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Coral Vue Hydros

Bubba's DIY 21.8 Gallon Coast 2 Coast - Coral En Route!


Bubba30

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I drew my cuts up in adobe illustrator and sent them int to pokono.com. A 15" x 30" 6mm acrylic sheet cost around $35 plus cutting and shipping. My total was around $75. If you need any help let me know. I'd be happy to draw the cuts for you of you get me dimensions and such.

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

 

Drilled my false back wall for the return. I decided to laminate 2 pieces of 1/8" glass and sandwich the paint inside. This way when my acrylic box goes in and out it will not scratch the paint off. Drilling thin glass is not fun but much easier when not assembled as a tank. Having even support is key and using very little pressure. I've just got to drill my tank for the return and silicone the back wall in. I'm going to burn some midnight oil and get it done.

 

My next dilemma is what to use to black out the sides so you can't see into the overflow. Paint seems to chip too easily; I'm thinking vinyl? Any other ideas?

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Starting to look good (to me anyway.) Just need to silicone this in and drill the return through the back of the tank. I figured I'd need to drill it after this is installed so it lines up. The glass to acrylic transition is going to look so good once I get the paper off these parts.

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I would definitely use vinyl on the sides of the overflow. It's easy to clean and can be peeled off if you change the tank. I used to have a laser cutter right down the hall from me. It was really convinient when you had intricate or repetitious work.

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I'm not content to just let the tanks mature. I have to be constantly working on some part of it. Hence the reason my tank has had 5 major changes in 3 yrs. I just "finished" my latest and I have a few more tweaks planned for it before I'm satisfied. Then it'll be on to a new revision

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Bulkheads installed with barbs. Big relief to be done drilling!

 

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Got the back siliconed in. Lines came out laser sharp. Very happy with it. All done with the tank except for vinyl wrapping the back and sides. I'm also going to try to paint the bottom before I stick the 1/4" neoprene on... May not be necessary I will see if I have time / weather cooperates.

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Love diy tanks doing one myself well from another tank it WAS 22 tall 12 front to back and 30 wide. Cut score break sand 30 x 22 x 12 tall shallow reef siliconing sucked used a whole tube and need another. i suck at it as well did you buy the glass yourself? My upgrade will be to do something like this lovely looking 5 stars.

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Love diy tanks doing one myself well from another tank it WAS 22 tall 12 front to back and 30 wide. Cut score break sand 30 x 22 x 12 tall shallow reef siliconing sucked used a whole tube and need another. i suck at it as well did you buy the glass yourself? My upgrade will be to do something like this lovely looking 5 stars.

 

I got the glass precut and diamond polished. Like I said before; finding a good glass supplier is half the battle. His cuts were right on and dead square. Thank you for checking it out! I'm so excited; showing it off to my wife and friends (non-reefers)... They just don't get it.

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coast to coast overflows>all

When I started a year ago I read a lot on RC regarding overflows and plumbing. Anthony Calfo and BeanAnimal. Then I found this site. I'm sure there is another C2C nano tank out there but this overflow was inspired by the big boy tanks.

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Impressed with the craftsmanship; not sure how you got that glass sili-ed in with only 1.5" to the back and false wall. Mine looks only ok with my 7.5g cube. Are you local to S.NJ? I saw your pic from zoanut.

 

In process of replacing a glass pane on my cracked 57g rimless and I was thinking about doing something similar. Already made a acrylic box for the tank tho.

 

Taking forever to try and get the old frame off and then removing the old glass.

 

anyway, great work on the tank. Was there any reason you didn't go bigger in gallons with the 3/8" glass? My tank is 1/2" glass DBP 57g rimless.

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Impressed with the craftsmanship; not sure how you got that glass sili-ed in with only 1.5" to the back and false wall. Mine looks only ok with my 7.5g cube. Are you local to S.NJ? I saw your pic from zoanut.

 

In process of replacing a glass pane on my cracked 57g rimless and I was thinking about doing something similar. Already made a acrylic box for the tank tho.

 

Taking forever to try and get the old frame off and then removing the old glass.

 

anyway, great work on the tank. Was there any reason you didn't go bigger in gallons with the 3/8" glass? My tank is 1/2" glass DBP 57g rimless.

 

Hey, thanks for the compliment. I was happy to see Sean share my tank. I'm located in Toms River, NJ.

 

I built the tank first; then added the false back after... I also had to drill and install the bulkheads prior to the back wall. Only tooled the false back seams from the front.

 

I'm not sure how I ended up with these dimensions but I don't feel a need to go bigger (last tank was 20L) which is obviously against the norm. I was going to buy a PicO because Chris' work is amazing but shipping gets crazy when 3/8" is required. He said 24 x 12 x 12 would be the max he'd go for 1/4". I had my heart set on getting a little more depth like a 40B and after finding a source for glass I decided to build my own.

 

I've replaced panels and it is honestly easier to build a new tank. Derimming and cleaning silicone residue off is no fun. Good luck with your tank and thanks again.

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For the return; should I go with option 1:

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Or option 2:

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I'm running an octopus dc return pump adjustable up to ~925 GPH. Not sure what type of turn over I will use but I have a lot of options. I wanted to be able to crack it so I can turkey baster and deep clean the display occasionally.

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Option 1 so you can add more loc-line and direct flow where you need it then deal with the rest with a powerhead in the tank.

 

I stopped trying to use my return pump as the only source of flow in my tank. I set up dual returns on a SWCD. Still can't get all the dead spots. Too many dividers then too much pressure drop.

 

In a 40B, I have a WP-10, MP10, (2) 240gph Hydors with a DC5000 return on a SWCD on the high setting. I probably just need to rearrange my rock work.

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Wow that sounds like a lot of flow; I have an MP10 as well as my return. I just epoxied up my Frankenstein fitting... A combination of a bulkhead, schedule 80 nipple, and the lock line tee. Thanks for your input.post-76224-0-12636900-1393893144_thumb.jpg

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Rocks are pretty much done. Return is in. Working in the sump room now putting down tile floor. I fixed the framing and hung my light brackets.

 

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Pretty tough to see what's going on at this point.

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It's painfully slow as a full time baby sitter/part time reefer. It is nice to do things slow and also do them proper. Hopefully I can start the cycle in a couple weeks.

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Sump room has a new tile floor! Finishing up Sheetrock then I will be building the stand/console table. Should look something like this just not yellow:

 

 

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