Building My 375gal Glass Reef - Page 6

edandsandy · 10/12/2008, 06:58 AM

GlassReef,
how is the leveling of the stand going?

Steven M · 10/12/2008, 10:41 AM

Looking good. Thanks for the ride. When your ready you can stop by for frags.
Steve

GlassReef · 10/12/2008, 11:05 AM

Steven M (Looking good. Thanks for the ride.) - thank you and your most welcome - any time. I enjoyed our discussions.

edandsandy (how is the leveling of the stand going?) - well I went down to Home Depot and bought some 1/8" aluminum bar stock. Stopped by at Wally World on the way home and picked up some plastic playing cards. Cut the aluminum up into 1 1/2" lengths and the cards into similar sized pieces. Went around the stand about 100 time adjusting this and adjusting that. Finally got it to the point that it seems level and flat and not twisted. Guess I'll see how well I did when the tank gets here and I pump 4000lbs of water into it.

ReefEnabler · 10/12/2008, 11:28 AM

Great build man.... I'm really impressed so far. Especially that light rack with all of the disconnects that you built, it's very nice!

I'll be along for the ride. I still haven't read every post, just did a cursory lookover, but I look forward to soon reading everything since I'm sure there will be lots of goodies in here.

i2ik · 10/12/2008, 12:40 PM

Top notch setup! Clean and simple! Cant beat that

Will be watching this thread closely

mflamb · 10/12/2008, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by GlassReef
Hey Mike - great meeting and the pleasure was all mine! I really enjoyed Jim's presentation - interesting stuff.

I can't wait to get my Quantum meter and try some testing myself.

GlassReef · 10/12/2008, 03:08 PM

mflamb - mostly, my decision to buy the Apogee was based on my purchase of the four LumenBright reflectors in am using. I was worried that they would "funnel" the light too tightly and not sufficiently cover my tank's 36" depth (front to back). Testing with the meter has shown that, beginning at a bulb height of 16", light spread is fine. Boy, what a relief.

GlassReef · 10/12/2008, 03:10 PM

ReefEnabler, i2ik - thanks for the compliments. I'll be adding more very soon.

Mr. Brooks · 10/12/2008, 04:29 PM

Wow man, fantastic build. Very humbling lol.

EriksReptiles · 10/12/2008, 04:37 PM

That light rack is amazing!

I used that aluminum tubing to make a custom reptile cage! Awesome stuff!

Thanks Erik

PaulieWalnuts · 10/12/2008, 06:46 PM

that light rack is sweet along with everything else wish i has skills like that.

JRaquatics · 10/15/2008, 03:22 PM

Any more updates? I really enjoyed going through your build and dig how clean and professional everything is. Can't wait till you get the tank set up. Great Job so far.

GlassReef · 10/15/2008, 03:31 PM

thechad21, EriksReptiles, PaulieWalnuts - thanks for all the kind words. Helps to make all the work worth the effort!

JRaquatics - hey, Jeremy. Thanks - appreciate the comments.

Well - I just bought another Orca 250 from Mike (ReefSpecialty.com) - with custom cup and needle wheel, of course. I figured with the number of fish I plan to have, I better make sure I get the crud out of the tank as quickly as possible - and what could do that better than two Orcas.

I ordered six 120mm fans for my light rack. I'm going to be using three on each end. While I've gotcha on the line, what's your recommendation on flow direction? (I'd appreciate feedback from everyone)

I'll be documenting the installation of the fans into the rack in the next couple of days.

TRITON1 · 10/15/2008, 03:41 PM

Wow two Reeflos.......How many fish DO you plan of having?

GlassReef · 10/15/2008, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TRITON1
Wow two Reeflos.......How many fish DO you plan of having?

Well, I'm far from making a final decision - but I'm thinking around 5-7 large Tangs, 2-3 Angels, 10 Anthias, 2 Clowns, 3-5 Wrasses, plus a good number of the usual suspects.

edandsandy · 10/15/2008, 06:44 PM

WOW! that's a great fish list!

dones20 · 10/15/2008, 07:30 PM

awesome build man this is definetley a build that i would pull ideas from when i do my build keeps the pics coming

bbehring · 10/15/2008, 10:52 PM

Man I can't wait to retire and follow in your footsteps! Just a few weeks ago, I was just telling my wife and kids, what I was planning to do with all my spare time when I retired and your living it man! Of course the recent down turn on wall street has dinged my retirement pension plan pretty bad. Oh well what's another decade or two? Great build, fine attention to detail. You're a master! At least I can live (retire) through you Tom! Keep up the fine work. I was meaning to ask you, with your software company, did you write the "How to manuals" Your detailed accounts and documention on this build thread are fabulous, some of the best I've seen. Just my observation. Can't wait to see the rest!

GlassReef · 10/15/2008, 11:14 PM

dones20 - thank you ... there will be plenty more pics before I'm through.

bbehring - you Sir, are definitely making me blush. Very kind things you are saying - thank you. As to writing user manuals - I must admit that I wrote a few when the company was young. Wall Street, what can one say? There is one thing I can tell you for sure - if you have 15 or 20 years before you retire - what's going on now will have long ceased to trouble you. Just keep putting a little away on a regular basis and you'll have a fine time.

Oh, I used to live in Hemet when I was a young man. Used to go to Idylwild on the weekends. Must be a totally different place now.

GlassReef · 10/17/2008, 08:15 AM

Got an email from Randy Cameron at conceptaquarium.com! He was kind enough to send me some pics of the tank he took during construction.

This shows the tank from the front. Euro-bracing and overflow box not yet installed - although the slots (2) for the overflow have been ground and polished:

Here are the slots from the back. Each of the 2 slots is 35" long, giving me a total of 70" of overflow. That should provide excellent surface skimming and minimize turbulence in the OF box. Notice, you can see the difference in the clarity (green shading) between the normal glass in the back and the Starphire in the front:

I thought this was interesting. Randy placed a white piece of styropor in back of the back pane to show the overflow slots - but it also really shows how much green "normal" glass shades what you view through it:

This is the overflow box before being installed:

Here's the tank before the overflow box was installed. The Euro-bracing is in and the 3/16" black acrylic sheet, which covers the back pane has been attached. I had the acrylic added so that the overflow box could not be seen when looking at the display from the front. You'll notice that there are no holes drilled in the sides back or bottom. I had a tank blow out on me a few years back. When we examined what was left of the tank you could see that the damaged started (it was a CSI type investigation

) at a hole which had been drilled in the back pane. I know there are 1000s of tanks out there with holes that are just fine - but - I've just got this thing .... Plus, I've decided to depend completely Tunze Streams for the flow, so no holes were really necessary. Will make for for very neat plumbing - I hope.

Here you can see how the acrylic covers the entire back of the tank.

I'm getting a little excited now. Randy wrote that the tank will be shipped after it has "set" a couple of days! I can't wait - feel like a little kid at Christmas.

Elliott · 10/17/2008, 08:56 AM

very nice, looks like he does good work, I really like the wide rear external overflows, have you calculated the flow to your sump?

Oldtimer · 10/17/2008, 09:36 AM

Nice looking tank. I second your decision to avoid drilling holes. I had a similar experience years ago. I had an external overflow installed on my 240 display with a 13" weir. The overflow is located at one end of the tank. I only had (2) 60mm couple holes in the end panel since I incorporated 2 waveboxes adjacent to the overflow. I had to do it for the clean look. The panel is 3/4" as well so I feel confident it will be fine. Most blow outs I've seen tend to happen in the bottom panel. Closed loops are just out of the question IMO especially with the availability of Tunze streams and Vortechs.

I also like your black acrylic back panel. Is it permanently attached or removable? Miracles did a nice job with mine by using velcro. The Velcro is not viewable from the front because it's only placed around the perimeter where the top, bottom and side panels obstuct the view. I wanted the flexibility to remove it for viewing.

mflamb · 10/17/2008, 07:19 PM

Hemet huh???
I was stationed at March AFB in the late 70's, and loved Lake Perris and San Jacinto Park.

GlassReef · 10/17/2008, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Elliott
very nice, looks like he does good work, I really like the wide rear external overflows, have you calculated the flow to your sump?

Thanks! I'll have two Gold Darts servicing the sump - one for the display and one for the fuge and frag tanks, together. I'm figuring on 4800-5000 gals through the sump. Starting to scare me actually. The sump will only be 75 gals. Seems like an awful lot of water going through there.

Thinking maybe I should make the sump a little larger. Any opinions?

GlassReef · 10/17/2008, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Oldtimer
... like your black acrylic back panel. Is it permanently attached or removable? Miracles did a nice job with mine by using velcro. The Velcro is not viewable from the front because it's only placed around the perimeter where the top, bottom and side panels obstuct the view. I wanted the flexibility to remove it for viewing.

Thanks Oldtimer! (man, I love being able to say that at my age

) Darn! I didn't thing of the Velcro thing. They stuck mine on with silicone.

10/12/2008, 06:58 AM	#126
edandsandy Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: NE Florida Posts: 2,380 Blog Entries: 2	GlassReef, how is the leveling of the stand going? __________________ Sandy ><((((º>`•.¸¸.•><((((º>´¯`•><((((º> .¸¸.><((((º>•.¸. , . .•><((((º>.¸¸. Current Tank Info: 375 Reef, 4) Radion LED lights X30 pro, Apex Fusion, Octo Regal 300 E Skimmer, GEO 618 Calcium Reactor 2) Reeflo Snapper pumps, 2)50g refugium, 2) MP 40's

10/12/2008, 10:41 AM	#127
Steven M Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: FL Posts: 1,107	Looking good. Thanks for the ride. When your ready you can stop by for frags. Steve __________________ Steven M Current Tank Info: 210gal reef, DIY Protein Skimmer, DIY Sump, DIY Calcium Reactor, DIY Sulfur reactor, Mostly diy chiller

10/12/2008, 11:05 AM	#128
GlassReef Got Reef Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Weeki Wachee, Florida Posts: 2,501	Steven M (Looking good. Thanks for the ride.) - thank you and your most welcome - any time. I enjoyed our discussions. edandsandy (how is the leveling of the stand going?) - well I went down to Home Depot and bought some 1/8" aluminum bar stock. Stopped by at Wally World on the way home and picked up some plastic playing cards. Cut the aluminum up into 1 1/2" lengths and the cards into similar sized pieces. Went around the stand about 100 time adjusting this and adjusting that. Finally got it to the point that it seems level and flat and not twisted. Guess I'll see how well I did when the tank gets here and I pump 4000lbs of water into it. __________________ Tom No matter how much you try to push the envelope, it remains stationary.

10/12/2008, 11:28 AM	#129
ReefEnabler Premium Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 3,760	Great build man.... I'm really impressed so far. Especially that light rack with all of the disconnects that you built, it's very nice! I'll be along for the ride. I still haven't read every post, just did a cursory lookover, but I look forward to soon reading everything since I'm sure there will be lots of goodies in here. __________________ - Ryan B "that is enough skimmate to ruin lives." - GSMguy Current Tank Info: 220g Display, 70g sump, 35g frag, 50g fuge, 2x250w MH, 1x400w MH, 2x80w T5, 2x140w VHO Actinic

10/12/2008, 12:40 PM	#130
i2ik Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada Posts: 694	Top notch setup! Clean and simple! Cant beat that Will be watching this thread closely __________________ Richard Current Tank Info: 600G system in the remaking, back to square one, learning in process!

10/12/2008, 03:08 PM	#132
GlassReef Got Reef Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Weeki Wachee, Florida Posts: 2,501	mflamb - mostly, my decision to buy the Apogee was based on my purchase of the four LumenBright reflectors in am using. I was worried that they would "funnel" the light too tightly and not sufficiently cover my tank's 36" depth (front to back). Testing with the meter has shown that, beginning at a bulb height of 16", light spread is fine. Boy, what a relief. __________________ Tom No matter how much you try to push the envelope, it remains stationary.

10/12/2008, 03:10 PM	#133
GlassReef Got Reef Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Weeki Wachee, Florida Posts: 2,501	ReefEnabler, i2ik - thanks for the compliments. I'll be adding more very soon. __________________ Tom No matter how much you try to push the envelope, it remains stationary.

10/12/2008, 04:29 PM	#134
Mr. Brooks MASVC Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Simi Valley, CA Posts: 3,477	Wow man, fantastic build. Very humbling lol.

