My (somewhat) cube build

[smcnally]

Hi everyone, I'm new here but thought I would post the build of my tank. I got steered here from tperkins after asking him about some types of silicone and thought my build may help others out that want to build some day. I've been planning this build for a little over a month now, and this tank will be a downsize from my current 125 gallon mixed reef which you can see HERE. I have been extremely detailed during the planning phases and have even drawn a 3D model to scale of everything so I am sure of how everything will look. I used Google SketchUp for this, and recommend everyone that decides to build a tank downloads it. It really made me see things that I would have never thought of.

 

I will be building a ~70 gallon rimless tank (28"L x 26"D x 20"T) which will have the last 4" act as an overflow compartment. It will have a Starfire front pane also. The stand will be the really unique part. I am building the stand without any 2x4's. It will be either 3/4" or 1" cabinet grade birch plywood that will be pocket screwed (and glued) together with a solid maple face frame, door, and hood. If you are unfamiliar with pocket screws, it is a very strong way do build cabinets. The entire inside of the cabinet will be sealed with epoxy and the bottom 13" will act as a sump/refugium. This will give me approximately 30 gallons of storage.

 

Another cool thing I will be doing is I am making the T5 hood nice and slim, and it will be motorized. I will be able to raise (up to 18") and lower it with the push of a button, and set it to hold at any point. I thought this would be neat to play around with and have it slowly lower when the lights come on to act like a sunrise. I can guarantee nothing will benefit from it, but its a fun thing to try.

 

I've had a lot of people from other forums seem very concerned about the plywood sump, but I've done a lot of research and am not worried at all. It will be built in the same way plywood tanks have. A guy in my local club build his plywood tank 3 years ago and it is still holding up great. Here's some snapshots of how it should look when done (there will be a cabinet door on the front of course). I'd definitely like to hear what everyone's thoughts are on it.

 

Front shot

 

Back View with hood down

 

Back View with hood up

[surftaco]

cool looking tank!

 

Your 125 gallon is Bad A$$

[tperkins]

Looks great I'll be following along for sure.

[spanko]

Taggin along

[smcnally]

Thanks guys! I priced out the wood today and drew up all my cut sheets. It's going to run me about $240 for the solid maple and maple plywood. I'll get that all next week along with a crapload of pocket screws, pocket screw plugs, and some strong glue. My epoxy paint and all the plumbing supplies are due to arrive on the 5th.

 

surftaco, thanks for the nice words about my 125!

[smcnally]

I drilled up my bottom piece the other night and all went well. Now I'm getting ready to tape up the pieces so I have nice clean silicone edges and will be off to my buddies workshop to assemble the tank! Wish me luck!

[masterbuilder]

Very nice.... The hood is wonderful. I really dislike those hoods that are so tall. To my eye, it just ruins the entire setup. Ahhhh...the advantages of T-5.

 

I will be tagging along.

Mark

 

p.s. Let us know what type of silicone you have decided to use and why.

[smcnally]

Very nice.... The hood is wonderful. I really dislike those hoods that are so tall. To my eye, it just ruins the entire setup. Ahhhh...the advantages of T-5.

 

I will be tagging along.

Mark

 

p.s. Let us know what type of silicone you have decided to use and why.

 

Thanks Mark. I decided to go with the Dow and Corning 999-A Black silicone. It is supposed to be much stronger than standard aquarium silicone and at the time that I bought it I was told that it was what Elos uses. I found later that it isn't what they use and is actually just a little more than half as strong as what Elos uses, but still a great silicone to use...We'll see when I leak test it, right?

 

So here are the steps we took today...

First, we masked off where we wanted the silicone edges to be on all the pieces. We decided to lay each bead of silicon for each piece of glass that was going down instead of running a bead along the entire bottom piece. This silicone starts to skin pretty quick and we wanted to avoid it skinning before a piece went down. As soon as we smoothed each corner, we pulled the masking tape off and it left nice clean edges.

 

I'm very happy with how it came out. It seems like it is going to be nice and solid, and I really like the dimensions. I plan to wait the full 7 days for it to cure before leak testing it, so look for an update next week. Here are the pics!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Daemonfly]

Would that be a linear actuator for the hood raising?

 

Might want to use rails on either side to add in stabilization.

 

 

And the wood sump should be just fine, as long as it's made properly.

[psidriven]

looks like a great idea. i might have missed it, but how are you accessing the sump? i saw the drawer, but no other openings and the drawer opening doesn't appear big enough to remove the skimmer if you ever need to do maintainence.

