New 325G In-Wall Project

LIReefer

LIReefer

Member
With all of these great projects going on - I thought I would join in on all the fun. I'm in the very early stages of the process and haven't even bought the tank yet - but I'm only days away from doing that. Anyway, I've attached a tank design in hopes of getting a sanity check from everyone. It's an 84x30x30 with an external overflow. I'm planning on a closed loop with an 8-way oceans motion wavemaker. A few things that I'm concerned about are, enough flow, size of the bulkheads, and their placement. I'm planning on using a sequence hammerhead or stingray as the main system pump and a dart for the closed loop.

Any help would be greatly appreciated


7997Tank_Design1.JPG


7997Tank_Design2.JPG
 
You might want to resize the perimeter bracing. As I read it, you have a 3" perimeter brace, considering 3/4" or so material thickness, this leaves a net "lip" of 2.25" - keep in mind a 1" BH requires a 1.75-1.94" hole (depending on type) and a 1.5" BH requires a 2.5" hole - you won't have enough beef in the bracing even with the large radii in the cutouts. BTW I'm referring specifically to the corner bulkheads, the ones in the crossbraces are fine.
Everything else looks dandy to me.

HTH,
James
 
James,

Doesn't this tank look familar? You and I have been talking a lot about this build. You know I want to keep the openings as large as possible - so what size should the perimeter bracing be?

Ed
 
Hi Ed,

If okay, add some beef to the back brace (inch or two) and maybe a little on the front/ends as well as just use a larger radius in the front corners. In case you weren't aware, the 1" bulkheads have a overall diameter of 2.75-3" so if you've got to add something in there. What size radius were you thinking in the front corners?

James
 
James,

I have no specific radius size in mind - I was leaving that up to you. In keeping with the same design - what is the minimum brace width I should have without compromising the structural integrity of the tank? Also, keeping in mind access for cleaning and maximum light penetration.

Ed
 
do you really need bulkheads in the top? it's not like you need a watertight seal, is it? why not just run your plumbing through - that way you make smaller holes and save on plumbing fixtures as well.
 
valid said:
do you really need bulkheads in the top? it's not like you need a watertight seal, is it? why not just run your plumbing through - that way you make smaller holes and save on plumbing fixtures as well.
Click to expand...

No you probably don't, but I've seen it done on several large tanks, and in any event it will provide real solid support for the piping

Ed
 
For 1.5" ells and other fittings, you need a 2.25" hole, a 1.5" bulkhead hole is 2.44 so you don't save much in the way of "meat" for the holes by using bulkheads.

The "plan" I came up with is a 3.5" perimeter flange on the front & ends with 5" on the back with ~3" radius. This leaves a comfortable amount of flange material w/out any significant compromises. Of course if you can go wider - this is always beneficial but you will lose *some* opening space.

As for width on crossbraces, 5-6" minimum IMO.

HTH,
James
 
Fabrication Process

Fabrication Process

Now we've gone from paper to reality. Here are some pics of the tank coming together. Courtesy of James from Envision Acrylics.

7997Tank1.jpg


7997Tank2.jpg


7997Tank3.jpg


7997Tank4.jpg


Its coming out real nice!

Ed
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Brian60077
Big project starting today......
Replies
7
Views
152
Dustin07
D
Adam6495
Where to start?
Replies
2
Views
249
griss
griss
T
75g 4’ stocking
Replies
6
Views
293
Toolfan333
T
S
New tank inhabitants introduction order?
Replies
15
Views
237
Sermanley
S
Coral Dilema
Using an old new tank?
Replies
2
Views
155
Reefing102
Reefing102
Back
Top