Sinistard
New member
Well I filled up my 12g Nano Cube and have decided to start a bigger tank. The 12g was my first salt water tank so this is my first "bigger" tank and I want to get it right the first time.
I have been planning it for the last month or so. I started out wanting to do a custom acrylic and decided it would end up costing me too much money. So next I found a used 55g RR AGA tank for cheap and decided to give it a go only to find it was to big where I was going to put it. So at this point I needed to go smaller and my next thought after seeing winniebagle's 30g Sea Clear tank on NR was to do a 40g Sea Clear. I rearranged the living room (moved around the home theater which my wife was happy about) to fit in the Sea Clear and decided to upgrade to the 50g seaclear since it has the same footprint as the 40.
So now I had the space and the tank figured out and got to thinking about plumbing and decided I would like to have an overflow built into the tank. I though about sticking a overflow in the Sea Clear myself but decided for not that much more I could have a tank built and get exactly the dimensions I wanted. After all this I decided on a 36x16x20 inch acrylic tank with a black back and internal overflow. After doing a lot of research on getting a tank built for me I decided to order the tank from Ostrom Manufacturing in Mt Gilead, Ohio http://www.ostrommfg.com/ . After a little more research I decided to not go with Ostrom for my tank and decided to get it from a place in Cali called socalcreations www.socalcreations.com.
Not that I thought that Ostroms would not make a good tank they just did a few thing ways that I thought socalcreations did better or more the way I wanted it anyways. Plus Randy at socalcreations has been very helpfull and there price was basicaly the same even with shipping and I was getting exactly what I wanted. I have seen several of there tanks in action on www.nano-reef.com including Tigahboy's very nice 67g
After talking to Randy I found that I could get a bigger tank for basicaly the same price and after changing my mind several times I settled on a 44x18x20. I ended up costing me a bit more mostly due to shipping. I also decided to go with an external overflow since it cost the same and will free up some space in the tank. So after all that I ended up with a custom acrylic tank.
I was lucky to pick up some basically new equipment for a great deal (thanks Mai) even before I decided on a tank. So I have an Aqua Medic 250 watt Oceanlight, an AquaC Urchin skimmer and an Iwaki Md-30rlxt pump. Since I got such a good deal this had jump-started my tank aspirations.
My plan for lighting is to take the 250-watt MH and build it into a custom wood pendent, which will match the stand I am building, with 260 watts of PC lighting. I got a 260w coralife hood for cheap so I am going to gut it to use the lights. Eventualy I will add a second 250 MH but for now I am "trying" to save money.
Here is what I hope the stand and light will basically end up looking like. I barrowed the tank picture from weatherson, I hope he does not mind. It's a very beautiful tank and I hope mine will look half as good once it is up and running. Not that I will stick the same fish in my tank
I am still working out flow and plumbing. This is all new to me and I hope it turns out. I have barrowed and adapted from several other tanks. Here is my flow plan as of now this could change. I have 4 returns on the closed loop so if I decide to go with an OM squirt. If everything goes right I will be able to have the tank only 4.75" from the wall. Thats if everything goes right.
I have been thinking about how to do my sump/fuge under the tank and am going to do them separate instead of in one with both sump and fuge. Basically I am going to have a 10g 12x12x16 fuge and a 10g sump dimensions TBD. The reason I decided to do this is to maximize water volume and to be able to control flow into the fuge.
Basically I will split the overflow pipe from the main tank and run one line to the Fuge and one line to the sump. Around 75% of the water will be directed to the sump and the remaining 25% will go to the fuge controlled by gate valves. This way the water going through the fuge is much slower. I think I will use a dorso standpipe to drain the fuge into the return area of the sump.
Here is a picture of the basics of it, its not to scale and the plumbing will not be exactly the same. I still have some figuring to do as far as what will fit in my stand and pvc routing.
I started building the stand yesterday and will post some pictures later. The tank should be here on Sept 16th, I can't wait.
Also thanks to all the inspiring tank threads here and on NR they have been a huge help in my planing and design.
