DIY 24 x 24 x 20 tank (glass from Nano paul)

[proraptor2]

Wow this is a great thread.....Ive always wanted to build my own tanks but am way too wussy to do it!

[tperkins]

Wow this is a great thread.....Ive always wanted to build my own tanks but am way too wussy to do it!

 

My GF wishes I was too wussy to do it shes worried about all the saltwater thats gonna spill onto the floor when a seam fails!

[Agua-man]

Wow what a great tank. Paul must be a very busy man, I have tried to get a quote from him several times to no luck. Well i might try one more time and see how things go.

[strangelove]

If the check valve were to fail open it would just squirt water into my overflow continuously. The only problem would be if it failed closed and then the power went out.

 

I was also never planning on changing the loc lines. they would just be down behind the rocks, I could still point them where I want.

 

I'd love to see a pic of your sump. thankyou

 

 

Dude you work fast, what will you be putting in your fuge. I snapped some pics of the 18 x 18 x 18 fuge I built. You've got the build right on, heres some ideas of things you can put in your fuge.

 

Front view, Macros, Live Rock and Live Sand.

 

View of some lights I picked up from Ikea.

 

Top view of Cheato, Calupra, Mangroves, etc.

 

Filter sock and return line, need to get a check valve.

[smcnally]

Wow what a great tank. Paul must be a very busy man, I have tried to get a quote from him several times to no luck. Well i might try one more time and see how things go.

 

Paul is very busy. If you can wait for him, then he should get back to you. It took him almost a week to get back to me, but he did get back to me.

[sammy113]

Stragelove, get a piece of styrofoam and make a few holes to plant the mangroves so they part of the leafs floats out of the water. Leave it like that until they grow its roots.

[tperkins]

Dude you work fast, what will you be putting in your fuge. I snapped some pics of the 18 x 18 x 18 fuge I built. You've got the build right on, heres some ideas of things you can put in your fuge.

 

Front view, Macros, Live Rock and Live Sand.

 

View of some lights I picked up from Ikea.

 

Top view of Cheato, Calupra, Mangroves, etc.

 

Filter sock and return line, need to get a check valve.

 

 

I am not going to be running a fuge on this tank. Since the tank is bare bottom in theory I should not need a fuge. Your fuge looks alot like the sump I ended up building. I am leaning towards running filter socks for the 1st few months.

[nano-paul]

You guys wanting prices just keep PM'ing me. I get about 50 or 60 requests a day, and I cant keep up with it all sometimes to be real honest. Just stay on me about it!!!!!!

[tperkins]

You guys wanting prices just keep PM'ing me. I get about 50 or 60 requests a day, and I cant keep up with it all sometimes to be real honest. Just stay on me about it!!!!!!

 

 

You should hire an assistant! your business is growing fast!

[Jens]

Very nice center piece tank. Just stumbled across this thread while searching for a DIY MH lighting solution for my planted tank. I did some research for rimless tanks as well and would like to give some comments.

 

Has anyone heard or used this product?

 

http://www.aqua-medic.com/perennator_silicone.shtml

 

This stuff is certified for use in rimless tanks and safe for freshwater and saltwater, comes in transparent or black. Only issue, I haven't found this stuff in the USA, only available in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.

 

Specs are:

Shore-A-Härte ca. 28

tensile strength ≥ 0,6 N/mm2

 

I can't find any specs in English, this is the German version

 

One thing I like to point out from the specs is that the silicon requires a minimum seam width of 1mm/ 1/32 Inch to cure correctly and acquire the needed strength.

 

Dow Corning does sell a silicon approved for use in aquarium build in Germany as well; Dow Corning 788 and seams like it is not sold in the USA.

 

One more thing I like to comment on, the elevated bottom panel.

 

I did not see this in any blueprint I looked before while researching rimless tanks.

 

I think there are two reasons I can think off for not doing it:

1. biggest strength created will be on the bottom panel, the silicon will be forced into a shearing motion. Check with a bubble gum, you will feel more resistance from the gum pulling straight then sideway. If you pull silicon straight it will set back, if you pull sideways over a specific point it will tear....

2. All the weight has to be carried by the side panels now, any small uneven point will put a high pressure point on a very small area of your glass.

 

 

There are two things to minimize pressure points for flat bottom designs:

1. Use of a 1/2" or more quality plywood piece as stand top and

2. Use of bare neoprene mat to remove any pressure points (usually same thickness as glass)

 

Neoprene is better then styrophor because of the nearly 100% setback characteristic. Styrophor does not set back to the original stage.

 

Good luck with your tank!

[nano-paul]

You should hire an assistant! your business is growing fast!

That would require me to raise pricing .....I dont wanna do that because I was not really in this to make any money, but to be a productive part of this forum. I think people would rather wait a while than pay outrageous prices

[tperkins]

One more thing I like to comment on, the elevated bottom panel.

 

I did not see this in any blueprint I looked before while researching rimless tanks.

 

I think there are two reasons I can think off for not doing it:

1. biggest strength created will be on the bottom panel, the silicon will be forced into a shearing motion. Check with a bubble gum, you will feel more resistance from the gum pulling straight then sideway. If you pull silicon straight it will set back, if you pull sideways over a specific point it will tear....

