ScubaSteve's new Tank Build - The Coral Cube Redux

[reefwars]

dont do 24" i hate crawling in mine, mine is 24 x 24 x 24 and it sucked i wish i had went 20"

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by tang daddy

Glad to hear about the upgrade, I would make the new tank 20" tall. What kind of lights are you running?

It's too bad you have a small foot print for the sump, a larger sump would be great. Are you having a tank for the ATO aswell?

Thanks dude! I'm running a 250W HQI with two 65W actinic PCs, but the PCs may be modded to T5s or LEDs in the near future.

I have room under the stand to have an ATO tank but I think I might just do an external reservoir that sits behind the tank (the tank is angled in a corner, so there is a mile of room behind it.

Originally Posted by reefwars

dont do 24" i hate crawling in mine, mine is 24 x 24 x 24 and it sucked i wish i had went 20"

Ya, that's been my debate as well. I want the extra volume but the tank is already a bit of a PITA with the eurobracing (WHICH I WILL NEVER HAVE ON A TANK AGAIN!!!!) and the depth.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by reefwars

dont do 24" i hate crawling in mine, mine is 24 x 24 x 24 and it sucked i wish i had went 20"

Ah hey, I've been meaning to ask ya... What did the 24"x24"x24" cost you for glass and silicone?

[reefwars]

i got mine in edmonton for 120 or 140 and it basically was a tank but not siliconed, i got the five panes,3 holes,3 bulkheads,and 1 large piece of black acrylic for i think it was 140, and it was all beveled and polished 12mm glass.silicone was only a few bucks, your gonna need tape,razorblades,clamps,and rubbing alcohol as well.not to mention the tools plus drillbit if you plan on drilling it yourslef.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by reefwars

i got mine in edmonton for 120 or 140 and it basically was a tank but not siliconed, i got the five panes,3 holes,3 bulkheads,and 1 large piece of black acrylic for i think it was 140, and it was all beveled and polished 12mm glass.silicone was only a few bucks, your gonna need tape,razorblades,clamps,and rubbing alcohol as well.not to mention the tools plus drillbit if you plan on drilling it yourslef.

That ain't half bad! I'm planning on having someone local cut and polish the glass and do the notch of the overflow weir. If they can drill the holes for me to save time, Awesome; if not I've got no problem doing it. I've been trying to find a ballpark figure to know what's a fair price.

[ScubaSteve]

Glass has been ordered! It'll be here Friday so I'm building a new freakin' tank over the long weekend!

I decided that since I am going to do this, I'm gonna do it right and go all out. 3/8" glass all around and I've asked for all visible edges to be polished and for the supplier to cut the overflow notch and drill the holes in the back glass and the overflow. Yes, I could have done those cuts myself but the way I see it, my time is worth X dollars and I have to go buy the tools to do it, so really... it makes sense for me to have them do it. Plus they'll make it way prettier than I can. So all said and done, it's more than I was first planning in my head, price-wise, but it's still not half bad.

I went with a 20" high tank, so that'll be a 50G plus a 15G sump. I'll be covering the back of the tank with a sheet of 1/8" acrylic. I decided on a beananimal-style overflow (1 full siphon plus secondary open channel drain plus emergency drain). I have designed the overflow system to handle well over 800 gph (can go as high as 1400 gpm if for whatever reason s*** goes really sideways) but I plan to operate it down around 500 - 600 gph.

I'm going to be shoehorning a Vertex IN-80 under the stand and am looking for an ATO and a carbon reactor. I don't plan on going any more complex than that because, well, I am poor and I want it to be as simple as possible. If I can find affordable 2-part dosers, that'll be it.

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by reefwars

i got mine in edmonton for 120 or 140 and it basically was a tank but not siliconed, i got the five panes,3 holes,3 bulkheads,and 1 large piece of black acrylic for i think it was 140, and it was all beveled and polished 12mm glass.silicone was only a few bucks, your gonna need tape,razorblades,clamps,and rubbing alcohol as well.not to mention the tools plus drillbit if you plan on drilling it yourslef.

Hey Denny, quick question for you. Did you use long spread clamps or just use tape to hold the edges together as it cured? I'm definitely using corner clamps to keep the whole shmozzle square but have been debating whether I really need the big spreaders on a tank this size. What are your thoughts?

[Dive_dry]

i will be following this build as my glass will be in soon for two tanks

[bleevin]

Where did you get your glass from in the vancouver area and how much did it cost for them to do all the cutting and drilling?

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by bleevin

Where did you get your glass from in the vancouver area and how much did it cost for them to do all the cutting and drilling?

I went with Niki Glass in North Vancouver on the recommendation of a fellow reefer. They've been pretty good so far. They are CNC cutting all of the glass, polishing and beveling the visible edges, drilling the holes and cutting the overflow weir notch in 3/8" glass all around for about $260. The glass itself was only $120 or so (tank glass + overflow glass). The rest of that cost is mostly the polishing and the remainder is the other finishing stuff I had them do. Bit on the steep side for what I had originally planned but I figured if I'm building a tank I might as well just go all out and do it the way I've been dreaming of.