah, it was a real bummer coming home to see the tank like that. My wife looked at it today and said "Your Tank Looks Horrible" . One of the few things that lived was my bright Red Buble Tips which are now Pink and white and much smaller. Pics below.
Bubble Tip before catastrophic event.
Bubble Tip after catastrophic event. Actually the bleached out pink ones look pretty cool, but the rest of the tank looks horrible.
My desolate tank after catastrophic event.
dotcommer
Active member
I am looking forward to getting it set up and to playing with it. Thanks for checking out my build thread.
dotcommer
Active member
Congrats on your new tank. A lot of people said I will really enjoy having a 10 foot tank. Others have said they like the 2 foot height, since you can still place corals, clean etc.. by hand. I bought the tank used and it was made out of .5 thick acrylic. It has two cut outs on the top of the tank. I just put in two corner overflows, but I am thinking about maybe added a coast to coast in between the two corner overflows. However, I need to talk with my acrylic guy first to see if it can be done.
As far as heating the tank, I haven't thought much about it, I am more concerned about chilling the tank, since I live in Arizona and may be using MH lights to light my tank.
I have an SRO 5000 int. just like yours, but I may be incorporating a second smaller skimmer and SRO 2000 which I own also. I would run one wet and the other dry. Since I am designing my sump right now which is a 180 Gallon tank I will have plenty of room for a second skimmer.
Sounds like a awesome setup I was a little concerned with the .5in acrylic on a 10-2-2 but seeing that u have the same tank and have seen other large tanks online with half in and euro bracing it makes me feel much safer. I want this tank to last a very long time. My concern was haviing the tank bow badly I was considering a 120x24x20 for that reason if you could help me decide on either a 20" height or 24" height I'd appreciate it as my builder has not begun building the tank yet I love the long low look but would like the 4" of height for my display tank just worried about bowing as this is my first acrylic tank. Thank you for your help can't wait to see your build come together.
dotcommer
Active member
My concern on .5" acrylic is the bowing. I haven't filled the tank all the way up with water so I am hoping it isn't an issue. If I was going to build the tank from scratch, I would go with a little bit thicker acrylic, but then again, I am not a tank manufacturer. The tank weight is nice, its not very hard to move around with just two people. I wouldn't go any shorter than 24" on the height. Since acrylic comes in 4' x 8' or 4' x 10' sheets, there would be no savings going down to 20" .
There are different quality acrylics as well. So you may want to ask which one he is going to use.
Since my tank is so long and not so tall, I built a taller stand. I am at 37" right now, but once I put on a 1" board, and 1" Styrofoam, I should be closer to 39" which I feel will be a great viewing height. I also built the stand 30" deep. My ideal tank would be 30" Tall, 30" deep and 10 feet long (540 Gallons) if I don't do an inwall tank in my living room. With my existing stand, I would be able to go with that size tank if needed.
There are different quality acrylics as well. So you may want to ask which one he is going to use.
Since my tank is so long and not so tall, I built a taller stand. I am at 37" right now, but once I put on a 1" board, and 1" Styrofoam, I should be closer to 39" which I feel will be a great viewing height. I also built the stand 30" deep. My ideal tank would be 30" Tall, 30" deep and 10 feet long (540 Gallons) if I don't do an inwall tank in my living room. With my existing stand, I would be able to go with that size tank if needed.
dotcommer
Active member
My concern on .5" acrylic is the bowing. I haven't filled the tank all the way up with water so I am hoping it isn't an issue. If I was going to build the tank from scratch, I would go with a little bit thicker acrylic, but then again, I am not a tank manufacturer. The tank weight is nice, its not very hard to move around with just two people. I wouldn't go any shorter than 24" on the height. Since acrylic comes in 4' x 8' or 4' x 10' sheets, there would be no savings going down to 20" .
There are different quality acrylics as well. So you may want to ask which one he is going to use.
Since my tank is so long and not so tall, I built a taller stand. I am at 37" right now, but once I put on a 1" board, and 1" Styrofoam, I should be closer to 39" which I feel will be a great viewing height. I also built the stand 30" deep. My ideal tank would be 30" Tall, 30" deep and 10 feet long (540 Gallons) if I don't do an inwall tank in my living room. With my existing stand, I would be able to go with that size tank if needed.
Sounds good the builder already ordered 2 sheets of 120x48 celll cast acrylic so i can have him cut it down to 20in if i want as he has not started to build the tank yet. Im looking forward to seeing pictures of your set up and cant wait to get mine im just trying to make a final decision on 24in or 20in high due to. 5in strength
dotcommer
Active member
A quick update:
I have been in Flagstaff for the last 10 days with the family and will be heading home tomorrow. While on vacation, I have spent a lot of time on the boards and researching things for my build.
I decided to go a different route on my overflow design. I started out with just corner overflows, however I am now going with a custom design that I haven't seen done before. Its going to be an Internal Weir / Corner overflow combo. I started a thread on RC here to get some input and design ideas.
Below is a drawing of what I am doing.
I have been reading a lot about Coast to Coast overflows and how they make skimming your tank much more efficient. This is why I have decided to go this route.
I am also planning on using two skimmers, one will be used for wet skimming and the other for dry skimming.
I will be most likely be going with two MP60's (one on each side) and a few MP40's along the back wall.
My acrylic guy has already built my internal weir and will be installing it this week. He should also be finishing up the polishing of the tank as well. So hopefully I will be bringing the tank home by the end of the week.
I have been in Flagstaff for the last 10 days with the family and will be heading home tomorrow. While on vacation, I have spent a lot of time on the boards and researching things for my build.
I decided to go a different route on my overflow design. I started out with just corner overflows, however I am now going with a custom design that I haven't seen done before. Its going to be an Internal Weir / Corner overflow combo. I started a thread on RC here to get some input and design ideas.
Below is a drawing of what I am doing.
I have been reading a lot about Coast to Coast overflows and how they make skimming your tank much more efficient. This is why I have decided to go this route.
I am also planning on using two skimmers, one will be used for wet skimming and the other for dry skimming.
I will be most likely be going with two MP60's (one on each side) and a few MP40's along the back wall.
My acrylic guy has already built my internal weir and will be installing it this week. He should also be finishing up the polishing of the tank as well. So hopefully I will be bringing the tank home by the end of the week.
dotcommer
Active member
MY TANK HAS ARRIVED!!!!
I am happy to say that my tank made it safely down into my basement and no one was harmed.
It was pretty stressful but I am happy to say everything went perfectly.
Below are a few pics of the event.
Getting the tank all set up and ready for the big drop
Launched and ready for its descent.
Descending downwards
A view from below
Almost done
In its final resting place
My son Chance making sure the stand can handle his weight.
The kids acting like fish.
I am happy to say that my tank made it safely down into my basement and no one was harmed.
It was pretty stressful but I am happy to say everything went perfectly.
Below are a few pics of the event.
Getting the tank all set up and ready for the big drop
Launched and ready for its descent.
Descending downwards
A view from below
Almost done
In its final resting place
My son Chance making sure the stand can handle his weight.
The kids acting like fish.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
[/QUOTE]
The kids acting like fish.
[/QUOTE]
Did you borrow some children for the size shot? Cool.
Sent from my iPhone using Siri and Tapatalk.
The kids acting like fish.
Did you borrow some children for the size shot? Cool.
Sent from my iPhone using Siri and Tapatalk.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
You gotta show pics of this hybrid overflow.
