I guess it's about time that I get a build thread started on this. We previously had a 120 (60x18x26) setup in our dining room for the last couple of years. We had an area of the sump to hold frags, however it was in our fuge and a constant hassle to keep the frags free of algea. In addition to this, we had a 37 column setup in our living room as a SPS tank, and the 15 gallon nano that we recently built for the nano contest.
In the end it was just too many tanks, and increasingly difficult to keep up with the alk/calc demands in the tanks with 2 part. So... the solution. We decided to break down the 120, and in its place put a 100 gallon cube (30x30x24) and a 65 gallon frag tank (360x24x16). These are to be plumbed in line with a 75 gallon sump and a calcium reactor will help us to automate the alk/calc demands. When all is said and done, we will only have this setup and the nano setup left to take care of.
Here are some Google Sketchup drawings I made of the setup:
The idea here was to make 2 separate stands, that are open on the inside, so that we can have a sump that goes the length of both tanks. The 100 cube will drain into the 65, and the 65 will drain into the sump. The hole on the right side of the 65 is where the 100 cube drains into it. All of the plumbling will be hidden below the 100 so this bulkhead will be the only sign of these tanks being attached to each other.
The white box on the left is to represent the trashcan that we use for an autotop off. The white box in the middle is to represent our skimmer. The white boxes on the right represent the calcium reactor and the CO2 container.
This is the backside to show how the 2 separate stands come together:
And this is a 2x4 only view:
Last edited by rosebud161616; 08-11-2011 at 01:31 PM.
Next was time to figure out who our tank builder was. We got quotes from GlassCages, Miracles, and Great Lakes. Great Lakes was impossible to deal with, their information on their website was conflicting, and they just didn't seem to want to help. So they were out. Miracles was quite a bit more expensive, and we have only had good experience with GlassCages, so we went the GC route.
Here they are waiting in our garage:
The only thing that I dislike is that they don't use the acrylic overflow as the overflow, but instead as a cover over the glass overflow. The glass overflow is made with 1/2" glass like the rest of the tank, so it really takes a up a lot of room. I could have saved a lot of real estate if they had just siliconed in the overflow.
They also use 1/2" glass around the bottom to build a frame as well. I didn't know that they did that so that was a surprise to us, but not a huge deal.
---------- Post added at 01:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:12 PM ----------
Next it was time to build the stand. I didn't take a ton of pictures of the process, but here is a shot when they were just a basic 2x4 frame. Ignore the very messing garage.
We got the stands built, skinned, stained, and ready to go. We got the 120 broken down, the fish temporarily housed in buckets, and moved the new tanks in its place. We have some rock from the 120 in the 65 gallon with the fish while we cycle the cube and sump. Eventually we'll change the plumbing back over so that the cube drains into the 65.
The lights are left over from the 120. These won't be sticking around.