grafxalien Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 The ideas for this project all began from me wanting to start a fluval edge tank with an overflow for a sump. So I started to learn google sketchup to test ideas. After various different ideas, I decided that none were perfect and I should just design a tank in sketchup and have someone build it for me. However, after bouncing ideas off of glazer, he convinced me to try and build it myself. I have had some DIY experience in the past, but very minimal with glass work. I also have lived in college apartments for the past 8 years, so I did not have many tools or much working space. However, I had a month off before I moved out of state, so I thought why not...it will be fun! Final sketchup for tank: After finalizing the dimensions, I went around town to local glass shops to get some quotes. I quickly learned that cutting large notches in pieces of glass is not easy. Some places refused to even try while others wanted to charge over 50$. I found a store that cut all of the rectangular pieces I needed to size for 45$, which I thought was a great deal. However, I still had to find a way to cut the notch in the top piece of glass. After lots of google research and messages with glazer, I decided on an arc method. Basically you score a large U shape instead of a square. I watched some videos of people do it online, seemed easy enough. After many small scale practices, I gave it a shot. End result, EPIC FAILURE: The large chunks missing are from after I realized it didnt work and I started to beat on it. As you can see in pictures below, the arc actually ended up popping out pretty nice. This makes me believe this method can work, I think my glass working skills are just subpar. So back to the glass store I went. I tried to convince the guys there to try the arc method, but they said I was crazy. However, they were nice enough to cut another full top sheet of glass for me for FREE! I talked with one of the workers there about the tank for a while and he said he had a 125gal reef at home, so I think he was trying to help support the hobby haha. I decided with my new sheet of glass, that I would not be good enough at scoring to do the arc method. So, I went out and picked up a dremel and diamond bits to do a little glass cutting. I tried 3 different methods on test sheets here. 1. Drill the inner corners, score the outline of the rectangle and an X for relief breaks. This was the fastest method by far, however, results were not great. Once again, I blame my scoring. Method 2:. Drill the corners, use the dremel to cut the 2 vertical sides, then score the horizontal break between the holes. This method worked well, but not perfect. Method 3: I decided I may as well spend the extra time and dremel all 3 cuts, just to be sure I had a good result. The dremel actually works VERY well at cutting glass. I did it in my apartment bathroom, over a bucket. Is it the best/fastest method? Probably not, but it WILL work. Just be patient. Tips for cutting glass with dremel: Get the right bits! I bought a 2 pack of diamond etching bits from sears. One has a ball on the end, the other is bullet shaped. 2. Use LOTS of water. 3. Take your time, move slow, do not use a lot of pressure, let the dremel do the work. To drill holes, use the ball point, and just let the weight of the dremel carry it though the glass. I found the best way to cut a straight line was to tape a ruler to the glass as a guide. Then, with the ball point, make ~5 slow passes with the bit getting progressively deeper. Then switch to the bullet and continue making more passes, each one a little deeper. End Result looked good to me! I sanded down the edges with some emory paper just to take away as many chips that could be weak points as possible. Next: I bought a piece of black acrylic from a local plastic store. I used the dremel to cut the notches in the corner of the piece so it could stick up in to the overflow. I used the rotary cutting but, low speed and lots of water. It cut great. However, be VERY careful with this. I used a ruler again as a guide for a straight line. When starting your cut, the dremel will walk along the side of the acrylic. It jumped over my ruler and almost into my hand. I switched to using a large piece of glass as my guide after this. This is also why I decided to not cut teeth in the piece. I decided it was not worth losing my hand. Do not let this discourage you from using the dremel to cut acrylic. If I had a proper work space and clamps etc this would not have been a problem. Next up I siliconed the main tank together. I used RTV 108 silicone. This part was more difficult than anticipated. The silicone dried quicker than I expected. My seams did not turn out the best, and I do have some bubbles. however, It did hold water without a leak for 48 hrs. I