another diy acrylic tank

[disaster999]

ive been really wanting to make an acrylic tank just for the sake of making one. going to be made out of 1/4" acrylic. 24" long, 12" wide, 10" deep. thats around 13 gals. Overflow is in the center with return on each side of the tank. overflow piping im thinking of using 1" pvc and return is 1/2"

 

i might brace the tank, just glue strips of acrylic on the top. ill see how the tank holds up first. any suggestions on the piping or any other aspects of the tank?

 

[nu2reefva]

hey good looking tank

i got a quick question i love saltwater reefs and finally plan to set my first up i build custom acrylic aquariums and sumps and hope to build this one myself only problem is acrylic is expensive. if you guys have any sources around virginia or online to get 4'x8' sheets for cheaper i need 3/8 thickness.

 

and id also add for your tank you could do your stand pipe in the overflow it would not only look better but would also perform better less noise and no flood when power goes out.

[mmelnick]

and id also add for your tank you could do your stand pipe in the overflow it would not only look better but would also perform better less noise and no flood when power goes out.

 

+1

 

Mine is external but I only have a 4" ABS pipe cut in half for my overflow. It's not too loud but you definatly notice it. I would also drill a second hole for the overflow. Even if you don't use it now you may later. And it will be A LOT EASIER TO DRILL IT NOW. The only other thing I would change would be to lower the overflow hole. The lower it is the more flow it can handle. If water backs up for a second the weight of the water on top will help it drain faster. Just some extra insurance because you never know.

[disaster999]

i thought about that...but the thing is if i do brace the tank due to deflection, then the the overflow box will be covered and if for some reason i need to take it apart, it would be near impossible.

 

explain why my design would overflow? its pretty much the same idea as the stand pipe in the overflow.

 

thanks for the input on lowering the the overflow hole mmelnick, not sure why i put it up so high.

[midna]

The top acrylic strips could be used as a lip for a lid as well as for bracing the tank if you want. I don't know if you want the tank covered or not though.

[coolwaters]

if you want it have 1/4" thick acrylic and 10" tall your going to need a good brace.

have you seen the zero edge tanks? the tallest is 12" and its about 3/4"-1" thick.

my 7g at 8" tall the front was bowing to a point where i took it down. the front was only 16" wide.

 

so without a doubt your going to have to brace it or increase the thickness to about 1/2" if your still want braceless.

[disaster999]

hmm, thats something i might need to look into. a brace or thicker plastic is in consideration.

 

got a question on acrylic solvent, ive build a few acrylic projects before, one being an overflow box and i used pvc cleaner as a solvent. it worked great and never leaked on me. but since im building a tank here, i want to make sure the tank stays water tight. would pvc solvent still work? is it the same as weldon? i mean both isnt glue but solvents that melt the acrylic and bond itself

[JonathanS]

ive seen the same tank in glass made by nal

[disaster999]

im sure lots of people have came up with the same design and build a tank similar to mine.

[evilc66]

I would go with Weld-On 3 or 4. You know it will work without question.

[disaster999]

finally got the acrylic and started working on it. pieces all cut up ready to be glued

 

the overflow box

 

dont have any during build pictures, but heres some semi-complete pictures

 

some ugly bubbles

 

the back piece needs to be drilled and painted so its going on later. and because myfriends table saw was too small, i wasnt able to cut the size i want. we ended up jury rigging some piece of straight aluminum that was clammed at the side of the table and used that as a reference point to cut the acrylic. that first cut we did was kinda wobbly and wasnt straight. i tried sanding down the edge to make it as smooth as possible, but didnt work. need to get some weld-on 16 to patch it up

[evilc66]

Did you buff/sand the edges before you glued? Would have made the edges look better.

 

Good looking setup though.

[disaster999]

edges were sanded, but i guess the piece werent square when i cut it (cheap table saw) so theres some uneven spots where the acrylic lifted and created some air bubbles, its a really good experience for me.

[evilc66]

When I did my tank, I found that the table saw (unless you have a really good acrylic blade) will leave pretty crappy edges. Using a bench planer really helped square up the edges.

[rmhuntley]

The couple of times I built tanks, I used a router, preferably mounted to a router table. worked very well

[disaster999]

back and overflow box is painted...car soap helps weigh it down

 

water testing for leaks. 100% leak free. there wasnt any budging from the acrylic too

 

did some testing to see how the overflow works, i basically dumpped a 5gal bucket of water into the tank and it didnt overflow. im sure it would handle some serious flow in this little tank.

[coolwaters]

is that 24" x 12" x 10"? with 1/4" thick acrylic?

 

i would suggest some kind of bracing since that will bow without doubt.

 

mines 16" x 12" x 8" also 1/4" thick. and after a few days i got pretty worried. i wans planning to bracing it but i already rounded the top and the bow made it imperfect. so i just left it.

i did a 5 month stress test on it and its fine. dont know about having it 10" height.

we got the same brand acrylite xD

[disaster999]

I do have a brace on for the tank. just didnt put it on, wanna see if its water tight first.

 

planning on just adding a strip to the top of tank. need to cut up more for the sides if needed. think i should brace the sides?

[disaster999]

being the idiot that i am, some reason i always thought 1 inch bulkheads needs 2 inch holes. but when ordering bulkheads online, they ask for 1.75inch hole. i already have a 2 inch hole drilled out. i know there is a lip on the bulkhead to sit on so it sandwiches the wall...anyone know how if ill be ok with a 2 inch hole?

[Matty1124]

i dont know but why not use this as a chance to get a 1.25 bulk heads much less of a chance of getting a clog... wish i would have gone large looking back... this could be just what you need

[disaster999]

the thing is i already ordered the bulk head....

 

its been 2 days since i filled the tank with water. seems to be holding just fine. did add a brace to the front of the tank. but the sides are braceless. no bowing noticed.

[disaster999]

tank is finally done!

 

this overflow design could handle 1000+gph

my "filter sock" design.

doesnt seem the pump i got is strong enough. its pumping out 370gph

[evilc66]

Lookin nice. I may have missed this, but what are you lighting this with?

[disaster999]

probably going to go with t5 lighting. theres a cheap fixture on ebay for 45 bucks which im going to use.

[haze7573]

how did you cut the holes in the acrylic? im building an overflow box and not sure exactly how to go about it