I bet you could start a nice side business for your fellow CA reefers. I know I would want one like if lived in an earthquake prone enviroment. Last thing I would want to do is invest a couple thousand in animals and equip just to watch it crash on the floor. Maybe something to think about.. Looks top grade...
My Carbon-Fiber 230 gal Tank
- Thread starter salt lick
- Start date
Wiping drool from keyboard...
Salt lick,
I've been thinking of building a carbon tank for awhile, but havent taken the time. Yours is incredible. I can totally appreciate your effort. 'Taint easy.
Is there another frame inside against the glass, or does the glass just get sealed to the outer frame from the inside?
Merkur,
Dow 795 is used extensively for public aquariums. Everyone swears by it. Funny, though, their specs say not for submerged applications.
I am also very interested to hear about the "2 surface adhesion". I have read up quite a bit, and have never heard of it brought up in building tanks, yet. I have read that 3 surface adhesion is bad. Can you elaborate?
Many large tank builders (fiberglass / acrylic) set the acrylic in a groove, with a ton of 795 all around - 3 surface adhesion.
Seems to me it would hold better, not worse. Something to do with expansion and contraction?
Thanks, thanks, thanks!!!
Chris
PS, @#$% thats a nice tank!!!
Salt lick,
I've been thinking of building a carbon tank for awhile, but havent taken the time. Yours is incredible. I can totally appreciate your effort. 'Taint easy.
Is there another frame inside against the glass, or does the glass just get sealed to the outer frame from the inside?
Merkur,
Dow 795 is used extensively for public aquariums. Everyone swears by it. Funny, though, their specs say not for submerged applications.
I am also very interested to hear about the "2 surface adhesion". I have read up quite a bit, and have never heard of it brought up in building tanks, yet. I have read that 3 surface adhesion is bad. Can you elaborate?
Many large tank builders (fiberglass / acrylic) set the acrylic in a groove, with a ton of 795 all around - 3 surface adhesion.
Seems to me it would hold better, not worse. Something to do with expansion and contraction?
Thanks, thanks, thanks!!!
Chris
PS, @#$% thats a nice tank!!!
Most excellent !!!!!
I can totally relate to the amount of work put into something like this as I not only have a car with a lot of CF but I also fabricated my car's rear seat delete out of fiberglass. Even though I was quite happy with the results, it was the longest, most tedious construction process I ever went through. I couldn't even imagine doing it again.
Personally, I think the overflow is the sweetest looking part of the tank.
And yes... please keep us updated on how those Solar Tubes work out. Should be most interesting.
Brett
I can totally relate to the amount of work put into something like this as I not only have a car with a lot of CF but I also fabricated my car's rear seat delete out of fiberglass. Even though I was quite happy with the results, it was the longest, most tedious construction process I ever went through. I couldn't even imagine doing it again.
Personally, I think the overflow is the sweetest looking part of the tank.
And yes... please keep us updated on how those Solar Tubes work out. Should be most interesting.
Brett
salt lick
Member
more info more pics
more info more pics
Ok, RC web site just lost my reply, S**t
this time I'll paste from MS notepad.
The Sunpipes are 4 ft long, about 2 ft above water line.
I went with two 13" dia pipes instead of one 21", so that they can straddle the 400 watt MH centered below them.
I researched the silicone at the GE website (tough navigating) but good tech info on each product. once I found the right database I searched aquarium and FDA approved. All the silicones listed for aquariums say in the spec sheet"not for submerged applications" goo figure ...Lawyers I guess (not that theres anything wrong with that, LOL). 3 sides on glass hmmmm, I thought about adding acouple of chicken plys inside around the top.
I used a Fork lift to install the glass! see attached pic
I dont have a PAR meter but they are bright ( I live in very dry climate, 5000 ft elevation).
PAR may suffer because the Acrylic dome on top blocks UV!
other lighting:
2 pairs of VHO Actinics (~400 watts) along the front and back perimeter, with a 400 watt Iwasaki MH (PFO ballast) suspended below and between the SunPipes. The MH bulb and reflector will rotate about 270 degrees over the center of my near cubeish tank. this and the VHOs are controlled by a DIY scratch microcontroller based on a PIC 16F877 MCU.
Thanks again for the support, I have learned so much from the RC gang (acrylic,DSB,lighting,diy...)
more info more pics
Ok, RC web site just lost my reply, S**t
this time I'll paste from MS notepad.