really suggest using the rtv 108, after only 2hrs my test pieces were basically impossible to pull apart. This stuff seems bomb proof. Im glad I went with it over normal silicone as I think it will help make up for my subpar seaming skills. Next up I drilled the hole for the bulkhead with the dremel and siliconed on all of the overflow pieces. The bottom part of the stand was made out of 2x4's and the top edge was notched in to allow a piece of plywood to sit flush with the top of the 2x4. I still need to sand this down to make it perfectly flush and paint it black. I Plan to use some type of foam in between the tank and the stand. That brings me to my move, out of ohio, in to alabama. I encountered some unexpected expenses with this move, so unfortunately the tank is going on hold for the time being. The plans for the tank include, DIY 12 CREE LED lighting, hood/back part of stand, cabinet, sump. I will update the thread as I start working on the tank again. Any thoughts, suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks again to glazer. This guy really knows his stuff and helped me a ton during this project. Link to comment
glazer Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Dude! No doubt... like I said, it's an ambitious project to say the least. I'm really glad you stuck it out though, not giving up when faced with the challenges/problems. You never learn or develop any skills without trying eh? Making me all proud and stuff!...lol From what I can tell in the pics it looks great! When you get time, probably a little work with a nice, new razor blade and you can clean up any of the seams that bug you. I'll be looking forward to some more pics when you get back on it... which by the way, sorry, really sorry to hear about your moving woes. I've had a few of those kind of problems myself... whattaya gonna do, right? Moving company? If yeah, don't back down on them one bit... go at it like the tank, they carry insurance for a reason! Steve Link to comment
mmcguffi Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Lookin great! Seriously awesome handy work. The only thing I would suggest (and I dont even know if it is possible) is to put optics on some of the LEDs and angle them towards the sides and corners of the tank. Otherwise my guess is that they will be very dark as this is a problem with standard Edges and the problem will only be more apparent in a larger tank. Looking forward to seeing more updates! Tagging along Link to comment
grafxalien Posted June 10, 2011 Author Share Posted June 10, 2011 The lighting is something I have worried about. My hood will be 10". The tank is 20" wide. So that leaves 5" on each side without direct overhead lighting. Not sure if this is better or worse than the edge, i dont know the measurements. I also thought of angling the LEDs, but i couldnt think of an easy way to do that. I fooled around the lightup plugin for sketchup. Hard to tell the results though, as you can see from the pics. I think i need to make the bottom, rear and side panel a solid color so you can see where the lights dim better. However, my computer wont render in lightup and now that i moved i dont have any friends computer to use... Link to comment
Fail_sh3d Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Awesome! I hope this lives out! Good luck. Link to comment
_Mitch_ Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Very cool. Can't wait to see how it turns out! Link to comment
grafxalien Posted June 19, 2011 Author Share Posted June 19, 2011 Finished most of the hood over the weekend. Sketchup: Decided to make it out of a 1x6, 1x1's, and a sheet of 5mm 2x4 plywood. I had home depot cut my plywood into a 6" strip and a 10" strip because that just isn't going to happen in my apartment haha. Overall the build went pretty smooth. Rigged up my dremel with rotary cut bit over my kitchen sink to make the cuts I needed. I messed up the length of one cut. I lined my dremel bit up on the wrong side of my cut line, just wasn't paying attention to what side of the cut was my keeper... I fixed it with some moldable 2 part wood epoxy. The stuff worked great actually. Hopefully will never even know once its painted. The 2x6's for the sides of the rear part were warped a little. Just enough so that the top part cannot hinge down over top like planned. I have a few hours of sanding planned to fix that. I did not build the inside of the hood with splash guard etc yet. I am going to wait until I have my leds, heatsink etc so I know exactly where to put stuff. Plan to paint it black. Anyone have any tips on how to get a good finish? From what I have read so far, looks like I need an oil based primer. I plan to do this: Primer coat 1, sand, primer coat 2 sand, black coat. Mini workshop The famous dremel over the sink rig 1 coat of epoxy over the short area 2 coats epoxy and sanded Link to comment
