tank build

[kurtyboh]

ok so since my wife first approved the $900 tank and is now reconsidering, so now I'm looking for other tank designs, or to build my own. I want it to be 24"x24" BY 24" glasscages.com has a 24x24x25 tank for 270something tehn they have an option of a "glass wall overflow" but I'm not understanding what that is. I would like to use a sump so do I need this overflow wall($78 option)? or would it be be best to just have my holes drilled to run pipes to my sump?

Also if i build my own, is it best to get tempered glass for the bottom, or would 1/2 plate be fine? Is it possible to use acrylic for the bottom and attach glass to that? What would be the best thing to make a frame to hold this all together out of (the upper and lower rims). I was thinking just wood held together with metal corner braces, but if there is a better solution out there I would certainly like to hear about it.

I was thinking of making the inside of the tank 24x22x24 with a black back, but sides going past the back of the tank to hide the pipes and such(the extra two inches hanging past the back of the tank painted or covered black or something)

Any thoughts on using a mirrored backing so I can see whats happening back there? I was thinking of a black backing to make the colors stand out better, but it may be cool to have mirrored. I know other people have had it before, but I've never seen one so was wondering what those who have/had/seen it think of it.

 

[ItchyF1ng3rs]

You need the overflow wall. Behind the wall will be the holes for your durso standpipes. This overflow wall should be colored black or whatever you decide to help keep algae from growing back there.

You can't drill tempered glass is just shatters, so you would need pane glass for the bottom. Thats what I put on the 125g long that I am using for my sump.

I have been told that it is tricky to get acrylic to stick to glass for a water tight seal, it is ok to do it for baffles in a sump though.

 

[kurtyboh]

thats basically what I was trying to get across. There are no holes to drill in the bottom this way because there is no glass on the last 2 inches... so it doesn't matter if the bottom is tempered or not, but I would think tempered would fair better if my rock tumbled(I have no idea, for real though)
however if i put that wall there as well as another wall on the back end i could just add a couple of slits into it to allow water in and have my pipes completely hidden which would be nice as well.
either way the back wall will be black i found these stick on sheets Crystal Black Oceanvisions Background | Backgrounds, Self-Adhesive | Backgrounds | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com
which seem to be able to be removed and adjusted easily... that of course remains to be seen but still.

 

[kurtyboh]

oh no my pic didnt post...
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B5vdCYaIIq1KMDUwOGVlNWEtNjY0ZC00OWM0LWI2MTEtZDFiY2Q0YTI0Njhl&hl=en
since it's not working proper to show the image ill just link it. and worry about how to get it to work correctly later.

 

[ItchyF1ng3rs]

On the bottom to protect from falling rock I hide egg crate under my sand.

If I'm looking at your image correctly I think that you still need another glass piece on the back. Check out this website Bean Animal for your overflow. With this system you would just need to silicone a "trough" across the upper back wall for the overflow.

 

[kurtyboh]

With this design there is no glass in the back section. The pipes come up and right angle into holes drilled into the side of the tank. So the bottom glass is 22x24

Although after reading your last post i was thinking i could make my current back out of acrylic with a rear wall behind that like a reg overflow wall. If I do it that way is it best to have my return enter back into the tank through a hole inthe overflow wall? That way water is forced to circulate or does that not matter so much.

Is there some kind of foam I coulduse to pad thebottom, eggcrate seems rather thick to hide.

 

[ItchyF1ng3rs]

You can make the return go through your overflow. It helps hide the pipes from being seen. You just use a bulkhead fitting to tie the return in your overflow to the return nozzles in your tank.

I am not aware of any foam like that, my eggcrate is 5/16" thick, so it didn't take much sand to hide it. I put the sand in just to enough fill the eggcrate flush then stacked my rocks then added more sand around the rocks.

 

[kurtyboh]

I was told to have your water dump onto filter material as it could be heard splashing if you drain into your sump water. Is this an issue using a filter sock? Would it be wothwhile to have it pour onto filter material then through a sock or is that redundant

 

[ItchyF1ng3rs]

I have my drain entering my sump below the sump water line. this makes the drain silent. then the water flows over a shelf into a set of filter socks.

 

[kurtyboh]

thats basically what i was planning on doing but was told I should use filter material to make it quiet... I'm glad my original plan is already tested for me and is silent!