10/12/2008, 04:37 PM	#135
EriksReptiles Registered Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Denver, Colorado & Seattle, Washington Posts: 192	That light rack is amazing! I used that aluminum tubing to make a custom reptile cage! Awesome stuff! Thanks Erik __________________ - 450 Gallon system. 6 50 gallon tanks and 150 gallon sump. - Clown fish fanatic. Owner of Platinum’s, Picasso’s, Snowflake’s, Naked’s, Black’s, Onyx, True Percs, etc.. Current Tank Info: all kinds of sizes, fish only and reefs

10/12/2008, 06:46 PM	#136
PaulieWalnuts Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: charlotte, nc Posts: 1,381	that light rack is sweet along with everything else wish i has skills like that.

10/15/2008, 03:22 PM	#137
JRaquatics Awaiting Email Confirmation Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: On RC Posts: 3,609	Any more updates? I really enjoyed going through your build and dig how clean and professional everything is. Can't wait till you get the tank set up. Great Job so far.

10/15/2008, 03:31 PM	#138
GlassReef Got Reef Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Weeki Wachee, Florida Posts: 2,501	thechad21, EriksReptiles, PaulieWalnuts - thanks for all the kind words. Helps to make all the work worth the effort! JRaquatics - hey, Jeremy. Thanks - appreciate the comments. Well - I just bought another Orca 250 from Mike (ReefSpecialty.com) - with custom cup and needle wheel, of course. I figured with the number of fish I plan to have, I better make sure I get the crud out of the tank as quickly as possible - and what could do that better than two Orcas. I ordered six 120mm fans for my light rack. I'm going to be using three on each end. While I've gotcha on the line, what's your recommendation on flow direction? (I'd appreciate feedback from everyone) I'll be documenting the installation of the fans into the rack in the next couple of days. __________________ Tom No matter how much you try to push the envelope, it remains stationary. Last edited by GlassReef; 10/15/2008 at 03:43 PM.

10/15/2008, 03:41 PM	#139
TRITON1 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Roanoke, VA Posts: 250	Wow two Reeflos.......How many fish DO you plan of having? __________________ ~John Current Tank Info: Working on that

10/15/2008, 06:44 PM	#141
edandsandy Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: NE Florida Posts: 2,380 Blog Entries: 2	WOW! that's a great fish list! __________________ Sandy ><((((º>`•.¸¸.•><((((º>´¯`•><((((º> .¸¸.><((((º>•.¸. , . .•><((((º>.¸¸. Current Tank Info: 375 Reef, 4) Radion LED lights X30 pro, Apex Fusion, Octo Regal 300 E Skimmer, GEO 618 Calcium Reactor 2) Reeflo Snapper pumps, 2)50g refugium, 2) MP 40's

10/15/2008, 07:30 PM	#142
dones20 Moved On Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: MIAMI FL !!!!!! Posts: 317	awesome build man this is definetley a build that i would pull ideas from when i do my build keeps the pics coming

10/15/2008, 10:52 PM	#143
bbehring Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Hemet, California Posts: 917	Man I can't wait to retire and follow in your footsteps! Just a few weeks ago, I was just telling my wife and kids, what I was planning to do with all my spare time when I retired and your living it man! Of course the recent down turn on wall street has dinged my retirement pension plan pretty bad. Oh well what's another decade or two? Great build, fine attention to detail. You're a master! At least I can live (retire) through you Tom! Keep up the fine work. I was meaning to ask you, with your software company, did you write the "How to manuals" Your detailed accounts and documention on this build thread are fabulous, some of the best I've seen. Just my observation. Can't wait to see the rest!

10/15/2008, 11:14 PM	#144
GlassReef Got Reef Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Weeki Wachee, Florida Posts: 2,501	dones20 - thank you ... there will be plenty more pics before I'm through. bbehring - you Sir, are definitely making me blush. Very kind things you are saying - thank you. As to writing user manuals - I must admit that I wrote a few when the company was young. Wall Street, what can one say? There is one thing I can tell you for sure - if you have 15 or 20 years before you retire - what's going on now will have long ceased to trouble you. Just keep putting a little away on a regular basis and you'll have a fine time. Oh, I used to live in Hemet when I was a young man. Used to go to Idylwild on the weekends. Must be a totally different place now. __________________ Tom No matter how much you try to push the envelope, it remains stationary. Last edited by GlassReef; 10/15/2008 at 11:20 PM.

