lastlight's 404

[muck]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Lol I *was* going to title this 'lastlight's 404 (Not found)' but thought it'd be lost on most. Thx man I respect that!

haha... you should have. That was the first thing i thought of from the title too.

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Ooh, a 404. Is there a web based meaning hidden in there?

That is too funny, I thought the same thing... We are just way to geeky/techy

Wow, now that is a big tank... If you ever want some help with any setup, let me know, I would love to give a helping hand.

[sphelps]

It's hard to tell a huge difference between starphire and regular with small samples but I've put together 19mm tanks with and without starphire and it's a huge difference when the glass is that thick and you're looking at large sheet of it with light on the other end. I've almost always had starphire tanks and it hardly scratches any easier, if you did something that scratches the starphire it would probably scratch the regular glass as well. Even my wife won't let me build a tank for us without using starphire. Either way is cool though, looks like a sweet setup!

Guess I'll have to start my 405 gallon build

[lastlight]

Here is a really ugly drawing of the basement which I am renovating once the tank is in place. Very small basement but I have full ownership of one side.

Things of interest:

- 18" wide access tunnel behind tank. Will have floor raise about 2 feet with steps for easy access to back of tank
- Overflow will be on the fishroom side of course
- Nice view from my modest little office space
- So far fishroom is 12x4. Maybe a bit small but once I have the stand built I may move things slightly.

[zum14]

That will be quite the tank. Any ideas for the wall with the overflow box? How are you planning to hide it? Or are you even going to hide it? Ive got same style overflow box and dont like seeing glass edges or inside the overflow box. I was thinking a piece of black acrylic against that wall but i dunno anymore.

[Snappy]

Those dimensions seem very familiar. With 18" behind the tank I suggest you don't put on any weight. However perhaps you are also planning sump access from all sides which would resolve that issue.
If doing it again I also wouldn't waste money on starphire glass. Just one tiny grain of sand in the magfloat can leave a lot of scars.

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by Snappy

Those dimensions seem very familiar. With 18" behind the tank I suggest you don't put on any weight. However perhaps you are also planning sump access from all sides which would resolve that issue.
If doing it again I also wouldn't waste money on starphire glass. Just one tiny grain of sand in the magfloat can leave a lot of scars.

Yeah Greg as soon as I arrived at these dimensions I knew I'd have some explainin' to do haha. 8x3 is the largest piece of glass that fits down my stairs. The rest sorta fell into place with height being the only remaining factor i could tweak. My 392g was 30" high and that was without a doubt too high for my liking. The 225g was 24" which I liked but I had a real issue with upgrading to a tank that was shorter than my current tank which is 26" tall. So the choice was made =)

Amen on the starphire. Dave has 19mm starphire and I laid awake a few nights dreaming about it. In the end I couldn't commit.

As for sump access... one of my must-haves is a sump not under a stand. The sump will be right against the wall that touches the overflow end of the tank. So if you stand in the fishroom and face the overflow box the sump will be on your right. On a stand much to my sore back's delight.

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Yeah Greg as soon as I arrived at these dimensions I knew I'd have some explainin' to do haha. 8x3 is the largest piece of glass that fits down my stairs. The rest sorta fell into place with height being the only remaining factor i could tweak. My 392g was 30" high and that was without a doubt too high for my liking. The 225g was 24" which I liked but I had a real issue with upgrading to a tank that was shorter than my current tank which is 26" tall. So the choice was made =)

Amen on the starphire. Dave has 19mm starphire and I laid awake a few nights dreaming about it. In the end I couldn't commit.

As for sump access... one of my must-haves is a sump not under a stand. The sump will be right against the wall that touches the overflow end of the tank. So if you stand in the fishroom and face the overflow box the sump will be on your right. On a stand much to my sore back's delight.

The dimensions are identical to mine. I will say it is still a challenge reaching stuff that falls to the bottom without a "grab tool" although my tank stand height is 40" which I prefer over a 30" height. The 30" height is more designed to view the tank while sitting down which is fine but when my tank was that height I'd always be bending to see things in the top half when standing. Now it's hard to get people to step away from the tank to sit down.

[golf nut]

Originally Posted by lastlight

I am leaning towards using one of Paul's new Ocean Motion devices but I need his (and anyone else's) input to plan where I need holes. I would like to have current flow one direction for maybe 60 seconds, then reverse and flow the other way. I'm interested in reversing the intakes as well like I think Paul has demonstrated. I'm still confused so hopefully he can chime in here.

Where to start, as usual there will be lots of questions.

What type of coral would you like to keep..
Do you have an idea of the aquascaping,
Can we plumb both ends,
Can we drill the bottom
What internal turnover do you think you would like.
Do you have flood insurance J/K

Paul

[Dez]

Paul, I always enjoy your sense of humour. You don't post much, but every time you do, I chuckle.

Brett, glad that you can get going on this sucker. Should be an amazing tank. Paul is really good to deal with. When I was setting up my tank he helped me with my closed loop/flow even though I didn't even buy the 4way from him. He spend lots of time on the phone explaining and pm'd diagrams etc. Almost a year and a half later, I wouldn't change a thing about my plumbing. I don't have a single powerhead in the tank and all my outlets are hidden and all my sps corals still seem to be getting enough flow.