[sammy113]

Nice tank! looking good man. Awesome drawings. looks like you played a few hours with sketchup doing all that detail from the skimmer+plumbing lol.

[Withers]

Oh, my, God. Teach us, o master of Sketchup

[smcnally]

Would that be a linear actuator for the hood raising?

 

Might want to use rails on either side to add in stabilization.

And the wood sump should be just fine, as long as it's made properly.

Yes, I will be using a linear actuator. I decided after I drew that that I will make wood channels for the pipe frame to slide in and use as a guide. Especially since the hood is going to be solid maple and pretty heavy for its size.

 

 

looks like a great idea. i might have missed it, but how are you accessing the sump? i saw the drawer, but no other openings and the drawer opening doesn't appear big enough to remove the skimmer if you ever need to do maintainence.

There will be a large door on the front to cover everything. The section with the drawer and switches is its own seperate unit that can be pulled out to access the entire sump area. The switch box will just have a long cord on it so I have enough slack to pull the box out and set it off to the side.

 

Nice tank! looking good man. Awesome drawings. looks like you played a few hours with sketchup doing all that detail from the skimmer+plumbing lol.

Thanks! Yes, I spent a lot of time on the drawing. I actually found the pump, actuator, and T5 end caps already drawn online, so I didn't have to draw the really intricate stuff. It did take me about 6 hours to figure out how to draw a 1" 90 degree PVC elbow...Then I found a tutorial online that explained it very easily.

 

Oh, my, God. Teach us, o master of Sketchup

LOL...Thanks!

[Gvtv44]

Vic's serious, and so am I, TEACH US!!! I GOTZ PLANNINGS TO DO!

[tperkins]

Did you use anything to raise the bottom pane of glass up off the surface or is it flush with the bottom of the tank.

 

Everything I have read says you don't want the full weight of the tank supported by the bottom pane as it could stress fracture.

 

I used 1/4 inch wooden dowels to support mine.

 

Looks good so far. I'll be doing my plumbing this week/weekend.

[roushinator]

Wow. Nice work.

[smcnally]

Did you use anything to raise the bottom pane of glass up off the surface or is it flush with the bottom of the tank.

 

Everything I have read says you don't want the full weight of the tank supported by the bottom pane as it could stress fracture.

 

I used 1/4 inch wooden dowels to support mine.

 

Looks good so far. I'll be doing my plumbing this week/weekend.

 

I didn't do a floating bottom. The way I built it is fine as long as the surface it sits on is perfectly smooth. I thought it would look nicer this way since there won't be a rim around the bottom to hide the space underneath. I will be putting a very thin foam sheet between the tank and stand as well.

 

I've also decided to make the stand 6" taller which will make it a little nicer for viewing the tank. It also gives me an additional shelf in my drawer box for things used often like test kits, tongs, and my refractometer.

 

Front:

 

Back:

[juin21]

WOW! I want to see the hood raising in action!

[smcnally]

My buddy is out of town for the weekend so the cabinet will be put off for now...Only a few more days of curing for the tank!!

 

So today I decided to start building some rock structures. I decided I don't want to worry about rocks toppling in this tank like I did with my current one. I also want a nice open look and will put a large majority of rock in the sump. I plan on doing two structures (one short and one tall). Here's a picture of the short one that I did today. I pinned it together with fiberglass rod and then used epoxy stick in areas to stabilize it a little more.

 

 

[smcnally]

I swung by and cleaned up all the silicone today. I have to say that this silicone does seem super strong. It is pretty tough to even razor off the glass. I was using a brand new blade and I had to razor, then rub with acetone, then razor and wipe again just to get it off. I'll be able to test fill it mid next week. Then, after that, I will make my overflow divider and plumb the closed loop into it. What do you think?

 

[tperkins]

I swung by and cleaned up all the silicone today. I have to say that this silicone does seem super strong. It is pretty tough to even razor off the glass. I was using a brand new blade and I had to razor, then rub with acetone, then razor and wipe again just to get it off. I'll be able to test fill it mid next week. Then, after that, I will make my overflow divider and plumb the closed loop into it. What do you think?

 

 

Looking good. and I agree that silicon is super strong.

[spanko]

Ya boy. We are havin some fun now

[Kigs]

tagging along... looks like a great start!

[smcnally]

Got all the plywood cut today. We won't be able to work on it tomorrow, but should have the stand assembled Wednesday night (all but the face frame and trim). Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic.

 

[irishtexan]

Looking good! Cant wait to see the hood/stand.