my 200 to 500gal upgrade.....help needed..

[troylee]

well i originally started this thread in the diy. forum since i live in there and help everyone i can with acrylic questions and such.....but im not getting much feed back and keep getting stuck on ideas and no one want's to chime in......so i think you guys will be of more help. i did'nt even know this forum had builds lol..i thought it was just pics and problems with big tanks..anyways enough rambling.....here is the link to the begining and i will just finish her up from here on out in this forum.......i will post some of the pics over here to that i have already got done of the tank and sump....
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1558710&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[troylee]

here are a few pics of the sump being built...
this is the purposed layout of the sump to get a idea but of course the baffles will be different and there will be more for bubble control and evap etc.....

this is the sump being built.....the dem. are 24x24x72..180 gal...

this is the bottom of the media drawer.

and here is the sump with thr drawers installed.and the 50gal.ato bay completed and it sits like this untill i figure out what pumps and such im gonna run and install the baffles accordingly...

 

[troylee]

and here is the tank so far.....i have been stuck with how i wanna do the ext. overflow on it, i want to go coast to coast....so it has been sitting for a week......the eurobrace is complete and the four sides are up......the tank dem. are 30wx22tx96L...with 3/4" acrylic and 1" on the ends.....and this is where im at....i got a little less than a month to get her complete dunno if it's gonna happen...lol...i will be very close if not finished by then....

 

[KEEPERZ]

Great pics Lee-good to see that bad boy coming to life for you

 

[troylee]

thanks joe....im having a hard time deciding how to do the overflow.... i think im just gonna slit the back of the tank along the top edge and go coast to coast with it.......i still wish i could of picked up the 750 dang it!!!!!

 

[KEEPERZ]

Have you decided on the return pump you plan on using and are wavebox's going into your tank-your turnover and wave action will determine alot for you

 

[troylee]

i think im gonna run the big laguna for a return around 2000gph.....since i have alot of exp. with them.....i was debating a wave box but everyone says there great and then i see alot of people get sick of them real fast from the noise of water sloshing back and forth all day. so im really undecided on the wave box.....the tank is going in the living room where we spend most of our time so im trying to make it as silent as possible.....

 

[troylee]

if i run the laguna power jet2900 for a return im pretty sure i can get around 2000gph after head loss and they run at 100w but if i play with the volutes a little i can get more flow and less wattage.....pretty much a dart but there alot smaller and pack just as much punch......

 

[troylee]

well i got some more done.... the euro brace was put on and routed clean and i rounded over all the edges for a nice clean look......

here is the external coast to coast overflow box made of 1" acrylic, it measures 5"w x 9"t x 60long......the durso's were just sitting in there for looks lol!!!!!!!

and the start of cutting the tank for the external overflow i layed out 3 slots that are 1.5" tall by 18" long and left a little brace between them to help strengthen the tank a little....first i drilled the ends of them with a 1-1/8th unibit then rough cut them out with a jigsaw then come back with a template i made and route them nice and smooth once that was accomplished i came back with a roundover bit and rounded the back edge to help the water fall more smooth.......

 

[troylee]

next was the internal background i cut the teeth 1/8th wide on 3/8th centers 2.5" deep.....once i got that ready i laminated inside the tank so it will hide the external box.....and thats how she sits for now!!!!!!!

almost done!!!!!!!!!!

 

[troylee]

well the background has dried and i stood her up and this is what she looks like.......tomorrow glue the bottom on and the overflow then she is ready for sanding and polishing my favorite...... then i can say the tank and sump are done.

 

[Ed Reef]

Looking good.... with your overflow and skill in acrylic fabrication, why don't you make removable teeth so you can easily swap them out for regular cleaning as the teeth spacing is very close together and can get clog up pretty fast


Just my 2cent

 

[FuzzyZipperbaum]

I agree with Ed... just make some type of slide rack behind the teeth and you can interchange them with clean ones when they need to be cleaned...

Wish I had the skill to build my own tank like that...

 

[troylee]

Thanks ed.....that means a lot coming from you and my buddy keeperz, your guys tanks are awesome..........as for the teeth ya I got to do something I am being told that having them just ruined my surface skimming........so its back to the design board, no biggie its a easy fix rite now if the overflow box was on it would have been a done deal......

 

[KEEPERZ]

Looking awesome Lee!!-glad your going for it man, I know your prolly anxious to get done but try to keep thinking things through-

 

[troylee]

thats the plan...... so after being told numerous times now that my surface skimming is only a 1/4 of what it can be im gonna remove all the teeth and make a adjustable wier so i just get a fine sheet of water off the top, like i originally planned but was afraid it wouldnt provide enough flow.....this way i can open the slit from 1/8" to 1.5" and be able to adjust the flow flike this.....my goal was around 2000gph thru my sump so this should work......be back in awhile with pics of the mod

 

[Lightsluvr]

Wow.

Wow.

I am very impressed with your building skills - thanks for sharing in the Large Tanks forum!

I will be following along.

LL

 

[troylee]

ok this was what i came up with and need to know if this is good before i route the teeth out......i made a fully adjustable wier via 2 blocks i glued on top of the wier and drilled and tapped half way through then i drilled the top of the tank and tapped it so can i adjust the wall up and down by tightening or loosening the bolts on top of the tank should this do the trick for surface skimming?????

 

[troylee]

Re: Wow.

Re: Wow.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15131737#post15131737 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lightsluvr
I am very impressed with your building skills - thanks for sharing in the Large Tanks forum!

I will be following along.

LL

thank you very much glad to have you on board.

 

[hobogato]

great as always lee

as far as quieting the sloshing noise of a wavemaker, i came up with this idea. it may not work in your application, but you may be able to modify the idea to make it work.

basically, my overflow is no longer a spillover point. i raised the drain standpipes so the water level is slightly above the edge of the overflow. then i used eggcrate to keep the fish out of the overflow area. there is no water noise on my tank and the wave gets as high as 1.25" when the wavebox is on full power.

here are a couple of pics to show you what i did. i really like having the wavebox on the tank - it has eliminated those dead no flow areas.

a video to show how it works


if you are still thinking about using a wavebox, maybe this will help