2. All the weight has to be carried by the side panels now, any small uneven point will put a high pressure point on a very small area of your glass.

There are two things to minimize pressure points for flat bottom designs:

1. Use of a 1/2" or more quality plywood piece as stand top and

2. Use of bare neoprene mat to remove any pressure points (usually same thickness as glass)

 

Neoprene is better then styrophor because of the nearly 100% setback characteristic. Styrophor does not set back to the original stage.

 

Good luck with your tank!

 

 

Thanks it's coming long nicely.

 

I can see your point about the seems being under pressure. But I also feel that if indeed a flat bottom design was more sound from an engineering standpoint manufacturers of glass aquariums would be doing it. if you look at any pre manufactured tank I think you will find that they do not sit on the glass bottom but are rather raised up off the surface preventing them from sitting on the glass bottom.

 

All the weight is being carried by the side panels and is now distributed along the edges. I think a piece of glass standing on it's edge could support more weight than a piece of glass laying flat.

[Jens]

But I also feel that if indeed a flat bottom design was more sound from an engineering standpoint manufacturers of glass aquariums would be doing it.

 

That is up to you if you like to compare All-Glass rim designs with rimless designs. I only know about one company selling rimless tanks in the USA on a manufactured base , ADA

 

I've seen those tanks in person, bottom is not elevated.

 

Somebody maybe are interested in those:

link to a German website with require glass thickness for rimless tanks, badly translated with Google

-> link

 

one more about instructions for a rimless build, Google translated again, sorry for the bad translation

-> link

 

 

Good luck and I will follow your journal.

[smcnally]

But I also feel that if indeed a flat bottom design was more sound from an engineering standpoint manufacturers of glass aquariums would be doing it. if you look at any pre manufactured tank I think you will find that they do not sit on the glass bottom but are rather raised up off the surface preventing them from sitting on the glass bottom.

 

This isn't true with all manufacturers. I believe Perfecto makes there's with a flat bottom, and know that Glass cages and Aquarium Obsessed do. Each way has it's advantages and disadvantages, but either way is fine as long as you prepare your stand for it properly.

[smcnally]

Where's the update?

[tperkins]

SOrry for no updates, my GF wanted to paint the walls before I put the new tank in place so we don't have to worry about painting around the tank any time soon. I acquiesced.

[steelerguy]

SOrry for no updates, my GF wanted to paint the walls before I put the new tank in place so we don't have to worry about painting around the tank any time soon. I acquiesced.

 

Hahaha, that is funny. I have been stuck on my tank build for awhile also for a similar reason. I need to cut, paint, and nail in some baseboard in the corner my tank is going in. I got the cutting done, but now it has just been sitting there waiting for me to paint and nail in. Sick of house projects so my tank build stalled...I'm telling myself this weekend I'll get it done...just like I told myself last weekend and so on.

[tperkins]

Hahaha, that is funny. I have been stuck on my tank build for awhile also for a similar reason. I need to cut, paint, and nail in some baseboard in the corner my tank is going in. I got the cutting done, but now it has just been sitting there waiting for me to paint and nail in. Sick of house projects so my tank build stalled...I'm telling myself this weekend I'll get it done...just like I told myself last weekend and so on.

 

Heh that is funny, well I have been telling her for months to just go pick the point out, yet she stalled till I was ready to put the tank in it's spot.

[tperkins]

PIC UPDATE

 

 

Finished returns

 

 

Drains and return piping

 

 

Gate valve mod on the G2

 

 

Filling with RO (OMG is it slow going)

 

[neanderthalman]

hooray for water!

[smcnally]

Looking great! Only thing I would suggest is removing the gate valve from the G2. I just removed mine from my G3 and it seems to have less adjustment issues. I have it plumbed like the gate valve mod, but with no valve, and I adjust the level riser tube. That way if the flow through it slows down it still stays at the same level.

[tperkins]

Looking great! Only thing I would suggest is removing the gate valve from the G2. I just removed mine from my G3 and it seems to have less adjustment issues. I have it plumbed like the gate valve mod, but with no valve, and I adjust the level riser tube. That way if the flow through it slows down it still stays at the same level.

 

Heh that just goes to show that different people have different results. The vast majority of people get better adjustment out of the gate valve so much so that ASM started offering it as an upgrade and many new skimmers i have seen pics of are starting to come with them as a standard feature.

 

I'll try it both ways and see which way works best. thanks

[irishtexan]

Wow. Great tank! Where you painted the black on the sides of the tank where the overflow is, why dont you just paint it black all the way down the side?

[smcnally]

Heh that just goes to show that different people have different results. The vast majority of people get better adjustment out of the gate valve so much so that ASM started offering it as an upgrade and many new skimmers i have seen pics of are starting to come with them as a standard feature.

 

I'll try it both ways and see which way works best. thanks

 

It works pretty good if you are gravity feeding it from the display, but if you are feeding it with a pump then you will have issues if the pump doesn't keep a consistent flow rate.

[supernip]

it's like having a built in frag rack