Benjamin's 75g Garage Build (FOWLR to Reef)

[mrbee2828]

Yup, no doubt. It's temporary until I can find a good deal on an overflow. One will pop up on CL eventually plus I joined a local reef club.

[mrbee2828]

Well I bought the 12" 75g. I drove about 30mins to get it and should have probably not have bought it but we'll see. The tank is drilled on the side. It's really dirty and some of the silicone was peeling. So I will have to reseal it for sure. Not thinking (a pattern with me sometimes on CL) I didn't even think about the center brace. It doesn't have one! Plus the glass seems a bit thin

I'm starting to thing this is another **** critter tank!!!!! He had a SW setup in it though. You can see the water stains. It'll clean up and I can seal it however, I'm concerned about the center brace. It wasn't cut out, it simply doesn't have one which is why I think it might be a critter tank. No labels, numbers etc on the bottom at all.

Can I make a center brace? I don't plan on using this tank until later this year.

[mfdrookie516]

I've seen a few frag tanks and never noticed a center brace. For 12" of water, I doubt it's going to have that much pressure on it. Should be fairly easy to figure out... if you fill it and it bows, ehh, you weren't thinking. If you fill it and it doesn't bow, probably never had one anyways. If it's not obvious that one was there, which it seems like it would be, it probably never had one.

[mrbee2828]

Yeah I wouldn't question it but the glass seems thinner than my full height 75g. That may be just because of the simple fact it's shorter. However... I still wonder. I was planning on making my own frag tank this summer from scratch. The glass was going to be $120 but I was ordering thick glass so I wouldn't be stressing a brace. I can always clean it up and sell it I guess.

[kdpuffer]

I don't think the brace is big issue since its shorter and won't be under such high outward pressure. You could always build a brace for it if it is a concern.

[mrbee2828]

If I were to make one would I do it with plexiglass and glue to the outer brace or would I do a glass one under the lip and use silicone or.. ?

[coffeetwitch]

old oceanic tanks just silicone a glass brace in the top. that might be your simplest and easiest route
.

[mrbee2828]

I got a few things at HD yesterday. I found some ecosmart CF bulbs that were labeled "daylight" for the refugium. Here were the specs: 75watt equivalent, 1100 lumens, 19watts used. No where on the clear packaging does it say K but on the actual bulb in fine print are the above specs and "5000K". I grabbed a reflector as well so we'll see how it works once I get going.

[mrbee2828]

Originally Posted by coffeetwitch

old oceanic tanks just silicone a glass brace in the top. that might be your simplest and easiest route
.

So it's has the black plastic rim. Would I just get some glass cut to fit on the inside of the tank and silicon it right on the underside of the lip to the glass you think? Make sense?

[coffeetwitch]

If you went that route I don't see why it wouldn't work. Seems to me that the pieces where the same thickness as the tank glass. Don't know the magic number or how they came up with how long it needed to be.

[coffeetwitch]

Oh yeah. When I resiliconed that piece in the 55gallon we had I made sure to get it in between the sides of the tank and the glass brace and clamped.

[mrbee2828]

I finished cutting, gluing and painting all the overflows and returns last night. I noticed one of my emerald crabs died. I really, really need to get the water moving tonight and get my skimmer hooked up. The tank is looking terrible and needs a water change asap. The snails are mowing down everything and there is waste all over the rock. I'm hoping to pick up my first fish Wednesday.

Ghetto swc returns:

[Mpfaff77]

Your gonna loose flow with those elbows. Could you change them to few 45s? Also not a bad idea to have ball valves on those lines. I have a ball valve on every PVC run. Never know when need to shut down.

[mrbee2828]

I actually forgot the ball valves! I realized this after I posted the picture. No big, I'll just cut them and drop them inline. The elbows are going to cut some flow but I think the whole thing is less than ideal. Again, all temporary for now just to get things moving. Once I get some loc-line and a overflow box everything will be a bit nicer.

[coffeetwitch]

I just got done making something like that for my tank. Why do you say it's less than ideal?

[mrbee2828]

Well it's a poor man's current. Wave boxes, controlled power heads and loc-line with better direction would be better. All to come in the future...

[mrbee2828]

Updated with glued BVs and some paint.

[mrbee2828]

Pipe organ... I mean overflow update

[spoonman]

Are the overflows going to be in the corners and the returns in the center?

[mrbee2828]

That's the plan. The returns will point towards the sides of the tank. I'm going to get some loc-line eventually. Additional powerheads will push water towards the center. No good?