Wonder how that works with bracing? Brace just covers the top of the cutout?

My new tank is coming with a 40" external overflow and 48 slotted teeth, along with an 8" eurobrace. I am curious how they attached it as well, I suspect that it will be welded to the eurobrace along the top of the teeth.
It should be here in the next couple of weeks.

Mitch

like a euro brace? or center brace? if its a center brace hmmm.. you would be losing the adhesive surface, would almost be better to remove it and put two smaller ones 1/3 from each end. this would be better for the lights also. maybe ask Sea star if they are ripping it apart to re seal it anyways they might have some good ideas on how to do it.

what ever you end up doing if you cut teeth again I'll slap ya next time I am in victoria. nice smoth rounded edge, quiet and much easier to keep clean.

Steve

Brad - you planning to use an insump or external skimmer?

A setup I did for a friend had a 90g sump (48x18x24). I put in a 23" high glass baffle on one side so the 48" length was split 12"/36". I used the 36" side for the insump skimmer, reactors, return pump. The 12" side was used to hold ~20 gallons of fresh water topoff. In the beginning, we used the 12" side as a holding tank for new fishes to go through hyposalinity treatment over several weeks to get rid of bugs.

As far as internal or external overflow is concern, either way its gonna suck. Internal and it takes up coral real estate. External and it makes the tank shape awkward with protrusions coming out and more plumbing is visible. I have had both and i will stick to the internal. It just gives a more clean-line, finished look

I second the the tiles at the bottom idea if you want the brown sand look right away. or just grow gsp and let it take over the bottom.

One thing I really like on my current 120, i have an older tunze (one speed 6080) pointing straight down on the back wall. This pushes all the detritus out of the rock work, to the inside perimeter of the tank and helps push light detritus up in the water column towards the overflows. It provides great indirect flow and makes cleaning very easy.

good luck

eurobrace. Currently the tank has a plastic trim with dual braces, which gotta go.

Chin, I've got an in-sump skimmer. My current sump is baffled at 45/15 inches, and the 45 section holds the reactors, the smaller chamber contains to pickup for the return pump and the float valve. I'm hoping to use this sump if I can fit it in...

I'm going to have to go external plumbing, just found out the bottom is tempered, so that choice is made for me. I could minimize exposed stuff if I drill the back glass and have an overflow inside, but then I'd still need to be away from the wall, and if so, might as well go with external overflow. I think...

Oh, and I'm going with sand this time. It's going to be a display in the LR, so I'm going for the natural reef look. I also miss all the life in the sand, and GF wants a madarin :)

Unless you custom build the tank, external overflows are very difficult to retrofit. How do you get the one section lower than the rest of the tank? A small internal box is much easier.

could be a dumb question as ive never done it but could you remove the bottom panel and exchange it for the back if they are the same measurements or remove the bottom and add a different piece??? not sure how much it would cost but maybe something to consider so you have the tank you want:)

what are you doing to support the floor or is it on concrete??

I was thinking dremel?? I was told that it's not that difficult (never tried personally tho)

My current tank has a small overflow box internally, not really annoying, but I imagine the tank would be nicer without it

you can dremel glass?

with a diamond tip blade you can cut just about anything with anything:):)

ok if that eurobrace to easy. it will just go along the top. so you make your overflow notch a little deeper as you will want the water below the euor brace anyways.

I would get sea star to make the notch while it is there. they have the tools to do it fast and if they have the tank apart while they do it then all the easier. they can just use there belt sander with silicon carbide abrasive and it will cut it in no time. they might even have a better tool to do it also. just ask them about it to find out. so I would make your notch 1.25" deep and say 12" long. if your using 1/2" for the euro brace this will give you a water level about 1/2" below the euro brace.

drilling your external overflow bottom for the bulkheads will be a lot simpler and allow for even neater plumbing than drilling the back of the tank, also reducing the space you need to leave behind the tank. as the overflow just has to be barly bigger than the dia of the bulkheads. if you go out the back of the tank you need your bulkhead thread or slip lenght, then the lenght of the 90 or "T" and space to install them. I would preinstall the bulkheads into the overflow bottom then assemble the overflow, the pipes inside the overflow can just be friction fit with slip and you will have enough room under to work what you want. this also allows your two or 3 pipes to run strait down into the stand for a very clean look with out a bunch of 90's and such.

how much flow are you planning on running through the sump from the tank? this will decide the bulkhead size for the herbie, remember under full syphon the pipe will flow more than if just gravity fed with air also. so you would have to see what people running herbies are using for bulkhead sizes and what there return pump is so you can figure out what you need.

Steve

I used a dremmel on mine after I notched it with a glass cutter to even it out. you need the expensive diamond bits and you need the extender whip that lets you use it like a pen grinder as you need to have water running on the glass constantly to prevent it from getting hot.

Brad, I was just thinking.. where exactly in the house are you putting this?

Steve

Steve, Seastar won't cut a notch, only drill holes. And I don't need to take the tank apart, just reseal the corners.

Drains will likely be 1" pipes for the herbie, I'll be running maybe 1000gph, probably less.

Tank is going in the living room, against the wall backing onto the kitchen. Or it's going into the bathroom of the suite, depends on weight :)

if you want to see the noise level on a "beananimal" overflow i am getting a tank this weekend with it. you are free to come and see if the noise level ease of setting it up would be worth it for you.

Jon, I'll take you up on that. PM with your info and we'll talk!

Hey Jon and Brad.

Just for clarification: Jon's tank doesn't have a full-on Bean Animal overflow. I disconnected the piece of tubing from one of the stand pipes and eventually removed one of the elbows effectively turning it into a Herbie with two fail-safes because it was more hassle than it was worth. I did that about 5 months ago when we moved into our new place after living with a fussy BeanAnimal overflow for a year. I find it's less finicky this way.

As far as notching goes, SeaStar won't cut a notch but they will build the tank with a notch. The back of my old tank (now Jon's) is notched but they built it by siliconing two smaller pieces on either side of the shortened back pane of glass (this is concealed by the piece of acrylic glued to the inside of the back pane of glass). So one option, albeit likely expensive, is to have them rebuild the back pane of glass.

Thanks for clarifying. either way you designed that thing to be silent. Thanks again Andrew

Andrew, I don't think I want to tank the tank apart and replace panels, so worst case, I'll drill the back and use an internal overflow box using some sort of herbie/beananimal design.
What are you running now? Upgrading ?

Bowing out to spend more time golfing and generally being more active. I want to play competitively next year (more than anything for the fun of it) and need to put the time in to getting my handicap down to a scratch.

Oh sure, be a Dr, then work on the obligatory golf game :) Hey, we still need to get out for that ride!

well that suck that sea star won't notch a tank. for mine I did it with a glass cutter and a template to follow. you can't run corners with a glass cutter so it is a big curve.. then I used the dremmel to shape it. going to be a lot harder to use a glass cutter on the thicker glass you will have.. talk to the glass smith.. they have glass grinding router bits... might be an option.

Steve

Ya, I certainly wouldn't use a glass cutter :) Japarto suggested a cutting disk, he's used one before without problems. Victoria Glass might also do it. Worst case, I'll drill it and run an internal box. Not a huge deal, if it's going to be easier.

ya the diamond cutting disks might work. just keep water on it so it doesn't heat up.

Steve