New DIY Glass Nano

Just thought I'd share my progress with my continued nano project. I just finished sealing it. I'm going to wait 7 days to cure before the water test. Glass was$23 - 1/4" thick I also used GE 2 Silicone and Blue glass tape. Total time 45 min.

P.S. follow the progress on my refugium in the following link.

DIY Refugium

12" x 12" X 12" Nano Cube

Nice tank, and nice fuge; where'd you snag the Piccolo skimmer?

Have you tested the piccolo on the fuge yet?

I think you will have to lower it a little for it to work better. Its about an inch to high, the cups meant to sit just above the water line.

Hope it works well, otherwise all looks good!

I've had and used that piccolo for years. I've used it on a small Fish only tank. I haven't made any adjustments to it yet, but thanks for reminding me anyway. Oh, yeah, I bought it at LFS.

very nice, are you going to brace it on the top? Also waht kind of light are you going to canopy over that? Looks perfect for a MH pendant

huari, it's scary, your reading my mind. I shouldn't have to brace it at all. The glass is more than thick enough. I am definately thinking MH pendant in a 14k range.

Looks great

I have been thinking about doing this for awhile

Just finished the stress test. NO LEAKS!!! :D Now moving on.

nice tank, i'm actually making one the exact same size in a few weeks. may i ask were you got your glass from, every place around me will charge almost $70 to cut all the pieces for me.

I got my glass from a local hole in the wall glass shop called Alamo Glass - Don't get me wrong - Great people. They charged me $23 (out the door) total for all 5 pieces. They will also drill the glass $10 a hole if I want. You just have to call around your area and don't leave out the small guy.

What did you seal the glass together with other than silicone? It looks like the seams could just rip apart and it "box" will just flatten... like how AGA tanks have the plastic rim around the outside top and bottom.

Originally posted by BKtomodachi

What did you seal the glass together with other than silicone?  It looks like the seams could just rip apart and it "box" will just flatten... like how AGA tanks have the plastic rim around the outside top and bottom.

I had to take apart a "rimless" 100 gallon tank lastnight, trust me, it won't just fall apart

Took me a good 15 minutes with razor blades, a case knife, and a putty knife.

Cool! If it were mine I'd brace the top though. I'm also a freak when it comes to that type of stuff.

Just finished some of the plumbing for water movement. All the PVC you see on the bottom will be covered up with sand. Only the nozzle heads will be visible above the sand. I'm using a rio powerhead for water flow.

P.S. I tweaked my refugium too much and it broke. End of story.

looks good, but how are you gonna cover hup the pipe going done to the exhaused?

First, props to you XXX for building your own tank!

But I think the sub-sandbed pipes are the real genius.

Looking good, but may I recommend painting the plumbing. I did all my stuff in black using krylon fusion(bonds to plastic) and it looks great.

Also roughing up the exposed parts with some 36 or 50 grit sand paper will allow stuff to grow on them easyer, or make gluing rocks or frags to them easyer to make them easyer to hide.

Very nice design. Whenever my 20L gets stocked, I'm thinking about starting a second tank like yours. The small and efficient look has always had a spot in my heart. Sorry about your fuge, btw.

Just some updated pics of my nano. I heared your concerns about the plumbing showing so I drilled near the base in order to more easily hide the pipes. Everything should be hidden under the sand and live rock. Thanks for all the suggestions.

one more shot:

I'm sure you already know this, but put an elbow on that pipe as it comes out of your tank and run the pipe up along the back of the tank until it rises up above the surface of the water. Then use two elbows to turn around and go back down to your sump.

Reason being, if the power goes out, your display tank will backdrain down to where that pipe exits the tank. Which would suck. Corals don't last long without water. And it would doubly suck when your sump overflowed from all that extra water.

Other than that minor detail, looks great!

Thanks for the awesome suggestion, but I'm going to use a closed loop. Still trying to work out the whole hang-on refugium idea.

neato

How did you mahe the nozzles with the "pinched" pvc?