Giga Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 cool dude! all my stuff on my tank is DIY too Link to comment
redkneecoral Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 this is beyond outstanding. Flat out awesome work. Oh i am watching this. Link to comment
jfarabaugh Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 nice but you just made a Fluval Edge. It would have been must easier to just buy one IMO http://www.hagen.com/uk/aquatic/addinfo/fluval_edge.cfm Link to comment
d9hp Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Amazing cuts on that pane of glass man...really impressive. Quick question...do you think the dremel could be used to cut a slit in the glass...like for an overflow? Thanks! Link to comment
Fail_sh3d Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 nice but you just made a Fluval Edge. It would have been must easier to just buy one IMO http://www.hagen.com/uk/aquatic/addinfo/fluval_edge.cfm But at least he can say HE made it. It's his work, not some store bought premade. I think it makes it more his than anyone else's premade tank. Link to comment
overhal Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 And I still think the DIY's we make is one of the best parts of reef keeping. Link to comment
redkneecoral Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 But at least he can say HE made it. It's his work, not some store bought premade. I think it makes it more his than anyone else's premade tank. I have to agree with you 100%, Something to be proud of and say" I made this" I really enjoyed reading this thread so far. And looking forward to seeing what he'll do next. Amazing job Link to comment
doppelganger Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 nice but you just made a Fluval Edge. It would have been must easier to just buy one IMO http://www.hagen.com/uk/aquatic/addinfo/fluval_edge.cfm it's like 50000000000000 times better than an edge. It's edge inspired with an overflow. Looks great! Awesome job! Link to comment
mmcguffi Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 nice but you just made a Fluval Edge. It would have been must easier to just buy one IMO http://www.hagen.com/uk/aquatic/addinfo/fluval_edge.cfm No. It's much larger than an Edge Looks great, cant wait to see it filled! Link to comment
nickjqz Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Sweet set-up can't wait to see more! Link to comment
grafxalien Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 thanks for the comments. I have been slowly sanding down the sides over the past few days. the top almost hinges freely now. Having a power sander would be nice haha. I should have made the lid, then measured it, then made the base with the exact dimensions so it fit right the first time. I just made all my cuts based on sketchup, which doesn't account for slightly bowed wood. oops. Next up will be the lighting and painting the hood. I am thinking of 18 cree LEDs without optics on a 7.28"x9" heatsink from heatsink USA. Im hoping the large sink will keep it cool without fans. Im going to cut out a hole on the top of the lid (with my trusty dremel of course) and put a 120mm fan cover there so the heat can escape. Still trying to decide on the best lighting arrangement. Also may be on hold for a bit, new job has me working 80hr weeks and get paid at the end of month. nice but you just made a Fluval Edge. It would have been must easier to just buy one IMO http://www.hagen.com/uk/aquatic/addinfo/fluval_edge.cfm You are right, would have been much easier. This whole project started off with me almost buying an edge, but I couldn't think of a great way to add a sump to one. I tried to fix some of the complaints people had about the edge, make it bigger, and add a sump. Plus, like some of the others said, the DIY stuff is just plain out fun. d9hp: Yes, a dremel will easily cut grates into glass. Just rig something up to keep your lines straight and use lots of water. I am by no means a glass expert, but I would guess a great will really add some weak points to the glass. I would make sure the piece doesn't have any stress on it or it may break. Link to comment
grafxalien Posted July 2, 2011 Author Share Posted July 2, 2011 Just purchased my LED setup! Saw steve's LEDs now has luxeon rebel ES in for a cheap price and decided to go for it! Picked up: 7 Philips Luxeon ES ROYAL BLUE 3 Watt LEDs 7 Philips Luxeon ES COOL WHITE 3 Watt LEDs 1 Switching Power Supply 200w, 24V @ 8.3A 2 The Single - Dimming LED Driver Will order a heatsink from heatsink USA once I decide the exact size I want. Then its finding time to wire this bad boy up! Link to comment
pico-reefer Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 this is exactly like the fluval edge Link to comment
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