Doug's 105 rimless build and diary

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mr_X

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Apr 27, 2008
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Location
Fairless Hills, Pa.
Ok, so here we have a DSA (Deep Sea Aquatics) 105 gallon rimless, which has the dimensions of 48 x 24 x 21tall. Pretty **** close to perfect for a medium sized reef tank IMO.
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I couldn't buy the reef ready version because that has a standard overflow with drains and returns coming in and out of the tank through the bottom pane, and my sump in the room behind was too high off the ground, so I opted for the non-drilled tank and drilled it myself.
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Ideally i would have the overflow in the middle, but i didn't want 2 returns so I put it on the opposite side of the 1" return.
Glass holes gives you a template to use so I put the overflow where I think I wanted it, and put the template on the outside of the glass matching it, then taped it in place.
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I then surrounded that with a wall of plumbers putty and filled it with water.
I also put a bunch of junk towels under it to catch water and the ring of glass that will shortly fall..
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I scored both holes theen removed the template, and drilled the first, and when that fell through, I reformed the wall and refilled the water for the second hole..
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Both holes went quite well and I added the low profile, Glass holes overflow box and bulkheads.
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...and the finished product-
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Will be tagging along for this one... Lots of knowledge to gain from you sir. Are all the glass cages overflows that low profile? Also is this tank linked into any other tanks?
 
Yes, and I'm not sure. The glass holes overflows I have purchased are all that depth, front to back. Just enough to get the bulkhead installed. However, the website asked me if I wanted long or short bulkheads....this makes me think they make larger boxes to accommodate.
This tank will be linked to my current sump setup that I used for the 300, which is 2 x 50 gallon stock tanks and a 100 gallon stock tank for water changes. I might lose one of the 50's but I'm not sure yet.
 
Amazing cut jobs there Doug! Seen so many horror pictures of those who didn't keep the bit straight on and went across the glass.

Why would you lose of of the 50s?
 
That's got to be because you don't start aiming straight at the glass.....you start on an angle....making a sort of quarter moon mark, then slowly upright the drill until you have a perfect circle groove.
 
Why would you lose of of the 50s?
Right now one is holding corals and the other is a sort of refugium with the protein skimmer. I'm pretty sure once the corals are in the DT, I can lose one tank and still use a portion of the other 4' stock tank as a frag area. I'm about to be a lot better off financially, so we'll see .....
 
Looking good. I cant wait to see it filled. I watch my friend drill a tank this weekend after our club meeting. It was interesting to learn but it took forever.
 
Since I was just over there talking to you about all this while picking your brain as much as I could for my own build I'm definitely going to follow along on this, also the green sinularia is looking good with decent extension and seems to have become my Lubbock wrasses new hideout
 
Just for general information, I spotted some red bugs on a frag and was able to get a picture-
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I'm giving it a coral RX dip as I type this.
 
The only way I can catch them is if I take close up shots of them. My camera is a very useful tool for more than one reason ;)
 
Following! That is a gorgeous rimless tank! Wish I had the room for a tank that size :-(
 
Awesome write up on drilling your tank, I have a feeling that will come in handy for many people in the future, I'm excited to follow your progress on this new build


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The only way I can catch them is if I take close up shots of them. My camera is a very useful tool for more than one reason ;)


There is no way I could catch that, I just treat all new coral with coral RX and hope it keeps pests out of my tank.

The tank looks amazing, I like the low profile overflow.
 
I don't like to dip corals unless I have a good reason.
Nothing much new going on yet. I am on my third coat of spackle on the wall that had the 300 in it. Can't do anything till that's painted.
I'm going to rearrange the sumps on Tuesday.
 
Great job Doug. Looking forward to more pics and updates. Your corals always amaze me at how beautiful & healthy they look. One day maybe.......lol
 
I did snap a few pics....
Building the stand and painting the back ground-
I did not want a cabinet under my tank like everyone else has. I wanted a clean looking table-like stand. So, after searching high and low for some cool legs to use (that would hold a lot of weight long term and not break the bank) I ended up with fence posts turned upside down.
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Pretty easy really- I just made a 4x4 grid and attached the legs using 8" lag bolts and L brackets for extra support.
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And then stained it-
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I just need to put some trim around the top to cover the bolts and the black rim at the bottom of the tank.

I also painted the back ground-
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And what we have thus far-
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