New Tank! ...and first post!

[jlaronde]

Sorry for the delay in responses...I've been away for a couple of weeks.

The Inter-American tank is great. I purchased it with beveled and polished edges on all surfaces - including the overflow. There was excess silicone in some areas, mostly on the bottom edges and on the bottom of the tank, but nothing visible once the tank was filled. I'm not sure if the Starfire glass was worth the extra expense or not since I have nothing to compare it to. I'm told though there is definitely a difference when placed side to side with regular glass.

One word of warning.... be prepared to wait for delivery! I actually ordered the tank on April 17th, and did not take possession until August 27th. Part of the wait was because Mitch from Inter-American had promised free shipping as he had a truck headed out my way. The delivery date kept changing every week for almost 3 months. I wasn't too concerned though as I wasn't ready for the tank until August anyhow.

When the tank arrived, it was drilled with the wrong size drain hole and one of the bulkheads he supplied was the wrong size. I had ordered a 2" drain and he had drilled it for a 1 1/2" drain. (It was no major problem since my Lifereef sump was built with 2 - 1" drains, it was just a matter of a changing a few fittings).

I had originally planned on placing the sump and all equipment under the tank, however after gathering everything together, it was going to be a little tight so I relocated the equipment into the furnace room below the tank. The 1 1/2" drain from the tank is split into 3 - 1" pipes. 2 go through the floor into the sump, the 3rd goes into the refugium, then down into the sump, right beside the intake of the main pump (hopefully bypassing the skimmer).

The main pump (Little Giant 4MDQX-SC) returns water to the main tank via 2 - 3/4" returns. Additional circulation in the tank is provided by 2 - AquaClear 5000 powerheads (approx. 1000 gal/hr each) I'm still trying different nozzles / tubing to obtain the best circulation. Presently the powerheads are each run independently at 10 minute intervals (on the Aquacontroller 2), creating a left - right current, then reversing. I would have preferred drilling for a closed loop, but I wasn't really sure on how I was going to go about it, so I settled on the powerheads.

The stand was made from a 2" x 2" welded square tube frame, then covered with 1" x 6" oak. The top and bottom is 3/4" plywood. The whole stand weighs about 300lbs. (way overbuilt, but I can sleep soundly at night.)

James

Stand fabrication:


Another: