Ivan's terribly slow 225 build

[IvanTheTerrible]

Originally Posted by frankabagnale

Looking good!

Thank you. Now that the tank is in place I'm REALLY excited.

[IvanTheTerrible]

I'm almost done with the wiring (need one more piece for the exhaust fan/humidistat), with the exception of outlets that will be installed above the tank and in the sump area. Nothing picture worthy to show, but I thought I would share some lessons learned for all of you DIYers out there.

1. No matter how much wire you buy, you will always be 1 foot short and have to go back to the hardware store.
2. When you cut through a live wire, your favorite wire cutters become your favorite wire strippers.
3. Sometimes the way your grandfather taught you is wrong and there is a better way to do things.
4. Sometimes your grandfather was right and if you don't do it his way, you have to do it twice.
5. There is no way to guess when your grandfather was right/wrong, so you will do everything twice.
6. Friends don't return tools after borrowing them. By the time you need them, you can't remember who borrowed them.
7. The frame from a BRS screen top can be used to fish wire through an existing wall. They make a tool for that, but apparently it's popular with my friends.
8. Don't argue with your wife right before she goes on a shopping trip with her friends.
9. My garbage man won't pick up a garbage bag 1/2 full of drywall scraps because they are "construction material" but will pick up an unlimited number of 2x4 scraps.

-Ivan

[frankabagnale]

Let's see what you did over the weekend!

[IvanTheTerrible]

Originally Posted by frankabagnale

Let's see what you did over the weekend!

Mostly I chauffeured my kids around and helped my oldest with a science fair project. However, I did make a little progress on the framing of the walls.



I also cleaned the glass inside and out and wrapped it in cling wrap. Hopefully, the cling wrap will keep most of the construction dust out of the tank. At this point cleaning the glass served no real purpose, but it made the tank look nice and got me even more excited to see this thing completed. I stood there looking into the tank at my imaginary reef for a few minutes. I'm glad my family didn't catch me, that would have been tough to explain.

I'm not done with the top framing yet. I plan to put in one or two access panels so that I can reach the front of the tank. I was planning to do this anyway, but cleaning the glass confirmed that without some sort of front access I won't be reaching the front of the tank without getting wet. Once I figure out how I want to configure the access and how big the doors will be, I'll finish the framing and the electrical above the tank.

I've decided against the powered blinds. I think they would be really cool, but I just can't justify the expense. There are a lot of other things I'd rather buy. If I change my mind in the future, it won't be that hard to redo the walls and add them in. With that option off the table, I have to figure out how I'm going to finish everything. I don't want any of the tank frame to be visible. I'm also not a fan of the picture frame look, so I don't plan to put trim around it. No offense to anyone who has a tank finished like that, it's just not the look for me. Right now, I'm thinking of putting tile down on the lower sections and finishing the upper portion with drywall and a J-channel. I'm not really sold on this idea though, especially the plain drywall above the tank. I just think it will look a little too plain. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them. The post on the left side of the tank will be covered in drywall.

Tonight I painted the inside of the stand with a high gloss white interior/exterior paint. I need to paint it before I finish the electrical in the stand. I'll give it another coat or two tomorrow. I'm still not sure how many outlets I'll need in the sump area. The current plan is to have 5 - 2 on each end near the front, 2 on each end near the back, and one in the middle. Combined with an Apex EB8 or two, I think this should be enough. Any opinions??

Finally, I've been watching the readings on my humidistat. It consistently reads between 50-55%, which seems high to me. I have no way to know if it is reading accurately. I suppose it is possible that at some time along it's path to my door (slapped together in a factory, shipped across the Pacific, shipped to a warehouse somewhere, and then shipped to me in Pennsylvania) proper calibration was lost . But, I'm not sure that I care. Does it really matter if it consistently reads 50-55% or 20-25% or 80-85%? What seems to be important to me is that the fish room isn't significantly more humid than the rest of my house. Since I'll be exhausting air into my basement and pulling fresh air in from a different part of the basement, the only thing that is important is the relative difference between the two rooms. This assumes three things:

1) I'm not having humidity issues now (I'm not. In fact we have discussed adding a humidifier to the HVAC system to combat static electricity from the dry air in the winter.).
2) The extra humidity added by the tank won't be enough to cause issues in the house. If it does, we will need to add a dehumidifier somewhere and/or pull fresh air in from the outside (assuming it is less humid than the air in the house).
3) The humidistat reads changes in humidity accurately even if it is significantly off on the overall magnitude value.

Am I missing something here? Does it really matter if the humidistat reading is off by 10 or 20 percent, as long as it reads changes in humidity accurately? Based on my line of thinking, I'm planning to have the exhaust fan come on at 60% humidity and turn off at 55%. Any thoughts on these settings?



-Ivan

[dave.m]

For the size of the front access panels, figure that you will want enough room to get your arms, shoulders and head in and out easily without whacking anything unnecessarily. Figure about 24".

For the finish, you probably don't want anything that will detract or distract from the tank. Plain drywall isn't so bad.

For the humidity, you had better plan on venting both above and below the tank (sump) directly out of the house. That's how much humidity it will generate. If you keep all of that moisture in the house, especially in the basement, expect progressive issues with rust and mold. Look at other recent build threads in this forum to see how others are dealing with this high source of humidity issue in their homes.

Dave.M

[IvanTheTerrible]

Originally Posted by dave.m

For the size of the front access panels, figure that you will want enough room to get your arms, shoulders and head in and out easily without whacking anything unnecessarily. Figure about 24".

For the finish, you probably don't want anything that will detract or distract from the tank. Plain drywall isn't so bad.

For the humidity, you had better plan on venting both above and below the tank (sump) directly out of the house. That's how much humidity it will generate. If you keep all of that moisture in the house, especially in the basement, expect progressive issues with rust and mold. Look at other recent build threads in this forum to see how others are dealing with this high source of humidity issue in their homes.

Dave.M

Thank you for the suggestions. 24" won't be enough to get my big head and shoulders through, so I'll probably go with something a little bigger.

I'm aware of the issues humidity can cause, but won't be able to vent directly outside from the tank area. If necessary, I'll add a dehumidifier or an outside vent in a different part of the basement.

Is there a good way to check the calibration/accuracy of a humidistat?

Thanks,
Ivan

[dave.m]

I don't know how you would test it except to have more than one humidistat to measure against each other. I'm not sure accuracy is necessary, as long as you can find a suitable position to manage your situation.

Dave.M

[oldbones]

Not sure if this will help, but to calibrate a Hydrometer for a cigar humidor, we place it in an airtight container with a small dish containing salt moistened with DI H2O. The humidity should stabilize at 70%.

It's been a while, so before you believe me, you should verify by google.

[KevinsHVAC]

Originally Posted by IvanTheTerrible

I'm almost done with the wiring (need one more piece for the exhaust fan/humidistat), with the exception of outlets that will be installed above the tank and in the sump area. Nothing picture worthy to show, but I thought I would share some lessons learned for all of you DIYers out there.

1. No matter how much wire you buy, you will always be 1 foot short and have to go back to the hardware store.
2. When you cut through a live wire, your favorite wire cutters become your favorite wire strippers.
3. Sometimes the way your grandfather taught you is wrong and there is a better way to do things.
4. Sometimes your grandfather was right and if you don't do it his way, you have to do it twice.
5. There is no way to guess when your grandfather was right/wrong, so you will do everything twice.
6. Friends don't return tools after borrowing them. By the time you need them, you can't remember who borrowed them.
7. The frame from a BRS screen top can be used to fish wire through an existing wall. They make a tool for that, but apparently it's popular with my friends.
8. Don't argue with your wife right before she goes on a shopping trip with her friends.
9. My garbage man won't pick up a garbage bag 1/2 full of drywall scraps because they are "construction material" but will pick up an unlimited number of 2x4 scraps.

-Ivan

Isn't that the truth!! I just put mine in a black bag now, sometimes if it's real heavy it gets two bags

[IvanTheTerrible]

Originally Posted by KevinsHVAC

Isn't that the truth!! I just put mine in a black bag now, sometimes if it's real heavy it gets two bags

They actually ripped the bag open to "inspect" and then left it at the curb. I just throw it away a little at a time now.

[IvanTheTerrible]

Originally Posted by oldbones

Not sure if this will help, but to calibrate a Hydrometer for a cigar humidor, we place it in an airtight container with a small dish containing salt moistened with DI H2O. The humidity should stabilize at 70%.

It's been a while, so before you believe me, you should verify by google.

Thanks. I found a few sites that said 75% after ~6 hours with the salt solution. I guess I should have tried Google first. I'll have to give it a try.

-Ivan

[IvanTheTerrible]

OK, update time. It's been a busy week/weekend. First, I wired the outlets inside the stand.





You can never have too many outlets.

I also put up the drywall where my RODI system used to be. I have a couple of small pieces to put yet, but the hard part is done.





Unfortunately, I didn't take the floor paint quite far enough in one spot.



It's in the small triangular area on the right side of the tank (when looking from the front). No one will ever see it, even if they are in the fish room, but I'll know it is there. Most of it will be covered by the baseboard, but I don't think it will cover all of it.

I decided to use tile to trim around the tank. My wife and I are going to pick it out tile in the next couple of days. I'm a little colorblind, so I usually have her help when it comes to picking colors. Once we get the tile picked out and I know the actual thickness, I can finish framing the walls.

Ivan

[blaujess]

Nice job

[IvanTheTerrible]

Originally Posted by blaujess

Nice job

Thank you. Hopefully, I'll make some more progress this weekend.

-Ivan

[IvanTheTerrible]

Small update. Things are continuing to progress slowly. Friday is my normal water change day and I was out of RODI and saltwater. So, since I had to make about 30 gallons of product water I sent the waste water into the tank instead of sending it down the drain.



This allowed me to do a final check to make sure everything is level. I had to make a couple of very minor adjustments, and everything looks perfect now.

Since I had the camera handy, I took a shot down the length of the tank. I thought the bubbles looked cool in a geeky Star Wars kind of way.



I also finished most of the framing and sat the door in place. I'll install it permanently tomorrow.



I'm really excited that I finally have all of the walls in place. I didn't frame above the tank yet, because I'm still debating on what to do there. A guy I know started a company that sells blinds, so the powered blind option is back on the table.

Now that the walls are up, I can install the ceiling, finish the drywall, paint, and start moving things into the fish room (and get my basement back!!!). I recently finished up an online course I was taking, so I may actually have more time to work on the room. Events for my kids are also starting, so that may be more dream than reality.

I ordered the tile that will go along the front of the tank. It's back-ordered until May, but that won't be a problem.

-Ivan

[acer]

Following along...... 6 holes in the back? 4 for overflow and 2 for returns? Exactly where ( distance from the top of the tank and the top of the trim) is the center of the drilled holes? What size holes , used for what size and type bulkheads?

Sorry for the detailed questions - but I am planning a similar type of build soon. I cant get my head around where to have the manufacturer drill the holes and how large the holes need to be , how many holes I should have them drill, and what type of bulkhead ( schedule 40 vs 80 - and they need different size holes) to use between the internal overflow box and the external overflow box??

[sfsuphysics]

Also following along, I'm extremely interested in details of the construction quality of these tanks.

[bobbravo2]

Also interested in this tank manufacturer. Great setup so far!

[acer]

Went to see this setup today- very nice carpentry work Ivan. It going to be P-U-R-D-Y when its done. Gave me great insight on what I am going to do - thank you Ivan....

[IvanTheTerrible]

Several have asked about the quality of tanks from this Custom Aquariums. As I said earlier in this thread, this is my first big tank so I'm not a good judge of quality. Instead, I snapped a few pictures and I'll let you judge for yourself.

First, some have asked about rivets in the frame. My frame does not have rivets. The crossmembers in top frame are bolted in as you can see below.





Will these bolts be a problem? I have no idea. I assume at some point they will start to corrode. At that time, I'll either replace them with new or weld the crossmembers to the frame.

Silicone. First, let me say that I chose clear silicone and now wish I hadn't. I think the black would look better. Second, I think they use a lot of silicone. You can judge for yourself from the pictures. Also, as you can see the edges aren't perfectly straight. Hopefully, I'll have such an amazing tank that no one will notice the silicone.





Overall, I'm happy with the tank. It was a lot cheaper than the other quotes I got and the quality is on par with what I expected.

If you want more pictures, just let me know exactly what you're looking for and I'll snap a few.

-Ivan

[uncleL]

Wow! Sweet

[IvanTheTerrible]

OK, I've received some questions about the overflow holes and the design of the overflow boxes. I spent quite a bit of time researching this and did a bunch of calculations, some of which may be wrong so please check my math.

Let's start with bulkhead size, since everything else is sized off of the holes in the tank. I plan to flow ~1,000 gallons per hour through my sump (about the middle of the 3-5 times tank volume many recommend). Gallons, per hour isn't a good way to size a bulkhead so I did some converting:

(1,000 gal/hr) * (231 in^3/gal) * (1 hr/3600 sec) = 64.1 in^3/sec.

So, I'm flowing 64 cubic inches of water per second. Calculating the area of the holes, allows me to determine how fast the water will be flowing in the overflow. I don't know the inside diameter of the bulkhead, but it should be close to the outside diameter of the pipe. A 1-1/2" PVC pipe has a nominal outside diameter of 1.900". The area of that pipe would be:

(1.900"/2)^2 * 3.14 = 2.83 in^2

Based on everything I read, you really want the waterline to be approximately half way up the bulkheads. This will allow the two boxes to act as a single body (no water height difference between them). So, we can use the .864 dimension for 2 pipes filled halfway.

So, now we can calculate how quickly the water will be moving. With 2 holes:

(64.1 in^3/sec) / (1/2.83 in^2) = 22.65 in/sec

To me, this is much easier to visualize than gallons per hour or some other complicated measure. Just lay a ruler down and imagine water going 22" in a second.

With 4 holes, it would be 11.3 in/sec.
With 6 holes, it works out to 7.5 in/sec.

I consider these to be minimum velocities, since I don't actually know the inner diameter of the bulkhead. I had to goals when picking the number of holes. First, I wanted it to be silent. That means slow flow. However, if the water flows too slow, the detritus sinks and could build up in the overflow. I'm not a fan of extra tank maintenance so I wanted to avoid this. To my completely untrained visual image, I imagine that 7.5 in/sec is just fast enough to keep the detritus suspended without being to noisy.

You can do similar calculations with different bulkhead sizes. Using a smaller bulkhead would require more holes to achieve the same flow at the same water velocity. You could use bigger bulkheads, but that requires bigger holes. For safety, you need to keep holes away from the edges, so that means bigger holes need to be drilled lower. This affect box height and how far the water falls into the inner box as discussed below. Also remember that the bulkheads are holding the boxes in place (especially the outer box), so more bulkheads may be better. You can space the through holes however you want. I chose not to put any right in the center, since that is where my siphon pipe will be. I didn't want the flow to all go through the center hole and end up with deadspots in my overflow box, again to avoid accumulating detritus.

Let's move to the inner box now. My box will be 42"x3" and 5.5" tall. The size of this box was driven by my choice of bulkheads. According to the BRS website, a 1-1/2" slip/slip bulkhead is 2.87" long (dimension B on their picture), has a diameter of 3.38" (dimension A), and requires a 60mm hole. The box is 2.75" on the inside (3" deep minus 1/4" for acrylic thickness), which is slightly less than the bulkhead, but I will be able to angle it into place.

The height of the inner box depends on two things - the bulkhead size and the distance to the top of the tank. We'll start with the the bulkhead size. Since the bulkhead has a diameter of 3.38", I need at least 1.69" (3.38/2) from the center of the hole to the bottom of the box. I didn't want to push it, so I made this dimension 2.5" (don't forget you lose 1/4" for acrylic thickness). You could install the bulkhead backwards and make this dimension smaller, but then you have to tighten the nut inside the little box. Since I have big hands, I chose save myself some frustration and didn't go that route.

The top half of the inner box is driven by your tank height and desired water level. Because my tank has a rim the calculations were a little more involved. The box need to have at least 1.69" above the hole centerline to cover the bulkhead diameter. Again, I can round this to 2.5" to give myself a little room. However, that would mean that the through holes would be less than one diameter from the edge of the tank. To be safe, the centerline of the hole should be 1.5 diameters from the edge. This ensures that the top edge of the hole is at least one hole diameter from the glass edge. A 60mm hole is ~2.36". 2.36*1.5 = 3.54" So, I had my holes drilled 3.5" from the top of the tank. My box will have a lid and has a rim which is slightly lower than the top of the glass, so I made the box 3" tall above the hole centerline. Thus, the inner box is 2.5" + 3" = 5.5" tall.

