My new monster/230g

Canadian Man · #1 03-02-2003, 03:52 AM

The last pic is neet. If you look at the front pane of glass you can see that it's starphire glass. You can tell this because if you look at the rear pane of glass you cant even see through it on end.
Also a white piece of paper looks white on the front pane and greenish on the rear pane.

Man I look Happy!

EmilyB · #2 03-02-2003, 04:12 AM

8) What a great dog....

I can't wait to see the tank Jon.

trilinearmipmap · #3 03-02-2003, 04:01 PM

I am wondering a few things about these Interamerican tanks.

With the Eurobracing doesn't it make it hard to plumb the returns from you sump and/or closed loop, do you have to make more 90 degree angles in the line and would that impede your flow?

Also has anyone bought a stand from Interamerican? I see they have various stands for sale on their website, it is hard to order one sight unseen, any experience with this?

StirCrazy · #4 03-02-2003, 04:09 PM

Jonathan, how thick would you have had to go to make it "braceless" and if you looked at that option how much of a price difference was there?

Steve

SuperFudge · #5 03-02-2003, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

Jonathan, how thick would you have had to go to make it "braceless" and if you looked at that option how much of a price difference was there?

Steve

And a price that you paid after all was said and done with that one would be awesome too!

Nice tank,

BC_Grl · #6 03-02-2003, 05:02 PM

What a cool-looking tank!!

Aquattro · #7 03-02-2003, 05:03 PM

Just some advice ......take the dog out before filling with water.

Nice tank!

Canadian Man · #8 03-02-2003, 05:05 PM

trilinearmipmap; Well I plan on having my return plumbing just hang over the eurobracing. I could use the extra hole in the overflow but I am using that for the intake on the closed loop. So in the overflow there is a 2" bulkhead and a 1.5" bulkhead. 2" for the drain to the sump and 1.5 for drain for closed loop. I may just plumb the return from the sump overtop of the overflow as the tank is going in the wall.

Steve; To go braceless I believe the tank would have to go to 1" at a 30" height. If I wanted to go 30" front to back dimension then the price would have gone up huge. Reason is because starphire only comes in 1/2" glass so to go braceless or 30 wide you have to get 2 pieces of starphire bonded together to make a 1" piece. The extra starphire isnt too much but the bonding of the 2 is big bucks! So to go braceless or 30" wide(basicaly the same thing construction wise) would close to double the cost of the tank.

SuperFudge · #9 03-02-2003, 05:14 PM

No $ for us Jonathan ?

Just wondering as im considering starphire myself,Thanks

TRS · #10 03-02-2003, 05:55 PM

Jonathan,

The tank looks great!!!

Did you buy a stand from Inter-American or are you building your own?

The steel stand that came with my 230 gallon tank is made of thin-wall 1" square tubing, but I don't trust it. The glass tank weighs ~400 pounds dry and it seems quite flimsy. I am not a structural engineer, but my gut instinct tells me to build another stand that supports a potential weight of at least ~3500 pounds. I will trust a stand to hold my full reef tank if and when I believe it will support the weight of my classic Mustang. No, I am not going to try this!

It may be going overboard, but I would rather be safe than sorry. Afterall, it would really be painful to see all of that money go onto the floor and down the drain...not to mention all the grief my wife would put me through.

I contemplated the option of wood construction for the stand, but the cost of wood is quite a bit of money and I was concerned about warping. I plan to use 1/8" wall 2" x 2" square steel tubing. That should do the trick. For the top of the stand, I plan to use 3/4" plywood.

:?: Are any of you with >200 gallon tanks using styrofoam or rubber matting between the stand and tank? Any advise you can offer on the subject?