 

[kurtyboh]

here's my plan for a sump, certainly things can be added or adjusted if need be.

It's 20"x20" height is unknown currently but since I was building my tank I thought i might experiment with the caulk on something hidden first... I was thinking 15/16 inch height would be fine that would give me 20gal in the sump with i think 6 gal for overflow. is that enough?

the refugium would have a deep sand bed as well as live rock and cheato.

the "red" panels would be attached on the bottom but not going all the way up while the blue panels attached at the top but not going all the way down.

 

[ItchyF1ng3rs]

The inlet section needs to be large enough (width) to fit your hand all the way down inside. I have had snails get in there and the can be hard to get out.

To help with the sump being quiet, make sure the water height between the "filter sock shelf" and your skimmer section are close. This would be determined by the top red line in your skimmer section. Mine are about 6 inches difference and I get some water falling noise from within the sock itself. I wish I had made them closer like within a few inches.

I think return section needs to be larger because this is where you will see the water loss from evaporation. If you make it too small your return pump might suck air with less than 1 day's evaporation. This section is also where you would put any float valves for auto top off later.

I really like the circular design!! Good luck!!

 

[kurtyboh]

great info on the return section, I certainly didn't know that was the area that the evap shows in... I was also thinking of using some type of grate system to keep the algae in the refugium, i want the pods and such to be able to go through. If i could find an acceptable system to replace the three panes of glass I would certainly us that, it would also give me a lot more room for evaporation.
I was quite pleased with the circular design it started out because i could have gotten 2 15gal tall tanks for cheap, so I started thinking one for refugium and the other for everthing else with plumbing in between. Then i got to thinking why not build a tank glass is cheap as well, and if i'm building the dt it makes sense to try it out first.

 

[kurtyboh]

when i showed this plan to my lfs they told me i should have a filter and carbon in front of the sock filter to add a bit of longevity to my sock filter, also he said that carbon is always a good idea. Are these additions that important?
If they are I think I could add a small box above the sock that could be removed to replace everything, it would just add a bit more planning and a few bucks to the build. I see his point but at the same time I'm concerned about sock filters lasting too long and becoming a nitrate factory

 

[David S]

No,I shouldn't worry about that.also I would make the skimmer section just big enough for your skimmer so you can make the return section larger.just have a spare filter sock so you can wsapit and clean the soiled one.I would.t bother about a crate,keep the baffles the pods will make it back to the dt easily,and as for the algae,as long as its growing well in the sump it shouldn't grow in the dt.

 

[kurtyboh]

well the skimmer I'm looking at is 12x10 so I'm not leaving much room around that area, but it wouldn't be a problem to exten the wall out a bit for the return pump section into the refugium. It's also going to be a little wider as I'm going to give myself some room to put my hand in the inlet section like itchyfingers said. Or I could flip it the the other way and have my refugium only 8" front to back, which would allow me to add about 4" to ththe return pump section

Now that the basics are out of the way on to more technical stuff...
The size of the pipes and pump are confusing me just a tad. which way do I want the pump/pipe ratio to work. Using 1/2 pipe should give me 420gph, if the pump is 550gph is that the right way? or would it run the outlet area dry? or is it better to have a 3/4" pipe giving me 660gph drain with a 550gph pump as this would give the pump water to pump constantly, and control how much water can enter by having the drain up high?

 

[kurtyboh]

Also at the lfs I was looking at the way they have things done and the used reef tanks they have for sale dont have overflow boxes, at least not that I could see. I saw two pipes coming up though. both were tall near the top of the water line. So by keeping the drain near the top of the water it looks like whatever water is above the water line is all thats able to enter an no need to worry about syphon for your overflow box. As long as i had a hole in the return pipe near the waterline there shouldnt be any issue right? or is an overflow box really necessary and I just missed them?

 

[David S]

Its always best to get a predrilled tank and have no syphon overflow box at all,as for the pump/pipe size it all depends on the size of hole drilled in the tank,whatever that is determines the rest.Always keep the pump gph after head loss slightly lower than what the pipework can take.

 

[kurtyboh]

Im building the tank myself so i guess that means I determine my gph?

 

[kurtyboh]

so how much flow do i want going through on a 60 gal tank? i was looking at the mag 5, is it enough? Ive heard 10x tank flow is good, but isn't that for powerhead flow or can I take care of it all with my sump?