Waterline in the tank is determined by your weir height. My box won't have teeth, but that doesn't really affect the calculations for water height much. My rim extends down about 1-1/4" when measured inside the tank. Subtracting 1/2" for the box lid and a little gap, leaves 3/4". This is the height I selected for the bottom of the slot in my box. The actual waterline should be ~1/4" above this (your number will vary based on length of overflow, return volume, etc. but I think 1/4" is a reasonable number for most) but cannot be lower than this. Setting the bottom of the slot approximately even with the rim will allow for some water rise during start-up or other off-nominal situations. It also minimizes the distance water falls into the inner box. In my case, the distance can be calculated as follows:

3.5" (box waterline to top of tank) - 1-1/4" (approximate distance from top of glass to tank waterline) = 2.25". The only way to reduce this height is to use smaller bulkheads, but you would have to go really small to make a significant difference. 1" bulkheads require a 45mm hole per BRS, so that would reduce the number by approximately 0.6".

OK, so if you're still following along with this math lesson we have a box height of 5.5", depth of 3", holes 3.5" from the top of the tank, and the waterline set slightly above the bottom of the trim. Let's look at length. I couldn't do a full coast to coast because I'm planning to run Sea Swirls in the back corners. So, I went with a 42" overflow. The tank is 72" long so that will leave about 15" on each end for the Sea Swirls. It also means that the overflow is closer to the back corners than it is to the front of the tank (about 27"). I hope this will prevent any deadspots from forming in the back corners. Since the Sea Swirls will be pushing water towards the front of the tank, I don't think I'll have any deadspots there.

Now that the inner box is sized, let's move to the outer box. First, I wanted the outer box to be positioned lower than the inner box. This would ensure that floods occur in the fish room and not in my basement. Second, there really is no limit to the sizes on the outer box in my case. However, making it too big would stress the bulkheads and I would have to add some support. I chose to make this box 6" deep and 7" tall. That should give me plenty of room for plumbing without adding too much stress to the bulkheads. The outermost holes in my tank are 29" center to center. Add 3.38" for the bulkheads and you get 32.38". So, I made this box 36" to give myself some room (again don't forget to subtract for acrylic thickness).

So that's it. Six 60mm holes 3.5" from the top of the glass, a 42"x3"x5.5" inner box and a 36"x6"x7" outer box. If any of my math is wrong or you have questions, please let me know. I hope somebody finds this helpful. It took a while for me to research everything and figure out how I wanted the holes in my tank. It's one of those things where you only get one chance at it, unless you want to drill it yourself.

In case you are wondering, my overflow boxes are being made by David Bombara at Acrylic Creations. He's somewhat local to me and seems to have good reviews. He's been awesome to work with so far. He called me the other day just to discuss what I was doing and suggested a couple of minor improvements. He didn't just make what I ordered and let me deal with it when it was wrong, and I really appreciate that.

-Ivan

[sfsuphysics]

Originally Posted by IvanTheTerrible

Several have asked about the quality of tanks from this Custom Aquariums. As I said earlier in this thread, this is my first big tank so I'm not a good judge of quality. Instead, I snapped a few pictures and I'll let you judge for yourself.

Thanks for the pictures, it does give a good view of what's going on.

First, some have asked about rivets in the frame. My frame does not have rivets. The crossmembers in top frame are bolted in as you can see below.

Rivets or bolts the concern is the strength of the cross beams, instead of the tensile strength of the aluminum you instead have to worry about the sheer strength of the bolts. If there are enough of those guys for any given span, it shouldn't be TOO much of an issue, especially on a shorter tank (for their taller tanks I might start to worry) but it really is one of those things of "why hasn't anyone else done it that way?" type of questions that makes me think there's a reason why.

Will these bolts be a problem? I have no idea. I assume at some point they will start to corrode. At that time, I'll either replace them with new or weld the crossmembers to the frame.

Replacing them might be an interesting option, something that seems doable as compared to a broken cross brace (acrylic/plastic/glass) where replacing isn't as easy. I'm curious if the bolts and nuts are also anondized aluminum, stainless steel could be a useful replacement too, then just gunk it up with silicone. Although I wouldn't want to weld the aluminum together while it's still on the tank

Are the corners welded though? Or is each linear piece in some way bolted together?

Silicone. First, let me say that I chose clear silicone and now wish I hadn't. I think the black would look better. Second, I think they use a lot of silicone. You can judge for yourself from the pictures. Also, as you can see the edges aren't perfectly straight. Hopefully, I'll have such an amazing tank that no one will notice the silicone.