Thanks for looking and comments/suggestions are welcome.
I have been planning it for the last month or so. I started out wanting to do a custom acrylic and decided it would end up costing me too much money. So next I found a used 55g RR AGA tank for cheap and decided to give it a go only to find it was to big where I was going to put it. So at this point I needed to go smaller and my next thought after seeing winniebagle's 30g Sea Clear tank on NR was to do a 40g Sea Clear. I rearranged the living room (moved around the home theater which my wife was happy about) to fit in the Sea Clear and decided to upgrade to the 50g seaclear since it has the same footprint as the 40.
So now I had the space and the tank figured out and got to thinking about plumbing and decided I would like to have an overflow built into the tank. I though about sticking a overflow in the Sea Clear myself but decided for not that much more I could have a tank built and get exactly the dimensions I wanted. After all this I decided on a 36x16x20 inch acrylic tank with a black back and internal overflow. After doing a lot of research on getting a tank built for me I decided to order the tank from Ostrom Manufacturing in Mt Gilead, Ohio http://www.ostrommfg.com/ . After a little more research I decided to not go with Ostrom for my tank and decided to get it from a place in Cali called socalcreations www.socalcreations.com.
Not that I thought that Ostroms would not make a good tank they just did a few thing ways that I thought socalcreations did better or more the way I wanted it anyways. Plus Randy at socalcreations has been very helpfull and there price was basicaly the same even with shipping and I was getting exactly what I wanted. I have seen several of there tanks in action on www.nano-reef.com including Tigahboy's very nice 67g
After talking to Randy I found that I could get a bigger tank for basicaly the same price and after changing my mind several times I settled on a 44x18x20. I ended up costing me a bit more mostly due to shipping. I also decided to go with an external overflow since it cost the same and will free up some space in the tank. So after all that I ended up with a custom acrylic tank.
I was lucky to pick up some basically new equipment for a great deal (thanks Mai) even before I decided on a tank. So I have an Aqua Medic 250 watt Oceanlight, an AquaC Urchin skimmer and an Iwaki Md-30rlxt pump. Since I got such a good deal this had jump-started my tank aspirations.
My plan for lighting is to take the 250-watt MH and build it into a custom wood pendent, which will match the stand I am building, with 260 watts of PC lighting. I got a 260w coralife hood for cheap so I am going to gut it to use the lights. Eventualy I will add a second 250 MH but for now I am "trying" to save money.
Here is what I hope the stand and light will basically end up looking like. I barrowed the tank picture from weatherson, I hope he does not mind. It's a very beautiful tank and I hope mine will look half as good once it is up and running. Not that I will stick the same fish in my tank
I am still working out flow and plumbing. This is all new to me and I hope it turns out. I have barrowed and adapted from several other tanks. Here is my flow plan as of now this could change. I have 4 returns on the closed loop so if I decide to go with an OM squirt. If everything goes right I will be able to have the tank only 4.75" from the wall. Thats if everything goes right.
I have been thinking about how to do my sump/fuge under the tank and am going to do them separate instead of in one with both sump and fuge. Basically I am going to have a 10g 12x12x16 fuge and a 10g sump dimensions TBD. The reason I decided to do this is to maximize water volume and to be able to control flow into the fuge.
Basically I will split the overflow pipe from the main tank and run one line to the Fuge and one line to the sump. Around 75% of the water will be directed to the sump and the remaining 25% will go to the fuge controlled by gate valves. This way the water going through the fuge is much slower. I think I will use a dorso standpipe to drain the fuge into the return area of the sump.
Here is a picture of the basics of it, its not to scale and the plumbing will not be exactly the same. I still have some figuring to do as far as what will fit in my stand and pvc routing.
I started building the stand yesterday and will post some pictures later. The tank should be here on Sept 16th, I can't wait.
Also thanks to all the inspiring tank threads here and on NR they have been a huge help in my planing and design.
Thanks for looking and comments/suggestions are welcome.
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