The Sunpipes are 4 ft long, about 2 ft above water line.
I went with two 13" dia pipes instead of one 21", so that they can straddle the 400 watt MH centered below them.
I researched the silicone at the GE website (tough navigating) but good tech info on each product. once I found the right database I searched aquarium and FDA approved. All the silicones listed for aquariums say in the spec sheet"not for submerged applications" goo figure ...Lawyers I guess (not that theres anything wrong with that, LOL). 3 sides on glass hmmmm, I thought about adding acouple of chicken plys inside around the top.
I used a Fork lift to install the glass! see attached pic
I dont have a PAR meter but they are bright ( I live in very dry climate, 5000 ft elevation).
PAR may suffer because the Acrylic dome on top blocks UV!
other lighting:
2 pairs of VHO Actinics (~400 watts) along the front and back perimeter, with a 400 watt Iwasaki MH (PFO ballast) suspended below and between the SunPipes. The MH bulb and reflector will rotate about 270 degrees over the center of my near cubeish tank. this and the VHOs are controlled by a DIY scratch microcontroller based on a PIC 16F877 MCU.
Thanks again for the support, I have learned so much from the RC gang (acrylic,DSB,lighting,diy...)
More pics!
salt lick
Member
DIY Acrylic Sump
DIY Acrylic Sump
previous forklift pic is my buddy Bob who helped with the glass (heavy) and had a fork lift he could borrow (he lives on an airport.
here is the sump refugium box thing.
LOA fixture above, plan on harvesting some neutered macro algae
notice I didnt do the over under over baffling (I dont think it makes sence to me). when the water spills over, it entranes bubbles. My baffles are more like the water return from a big skimmer air rises water exits at bottom. you cant tell from pic but the baffles are each drilled with ~ 2" holes near bottom and at opposite ends (front to back) so water serpentines right to left and front to back.
DIY Acrylic Sump
previous forklift pic is my buddy Bob who helped with the glass (heavy) and had a fork lift he could borrow (he lives on an airport.
here is the sump refugium box thing.
LOA fixture above, plan on harvesting some neutered macro algae
notice I didnt do the over under over baffling (I dont think it makes sence to me). when the water spills over, it entranes bubbles. My baffles are more like the water return from a big skimmer air rises water exits at bottom. you cant tell from pic but the baffles are each drilled with ~ 2" holes near bottom and at opposite ends (front to back) so water serpentines right to left and front to back.
WOW
WOW
That is about the only thing I can say....WOW....If I could only talk my wife into it, I would ask how much to build another one...however I know that she who must be obeyed would kick my heiny.
Salt, A dang nice tank. I am about to ask a silly question though, what are the Sun tubes?
Ray
WOW
That is about the only thing I can say....WOW....If I could only talk my wife into it, I would ask how much to build another one...however I know that she who must be obeyed would kick my heiny.
Salt, A dang nice tank. I am about to ask a silly question though, what are the Sun tubes?
Ray
Spikehs
Premium Member
i didn't know either, did a search and came up with this thread:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56125&highlight=Sun+tubes
http://www.solatube.com.au/
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56125&highlight=Sun+tubes
http://www.solatube.com.au/
Merkur
New member
H20ENG said:
in a non moving joint you can disreguard allot of the joint design criteria i mentioned above. three sided adhesion and other such no-no's are present all the time when fabricating unit frames ect. BUT when its a moving joint this stuff becomes paramount, ESPECIALLY the 3 sided adhesion rule. if you have two sided adhesion the joint can stretch like a rubber band. if its a three sided adhesion ONE of the three must fail to allow for movement. if you think about it its pretty obvious and thats why i mention it here. if the concept is to have a tank survive an earthquake then the thing to do is to make it flexable and design in movement between rigid materials (we design unit curtainwalls for use in cali that can flop around like a jacobs ladder), your sealant joints are not only your most likely point of failure but your easiest point to allow for movement.
Dow has some VERY good warranty policy's, the best in the industry, but they also engineer in a good bit of CYA. the submersement issue would be an obviouse one. though in building design its used that way all the time, for things like sill can gutters, skylight gutters ect.
i have a very good relationship with DC and recomend the products almost exclusvely, becouse they are, empathicly, the best. escpecially 795, it has all the properties you would want in a sealant. the only downside is that it attracts dirt. obviously not a concern in your tank.