Yup, the thing is clear silicone isn't... it's cloudy white. Black would make much more of a sharp outline, but like you said, have an amazing tank and no one is going to be staring at the silicone at the edges

So far I can start to see how they crank out these for the price they do, they really aren't so much custom as they are modular, there are fixed sizes for each direction, i.e. their prices don't reflect a 28" tall tank, and their framing seems modular as well. All in all, I'm not yet dissuaded from getting a tank from them though, that price is fairly hard to pass up... plus the "free" shipping is also a huge wad of cash that stays in your pocket.

That said, your construction skills look fabulous, and I'm sure this project is going to be a work of art when you're finished.

[IvanTheTerrible]

Originally Posted by uncleL

Wow! Sweet

Originally Posted by sfsuphysics

That said, your construction skills look fabulous, and I'm sure this project is going to be a work of art when you're finished.

Thanks. I hope when it's finished it looks as good as the picture I have in my head.

Originally Posted by sfsuphysics

Are the corners welded though? Or is each linear piece in some way bolted together?

To me, they appear to be welded but I honestly can't say for sure. Since the top of the tank is wrapped in cling wrap, I can't get a good picture and it's hard to see exactly what's going on without sticking your head in the tank. The frame has corner pieces, but from the outside I can't see how they are held in place. I definitely didn't see any bolts sticking down through, but couldn't see where it was welded either. If you could get in touch with Custom Aquariums, they would probably explain it all to you.

Progress update for this week - I decided to skip hanging the door. I'll do that when someone is here helping me. I'm still making a ton of dust in my garage, so I couldn't stain the door anyway. Plus, the temperatures dropped and it's been snowing . Instead I put about 3/4 of the ceiling back up. When I started this project, I had a hard time getting everything exactly where I wanted it. When my house was built, they didn't do a very good job of making sure everything was square/plumb. So, I didn't have very many good reference points to work from and putting the tank on a 45 degree angle to the rest of the room complicated matters. Now that the ceiling is going in and because it is essentially a bunch of parallel lines, I can see where I was off by a degree or two in some places. Nothing major, and you can't tell unless you break out a tape measure but it's off a little. One exception to that was the door frame that I put in. It shifted when I was screwing it in place. I knew it shifted but didn't notice until tonight how far it had moved. When I put the ceiling in, it was clear that the door wasn't going to be square to the wall.



I doubt too many people will be looking at the ceiling as they go through the doorway, but I couldn't leave it like that. Plus it seemed like an easy thing to fix. So, I started removing the screws. Of course, one couldn't be removed. I don't own a Sawzall, so I had to cut it with a hacksaw. Before anyone asks, no I'm not against buying new tools and this would have been a great opportunity. The problem is I love cutting stuff with a Sawzall. When I was a teenager, I would walk around with one and cut stuff up for no particular reason. To me, there's just something fun about using one. Since I like my stuff in one piece, I've resisted the urge to buy one. OK enough with that detour, so I finally cut through the screw and grabbed my big hammer. To my dismay, the wall wasn't really moving. Basically, I've cut everything to fit and I"m building this room around my tank. Because it was made to fit tightly the wall was too long to move the 1-1.5" needed to make it square. So out came the hacksaw again. I had to trim 1/8" off so that it could slide into place. It sounds easier than it was for some reason, but after about 1.5 hours I finally had the wall where I wanted it and the gap is much better now.



I should be able to wrap up the ceiling this week and then move on to drywall.

-Ivan

[IvanTheTerrible]

Well the ceiling is finally back up.



Also, I picked up my overflow.





Excuse the dust, I didn't bother cleaning it before the pictures. I have to say I was really happy with the workmanship on the overflow. I didn't expect all of the outside corners to be rounded. I didn't have the overflows drilled. I'm going to drill the boxes so that they match the tank (hopefully perfectly). I've got some bulkheads and hole saws on order, so it will be a few days before they are mounted.

Finally, I decided to go ahead and put a blind along the front of the tank. I ordered it today, so it will be here in a week or so. Once it arrives, I'll finish the framing and drywall above the tank. I really wanted to put blinds on all 3 visible sides, but that was just too expensive. Actually, the blinds aren't that expensive but motorization/automation adds quite a bit. Regardless, I'm hoping the blind covering the front of the tank is enough to keep most of the light out when the room lights are left on.

If anyone has a suggestion for drilling acrylic, I'd love to hear it.

-Ivan