Drilling a 90 gallon cube(ish).

G

goofchops

Got this tank from another member on the forums who apparently got it from the MACNA raffle. Decided I wanted to put a 1500 gph glass-holes overflow on it, though I've never drilled a tank before. This particular tank (planet aquarium) has 1/2" glass, so I guess it wasn't too difficult of a drilling job. I am planning on dismantling the 50gallon in the background and adding all the stuff from there into the 90gallon once it's set up. So here goes nothin'.

The aforementioned tank, at MACNA 2012:
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and the drilling process:
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The final result:
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The hole on the right is better because it's the second one I drilled, after I sort of figured out how to not hate the sound of metal on glass so much.

I still need to drill the returns, but I forgot to order them the first time around so they're in the mail. More to come soon!
 
Good job but For your next holes I would put a little more pad on the bottom just incase the glass drops. Also, might want to do it in more lit room. Fish tank lighting good for viewing, not good for drilling :)
 
Ah, I actually had a big plastic tub filled with thick towels for catching the water and the glass when it dropped, which I moved to help with the clarity of the photo. Those towels in the photo are on the underside of the glass to keep the tank from vibrating on the floor. Definitely agree with the lighting thing though, that room doesn't have a ceiling light in it unfortunately. I need to stop spending money on my tank and invest in a good lamp! ;)
 
Looks like the tank's got potential. Good luck w the setup. Going to upgrade any of the equipments or reusing all from the 50g?
 
All new equipment. Thanks bimmerzs, drilling this thing was really scary at first but once I got used to it, it wasn't so bad. Got my return kit today and I'm wondering if two 3/4" loc-line return kits is overkill for this tank. I was going to place them on either side of the overflow, midway between the overflow and the edge of the tank. Is there any sort of rule to the return placement?
 
looks like yal are cuttin coke with those get up you got on! safety first = lame. On the return id keep it about the same level, any lower and you get more reverse siphon going on when you power down; higher and u'd probably get too close to the edge of the tank. good work.
 
It was nice to meet you. Hope the sand works out for your 90. Any updates on your build?
 
I realized that the stand that the 90 gallon is sitting on is too low, and since I don't want to paint the back I'm going to block it up on some 4x4s. I recently impulse-bought an inexpensive 20 gallon frag tank from another member intended to sit next to the display in my living room.
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The tank had some odd sort of acrylic side overflow thing in it, along with a few PVC pipes. The acrylic side-overflow was in pretty bad shape, so i tore it out, drilled another piece of acrylic, and replaced it.
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I got really distracted with this project. The stand that was sold with this tank wouldn't fit in my mustang and it didn't really go with my house anyway, so I decided to build a really simple throw-together DIY plywood stand.
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After that I got a little carried away, and decided to add a dark walnut finish to it to match the floor better.
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I then decided I wanted to add a door, to make it look like an acceptable piece of furniture.
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I also made a sump for this tank.
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I installed the overflow box and the returns (which are drilled) for the 90 gallon. I still need to plumb it, but I have all the supplies I need besides the PVC which i am ordering from grainger. More updates soon!
 
Finally moving along with the build. I decided to block the stand up with some 4x4s because the stand was super short. I dont want to paint the back of the tank and also don't want to see the edge of the wall paneling edge I'm putting it by. Got two AI sol led fixtures and all the rest of the equipment put together. Now,it is just a matter of assembling it all. I decided to install a 1500 gph glass holes overflow and 2 3/4" drilled loc line returns. I feel like I am building this whole thing from scratch! Gonna be ready to move it all soon!

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4x4 pile for the base

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Assembled, ready for primer and paint.

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Overflow and loc line returns installed.

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And The little frag tank I put together I filled with half tank water and half RO/DI saltwater. I added rocks from the system I'm moving into the 90 gallon (which I really need to get good pictures of). It's going to be a very convenient thing to have when I'm moving the corals into the new system. I have a skimmer in it just in case things get ugly with the move. This process is going very slowly, but I'm glad about that. It seems like everything in this hobby I did slowly came out better than rush work.

So that's about it for now, I need to get some photos of the tank everything is moving out of, but it's sort of a mess of live rock and corals
 
Impressive. Stand looks professional. What you use to bond the acrylic to glass? Assuming thats a glass tank. I used standard aquarium stuff and it worked ok. Read GE brand is better. Lets see ya wrasse
 
AHL I just used the aqueon aquarium sealant which I bought when I went to the dollar per gallon sale at pet supplies plus.

Finally finished painting the base that I am setting the stand on. I need to modify the 35 gallon sump so the water level is deeper, and I am also changing the layout a bit. This is actually the sump from the frag tank/display tank all built into one that was the big raffle prize at MACNA 2012. I'm removing all the glass baffles and replacing them with acrylic, and I'm drilling holes in the last baffle to act as ''teeth'' to improve flow a bit. pics:

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The sump (not yet modified) with 2 skimmer options. A Euro reef CS 6-1 and a Eshopps PSK 150 cone skimmer I won at the winter social. Any suggestions on which one would be better?

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The painted base in place where the tank will most likely be.

I also modified the SCA-301 skimmer on my frag tank because this particular skimmer throws out a lot of micro bubbles. It now leaks nearly no micro bubbles at all, and none get in the display. I used 2 small sections of different sized tubing. Pictures of that soon if anyone is interested.
 
never used the eshopps cone, but I'v heard they work really well. I think its a sicce pump right? Iv always liked those in Reef octopus skimmers (minus the old sicce 2500)
 
Yea the eshopps uses a PSK. My favorite part about this skimmer is that it was free. :D

Here is the SCA 301 mod. A 5/8" piece of tubing threaded down into the pump and then a 3/4" tube fitted onto the top of that. Works great and the skimmer still functions perfectly.
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Good looking bubble column. get the avast skimmer hooked up right? not that ud every forget to use a feed pump... ;)
 
Well, still haven't filled the tank yet. I actually ended up deciding to build a whole new stand for it instead of blocking the stand it came with up on 4x4s. The black stand didn't go well with the rest of the room anyway. I drew up some designs, and decided on a modern look with an open front. Gonna go with a light finish, probably going to apply a simple tung oil coating on it and leave the natural light red oak color. Here are some progress shots:

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Finishing the rest of the building tomorrow.
 
How's it coming? I'm basically copying you with my cube

Sent from my Nexus 10
 
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