first snag and I havn't even gotten started.

I'd imagine that 10 gallons are horribly difficult to drill because they are so thin. The solution? Suck it up. Keep the 10 gallons in storage and just get a 20 gallon (30 gallon?) breeder type tank drilled.

In simple terms...

Water goes through overflow in tank directly to the sump. From there it will go through a skimmer section, bubble breaker etc and head to the Baracuda. The return line from the baracuda will be T'd off with some heading straight back into the tank and the other heading up to the frag tank. The frag tank will then drain straight back down to the sump. Frag tank will be on the middle shelf.

As far as I can tell, and I may be completely wrong, but when balling you just need three tanks or jugs whatever but they don't need to be tied directly into the system (Correct me if I'm wrong?). These will be on the bottom shelf.

The top shelf will be used for holding all the dosing stuff. Keep it neat and accessable but out of the way.

Well this tank has certainly evolved into something a little more than the simple bedroom tank you billed it as.:mrgreen:

and how, Doug.

I'm downloading google sketch as we speak so that I can post a rough idea of what the closet is going to look like.

Good call on the 10g's vs 20g's. I've never been able to successfully drill through that 1/8" glass (or whatever thickness it is). The 1/4" they use for 20g's though - no problems at all.

Just takes steady hands.... :wink:

My brain can't wrap itself around google sketch. (Don't laugh) So I used good ol' Paint.

Here's an ultra rough drawing of what the closet is going to look like.

Red line is from tank. Blue is to.
http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...023/layout.jpg

First question:
Would it still be possible to run a herbie type setup on this? Or should I go durso now?
The easiest way I can figure is to join the two drain lines almost right away and have one large line running through the wall?

Stupid Randi tries to make Stupid nice tank and gets herself over her stupid head...grrrrrr

I'm just sayin' it's easier with the thicker glass is all. :) If you can do it then great, but the odds of a good drilling are better with 1/4" than it is with 1/8". 1/8" is pretty brittle stuff.

A few changes to the old plan...things are now actually starting to be ordered!

50 gallon display tank:
- 36X18X18 Rimless Glass Tank with Black Backing
- Centered Overflow drilled for Herbie System, Two returns drilled through the back
- Tank made by the good guys at Red Coral

Lighting
-Icecap Pendant, 14K 250 DE Bulb and Ballast (Will order through Premium Aquatics unless I can find local for comparable)

Flow:
- Barracuda Return Pump, oversized in order to feed frag tank, fuge etc
- Vortech Mp40

Filtration / Chemistry:
- Vertex in 180 Skimmer. I might also use the Vertex in 80 as well, assuming nobody buys it by the time I put in the order for the sump
- 4ft Long sump (aywhere between 55-75 gallons depending on how soon I get this going...My parents have a 55 gallon long (48x12x21) that they are waiting for the last couple fish to kick the bucket (goldfish, mean, I know, but they don't want anything to do with fish anymore)
- Zeovit from the start. 1.5L reactor
- Carbon reactor
- Possibly a calcium reactor too. There are mixed reviews on the zeovit forum as to if I should use one or not...I figure no for the time being and we'll see as we go. It's not an overly large system, so it shouldn't be too hard just manually dose if I need to
- There will only be about 20-30lbs of live rock in the display. The idea behind this is to promote coral growth by making them reach up and out for light.

Ventilation
- Aquarium is open top
- Fans will be placed strategically over certain tanks in the room

Other stuff:
- AquaController Jr. and system
- 2 10 gallon Frag Tanks - Due to space resrictions I'll have to do two 10 gallon frag tanks, each with a seperate drain down into the sump. Both will be light by 96W PCs (that's 96W over each tank) and if needed, Koralia 1s will supply extra movement.

Can you give us an update?

not much to update right now...plans have changed yet again. I"m going to make a fish room, not use an old closet....and things are being ordered...just have to wait for everything to get here. This will definately be a slow build