blfuller123
Premium Member
I have been thinking for a little while about upgrading my current tank and I think after I get back from vacation at the end of the month, I am going to start getting things together to do it with the goal of doing the change over within the next 5-6 months.
The tank will be a peninsula style room divider. The longest that I can do is 72 inches but I think I am going to make it 48 wide and 30 tall. I really like the way the 36 inch height looks, but if something is on the bottom that I have to get, I end up getting wet, not to mention a tank this size wont fit through a standard door. If I do a 72x48x30, that will make the display about 450 gallons and I will make another sump, im thinking around 48x24x18. I dont want to add any additional rock, I already have between 325-350 pounds in my current tank. I am going to do a barebottom tank this time and I want to keep the rock in the center like I already have it but add about a foot of swimming area all the way around it for the fish.
I was looking at having the tank built because it is convient, but having someone build a custom tank this size is really expensive. My dad finishing up a new 24x24 workshop so I actually have a place that I can build everything. The things I plan on building myself are the tank, stand, skimmer and sump. I have a lot of experience building with acrylic and I am wanting to take on another large project.
The tank is going to be built out of 3/4 inch acrylic. It is going to have an external over flow that spans about 36 inches. I plan on building external wave boxes to house 2 Tunze 6305s and 4 returns with an oceans motions 4 way for circulation. This should keep all pumps out of the display. I built a 600 gallon like this and it turned out really nice looking. On the 600 gallon I built I used clear for the piece that I cut the overflow teeth in, but I think I will do it in black this time.
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You can see the plumbing and holes for the wave boxes in this picture:
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I already have 96 leds on a 60x10 heatsink. I think I will get another heatsink made up that is 60x5 and add 48 more leds. I currently have 60 degree optics and I might need to change those since this tank will only be 30 tall instead of 36.
I still have a lot of acrylic tubing left over from when I was building skimmers before. Here is an example of one of the ones I built. They use a dart needle wheel and have 12 inch chambers. They will not fit inside the stand, but I will set it where my chiller currently sits and move the chiller into the stand with a duct to move the hot air out of the stand.
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The stand is going to be 38 or 39 inches tall. I will build it out of steel probably in 2 pieces that can be assembled in place since it will not fit through a standard size door.
I will build the sump to fit the stand and incorporate my new dosing reservoir that Marc built into the stand as well.
I will update this thread as I make progress so it will be slow for a little while.
The tank will be a peninsula style room divider. The longest that I can do is 72 inches but I think I am going to make it 48 wide and 30 tall. I really like the way the 36 inch height looks, but if something is on the bottom that I have to get, I end up getting wet, not to mention a tank this size wont fit through a standard door. If I do a 72x48x30, that will make the display about 450 gallons and I will make another sump, im thinking around 48x24x18. I dont want to add any additional rock, I already have between 325-350 pounds in my current tank. I am going to do a barebottom tank this time and I want to keep the rock in the center like I already have it but add about a foot of swimming area all the way around it for the fish.
I was looking at having the tank built because it is convient, but having someone build a custom tank this size is really expensive. My dad finishing up a new 24x24 workshop so I actually have a place that I can build everything. The things I plan on building myself are the tank, stand, skimmer and sump. I have a lot of experience building with acrylic and I am wanting to take on another large project.
The tank is going to be built out of 3/4 inch acrylic. It is going to have an external over flow that spans about 36 inches. I plan on building external wave boxes to house 2 Tunze 6305s and 4 returns with an oceans motions 4 way for circulation. This should keep all pumps out of the display. I built a 600 gallon like this and it turned out really nice looking. On the 600 gallon I built I used clear for the piece that I cut the overflow teeth in, but I think I will do it in black this time.
You can see the plumbing and holes for the wave boxes in this picture:
I already have 96 leds on a 60x10 heatsink. I think I will get another heatsink made up that is 60x5 and add 48 more leds. I currently have 60 degree optics and I might need to change those since this tank will only be 30 tall instead of 36.
I still have a lot of acrylic tubing left over from when I was building skimmers before. Here is an example of one of the ones I built. They use a dart needle wheel and have 12 inch chambers. They will not fit inside the stand, but I will set it where my chiller currently sits and move the chiller into the stand with a duct to move the hot air out of the stand.
The stand is going to be 38 or 39 inches tall. I will build it out of steel probably in 2 pieces that can be assembled in place since it will not fit through a standard size door.
I will build the sump to fit the stand and incorporate my new dosing reservoir that Marc built into the stand as well.
I will update this thread as I make progress so it will be slow for a little while.