10/17/2008, 08:15 AM	#145
GlassReef Got Reef Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Weeki Wachee, Florida Posts: 2,501	Got an email from Randy Cameron at conceptaquarium.com! He was kind enough to send me some pics of the tank he took during construction. This shows the tank from the front. Euro-bracing and overflow box not yet installed - although the slots (2) for the overflow have been ground and polished: Here are the slots from the back. Each of the 2 slots is 35" long, giving me a total of 70" of overflow. That should provide excellent surface skimming and minimize turbulence in the OF box. Notice, you can see the difference in the clarity (green shading) between the normal glass in the back and the Starphire in the front: I thought this was interesting. Randy placed a white piece of styropor in back of the back pane to show the overflow slots - but it also really shows how much green "normal" glass shades what you view through it: This is the overflow box before being installed: Here's the tank before the overflow box was installed. The Euro-bracing is in and the 3/16" black acrylic sheet, which covers the back pane has been attached. I had the acrylic added so that the overflow box could not be seen when looking at the display from the front. You'll notice that there are no holes drilled in the sides back or bottom. I had a tank blow out on me a few years back. When we examined what was left of the tank you could see that the damaged started (it was a CSI type investigation) at a hole which had been drilled in the back pane. I know there are 1000s of tanks out there with holes that are just fine - but - I've just got this thing .... Plus, I've decided to depend completely Tunze Streams for the flow, so no holes were really necessary. Will make for for very neat plumbing - I hope. Here you can see how the acrylic covers the entire back of the tank. I'm getting a little excited now. Randy wrote that the tank will be shipped after it has "set" a couple of days! I can't wait - feel like a little kid at Christmas. __________________ Tom No matter how much you try to push the envelope, it remains stationary. Last edited by GlassReef; 10/17/2008 at 08:31 AM.

10/17/2008, 08:56 AM	#146
Elliott Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Scottsdale, AZ Posts: 3,849	very nice, looks like he does good work, I really like the wide rear external overflows, have you calculated the flow to your sump? __________________ Rodney Dangerfield - "I worked in a pet store and people would ask how big I would get." TOTM, March 2015 Current Tank Info: tank video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va1dI7mdnGU ,900g in wall mixed reef, another 500g sumps, 19 AI Sol LED's, 2 CL's w/VFD's controlled pumps to 24 eductors, 2 Tunze WB's, 2 Barr 5220's and RK2 25PE and BK500, etc

10/17/2008, 09:36 AM	#147
Oldtimer Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Grosse Pointe, MI Posts: 404	Nice looking tank. I second your decision to avoid drilling holes. I had a similar experience years ago. I had an external overflow installed on my 240 display with a 13" weir. The overflow is located at one end of the tank. I only had (2) 60mm couple holes in the end panel since I incorporated 2 waveboxes adjacent to the overflow. I had to do it for the clean look. The panel is 3/4" as well so I feel confident it will be fine. Most blow outs I've seen tend to happen in the bottom panel. Closed loops are just out of the question IMO especially with the availability of Tunze streams and Vortechs. I also like your black acrylic back panel. Is it permanently attached or removable? Miracles did a nice job with mine by using velcro. The Velcro is not viewable from the front because it's only placed around the perimeter where the top, bottom and side panels obstuct the view. I wanted the flexibility to remove it for viewing. __________________ Profilux Plus II Ex, Bubble King 300 Deluxe Ext, Tunze + Vortech, 3x250w 12k Reeflux + 2x80w T5, Fuge, Frag Tank, Twin Sump, Sequence Dart Gold, Fish room, etc Building the Reef, One piece at a time. Current Tank Info: 240 g Display, 450 g total system SPS dominated Reef.

10/17/2008, 07:19 PM	#148
mflamb Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Pasadena, Texas Posts: 8,422	Hemet huh??? I was stationed at March AFB in the late 70's, and loved Lake Perris and San Jacinto Park. __________________ Click on my red house to see my 390 and 300 build thread. Those are my last 2 tanks in Tampa. Now in Pasadena waiting to buy a house to set up my next tank....anemones and clowns...probably a 3x3 150 gallon.