After many comitment issues to other tanks, it seems I have found a tank to set up. I found an acylic (I know, not good in this case), 55ish gallon hex tank, stand, canopy, and a small pump for $20. Oh, and a bucket of the person's sand he used. Not sure on that one.

I've noticed people either seem to hate or love hex's. Guess i will find out why over the next few months. Right now I am trying to figure out lighting. I would love to do LED's for it, with a sunrise/sunset, but I get the feeling after adding up the costs I could see buying a 250 watt mh retro to put in the canopy. I would prefer to avoid it though, I dont want to deal with the heat and I love the idea of LED's. I am open to advice on this one.

The tank has four holes drilled in it. Three are in the bottom (two towards the back, one in front), and one on the back panel up at the top. The top hole will be an overflow to a sump with the return up and over the back. I am thinking the other three will be a closed loop system. I am thinking two intakes and a single return in the front pointing back after being split into two directions. I have never done a closed loop. I can drill more holes if I need to. Once again, I am open to any and all advice.

The top brace is cracked in two places. I was thinking of buying some of the acylic solovent stuff that they use for building tanks. I would assume that I can use this to mend the brace? I dont think the tank would have any issues as it is now, however I would like to fix it as it does look bad. Any advice on types of solovents to use?

I have some cleaning up to do with it all, but for $20 I cant complain. The door on the stand needs to be reattached, the tank cleaned out and buffed out, and I may restain the stand and canopy. I guess we will see. So, any advice anyone has for this poor college student, I'd love to hear it. I will update here as the tank is built. I see a bunch of other people doing so and it seemed like a cool idea, so why not?

Don't really have any answers for you, but looking forward to watching the build. Post a pic of the tank!

A picture of the tank would definately get more replies

I'd say if you could DIY an LED set-up GO FOR IT! Check out RapidLED.com

Good luck with this tank $20 sounds like a steal! I want to see some pics though!

Get the halide, set it up if you do have heat issues there are many ways to fix them other than a 300 dollar chiller. I run a 400 over a 58 and the temp raises 1 degree all day plus the leds seem to really dim out over time, give them a year or two they will be like mini halides, LOL. Just have fun and buy bigger than what you think you need, hex tanks in my experience turn out beautiful.

I would use 2 for the closed loop, and then the top one for overflow then the last is the return. I would defiantly not drill any more holes in it. Plus make sure it holds water at all before you put too much into.

Also does the stand leave enough space for a sump and all the pumps?

I love the LED idea. I just have no experiance with them, so its a bit daunting for such a big first project. On top of that, I have to figure out how a heatsink would best fit. Im thinking two side by side might work best.




This does seem like the easier method. I am very tempted to do this as I am sure the halide and a couple extra bulbs should mount to the canopy much easier. However the sunrise and sunset option is really cool to me. How are the retros? Do they tend to work well? This is the one I was looking at. I know it is really cheap, so if it is craptastic please let me know-

http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageA...amp;ProdID=1865



Will this give me issues if the power was to go out though? I had thought the same thing, however with it being on the bottom I dont want a pipe to have to go all the way up to the surface. I would prefer to stay away from a check valve, so that only leave me with a few options. Is soon I get a some bulkheads and pipes I will do a water test. The guy I got it from said it holds water, however I do need to test it.

I cant decide if the sump will fit in the stand or not. The tank is pretty wide at 24" across flat side to flat side, so that gives me some room, however I cant decide if that will be enough. I am considering sending the water into a cabnet next to the tank that will house the sump. If the sump fits into the stand though, I would really prefer to do that.

I will get some pictures up today. I want to take them with a real camera and not my cell. I have to find my camera first

Here are some pictures. Ended up being cell pics anyway. Couldnt find my camera. Like I said, needs some work, but it has potential.

Sorry for the messy background. I need to clean

This is going to be good...

How many vieing saides are you thinking of? If you could make it a focal point of the room that would be cool

I hope you are right. I read through your hex build, I love the look! I would do something similar, however I am afraid that the extra size of mine would create that pile of rocks look.



I would love more, but it is looking like it will be three sides. I think it is going to be backed into a corner. I have to hide the sump somehow

Anyone know the best way to clean acrylic? I would like to start tomorrow, but I have no idea how without damaging it.

Did some light planning tonight. I do not like the results

I think LED's are out. While I would love them, I think the nearly $500 cost is going to stop me. I did a rough estimate by 2" per LED and 3" between rows for a total of 7 rows with 13 in the largest row, followed by two rows of 11, two of 9, and two of 7 in each for a grand total of 57 LED's.

I figure at $6.00 per LED (just a rough estimate, could be higher or lower) thats $342, plus six meanwell's at ~$35 (same case) for a total of $210. Optics will be another $20, plus however much for a heatsink. A rough total of $572 without a heatsink or parts. I'd love for it to happen, but seeing as I can rig up that 250 watt halide for under $200, I think I am sold.

That said, if anyone sees any flaws in my math, please let me know. I am kind of dissapointed

Here are a couple pics though of what I was trying to plan. The black ones are the RB LED's. Sorry the spacing isnt right. It is under the assumption of 2" apart and 3" between rows. The one with measurements is the sizes I am working with, and the blank one is in case anyone out there wants to play around with it. God knows I cant make an even sided hexagon