101g??? Dude, that is so not a paradise :-) Personally I'd go 36x36x20 :biggrin: 20" height is nice. 18" is a little weird to me... not quite shallow, not quite tall ? Not that 20" is tall, hehe. Mind you, any depth we give our tanks is pretty much "shallow" compared to what the inhabitants are probably used to in the wild (save for those tidal pool critters I suppose).

Anyway.. congrats on the sale of the house! Looking forward to seeing your thread title change again soon! :lol:

Thanks Dez. Def still a little early for any purchasing but this is really solidifying in my head. Skimmer is my last hurdle and to be honest the Vertex is last in the running. It's the cheapest I think but I like the pump (Aquabee) on the BM and the proven design (bigger bubble plate) on the Octo. Tough call but not TOO worrisome as this time around I'm not selling my soul (and entire music collection) to buy a fish poo taker-outer =)

Yeah the canopy swing should be rad. If weight is a concern the L may need to be split at the corner and swing out like suicide doors but I want a really sharp and clean looking corner so we'll see.

Like I said... 124G go to man... 48"x48"x22.5".. ;)

Let's not get crazy now!! haha. Those are sweet dimensions, but I'm finding that in my 48x36x14 tank that I'm having a hard time reaching the back of the tank :lol: Thank god it is shallow. Another inch or two higher and I don't think I'd reach the back-bottom. I have short arms :cry: I suppose if you had long arms or if you're not inside the tank often that'd be okay..

I'm not built like t-rex Kien. I'm just built long what can I say?

Glad you're still planning a reef.

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Just throwing this out there.... But I am going to be changing some things around ad will be getting rid of a 36x36x 21 or 22 in the near future it has a stand and Canopy made by marineland the deep dimensions... Pm me if you are interested

Not to over promote the octopus/SWC extremes but I hooked mine up to my tank before it had anything in it but the sand you gave me and it started skimming gunk out of the water within the first day I set it up. Now I have live rock in the water and am starting to cycle and it is working really well. Come on come to the dark side and go with the Octopus.....


http://www.fantasiafest.com/_media/d...s/call_web.jpg

Brett, I have an aquabee on my deltec and it is an awesome pump. It does make a tad bit of noise though but I dont think its much louder than a vortech. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

Cheers,

Chris

Thanks Chris.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/build/new_basement.jpg

My tank is going in the corner at the far back with the vortech dry sides under the stairs and equipment under the stairs along that back wall. Am going to insulate that wall so I don't expect to hear much when I'm watching my tank or the tv.

In other news my wife vetoed a shallow tank so I know 2 things at this point. footprint will be square and the height will be 24". Whether I end up with the 94 gallon or something slightly larger remains to be seen. My tank builder also talked me out of starphire so again I'll be building 'green' and using my magfloat with confidence.

Hey, that will make a cool fish room inside the stairs. Too bad there isn't any water supply nearby.

I'm going to run some pex from where the washer and dryer will be over to that spot under the stairs for a wash tub. Then plumb a drain with pvc back around that room to the washing machine drain. I don't intend to finish that side of the basement so it's free reign!

Excellent! A fish room with no water is almost as bad as a bar with no water.:lol:

Hey Brett, how is the wife doing? Hoepfully the new year sees her getting much better :)

Just curious as to why the builder talked you out of starphire glass? Is it the scratching of the glass, or other factors?

I just got a quote for the 120 (48 x 24 x 24) I want to build this year and the price was pleasntly lower than what I had expected.

I'm betting on Colby :) He tried talking me out of starphire for mine. Say Hi to wife and family and hope all is well ;)

Wife is doing great guys thanks for asking. I'm Mr Mom here at home and I'm busy but we're enjoying each day together at home and the kids are getting even more attention than before. I never thought that was possible! Reality is I need to get myself back to work because I have a mountain of work to catch up on.

I was actually speaking to Jason over at Elite today about my build and he spoke about how much softer low iron glass is. That as well as me remembering I want to keep this build reasonably priced lead me to scrapping starphire once again. I had been considering a DIY tank but after our discussion I'll be taking my business there again. Jason's not only a nice guy to talk to but I trust his work to be both safe and dead sexy.

If I ever did a tank again (and I probably will) I would definitely take it to a pro like Colby (or Jason or Gary). Slapping my 104.72g was kinda fun but I'm not sure I would want to do it again for anything larger than a sump :-) It was rather time consuming, but I did save buckets of money, but opportunity cost and all that jazz right?

When I was getting quotes for my 150g pretty much everyone I talked to told me not to get starphire because scratching issues. I have seen starphire side by side with regular glass and I can't honestly say that I can tell the difference :noidea:

I think in <1/2" glass you don't really need go to low-iron. At 1/2" it's 50/50 and if you're going >1/2" then it's probably worth it. I notice the difference in 1/2", but that's me.

If clarity is really an issue then you should consider acrylic because it's even more optically clear than low-iron glass. But it's even softer, so will scratch way easier. And you have to brace the heck out of the tank. But on the plus side you can buff the scratches out of acrylic.

I'm fussy and see the difference even in glass thinner than 1/2" but after we build these tanks we fill them with blue light. I don't know when I forget myself for a second I auto-steer to whatever people consider the cadillac of whatever. In this case I think starphire makes little sense to my wallet or my eyes.

I see your thinking about going with a bubble magus! I ordered one a few weeks ago and should have it up and running later this week. Ill keep you posted

cheers
Ray

SO hows Brianne doing Brett have nt heard from you in awhile. I hope all is good. hows the new house. I take it that you ae moving in OH ya RIGHT. I forgot about that .

She's getting a bone marrow transplant on Feb 24th thanks for asking Mike.