Sunshine Coast - 10ft 500G build

[DAVE]

Originally Posted by thebrinc

mihaivapler, what thickness of glass did they quote?

For 4ft tall they're probably going with 1", maybe even 1" laminated?

30" tall is really the very upper limit for doing a tank in 1/2" glass if you brace the hell out of it. With my waterline 2" below I'm only supporting 28" of water pressure plus the bottom is euro-braced in 6" wide strips so there's 1" for the silicone to attach to the sides. With the bottom 1" and 2" waterline there's only 27" of unsupported glass.

Although I'm aware that I'm on the limit with 1/2" glass the cost would double for 3/4" glass and with a proper 2" steel frame I'm confident it'll work. I'm also basing my build off two other reefers with the same dimensions and glass thickness that have had long term (5yrs +) success with their tanks.

Basically the same dimensions as my recent build. Shocked you went with 1/2". I braced the hell out of mine and I still went with 3/4". Coming close to limits with a 10' box of water is scary.

Nice work on the stand...looks very nice.

[mihaivapler]

Originally Posted by thebrinc

mihaivapler, what thickness of glass did they quote?

For 4ft tall they're probably going with 1", maybe even 1" laminated?

30" tall is really the very upper limit for doing a tank in 1/2" glass if you brace the hell out of it. With my waterline 2" below I'm only supporting 28" of water pressure plus the bottom is euro-braced in 6" wide strips so there's 1" for the silicone to attach to the sides. With the bottom 1" and 2" waterline there's only 27" of unsupported glass.

Although I'm aware that I'm on the limit with 1/2" glass the cost would double for 3/4" glass and with a proper 2" steel frame I'm confident it'll work. I'm also basing my build off two other reefers with the same dimensions and glass thickness that have had long term (5yrs +) success with their tanks.

The quote is for 3/4" glass. 2 panels for 4x10 by 3/4" shapfire for viewing panels,as will be a room divider tank one panel of 4x10 for the bottom that is 2 3/4" panels laminated and 2 side pieces of 4x4 by 3/4"..and will be in the wall so does the have to be pretty so for that the tank will be framed with steel L profiles and lots of cross braces.its a bit scary so i think I will drop the hight to only 40"..another option was acrylic 1 1/2" for the same cost but I'm afraid of the acrylic bowing because of the 4 feet high and will be easier to scratch and in case that I want to change the house it will have to be cut in pieces and waisted so with the glass just cut the silicone and reassemble it..will research some more until then as this will happen next summer..

[mihaivapler]

And off course after the foundation will be built))))) will require a good one as it will be around 1200 gallon,so that gives about 12000 pounds including the tank the water and rock.....

[thebrinc]

Nice one! Sounds like an epic build. I'm a fan of glass myself... although acrylic is clearer, I wonder if 1.5" acrylic is clearer than 3/4" starfire...

UPS just dropped my silicone off and I have a friend coming over for the weekend to help with the build tomorrow.

Fingers crossed!!

[mihaivapler]

Originally Posted by thebrinc

Nice one! Sounds like an epic build. I'm a fan of glass myself... although acrylic is clearer, I wonder if 1.5" acrylic is clearer than 3/4" starfire...

UPS just dropped my silicone off and I have a friend coming over for the weekend to help with the build tomorrow.

Fingers crossed!!

Yes it will be.can't wait to start it.not to mention my wife , she want a bigger tank for her blue tangs,she loves this guy's so much that after buying one we went over to another reefer and rescue another one that was sitting in his sump and few month later she went to the store and bought another 2 without telling me so I just ended up with 4 of them.poor fish don't know how they made it because she just dump them in the tank without acclimate them)

[beauroy]

how are things moving along?

[thebrinc]

Major breakthrough! Some friends came over from out of town unexpectedly and I put them to work











We got the panels in place and the new seams glued. I used 11 tubes(as opposed to the previous attempt's 6) to lay the main seams so now I'm out of silicone again. lol. Good news is this time the seams look absolutely amazing! No bubbles and good spacing throughout as far as I can tell. Thing of beauty! I'll only be able to inspect the rear seam once I've taken the jigs off though... but it looks really good so far.

So happy it worked this time!! Woohoooo

I'll give the main seams a week to dry and then add the bracing, give it another week and then we have to lift this sucker up to get the foam underneath.

In the meantime I've been stocking up on plumbing supplies and have the Reeflo gold dusted off that I bought a couple months ago in preparation. One more box should be shipped by later this week with some valves and couplings.

[mihaivapler]

Looks good

[thebrinc]

Hey Guys... so 3 days into my perfect silicone seams curing, still clamped, these bubbles / tears started forming in the center of the seams.
Anyone seen this before? Almost lost control of my bowels when I saw this last night and have been up googling ever since to no avail.



The darker portion in the photo is the structural seam, then the corner bead to the left and the blue painters tape...

Any chance that this is normal? That the black silicone does it too but you just can't see it?
I'm close to the end of my rope here

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by thebrinc

Hey Guys... so 3 days into my perfect silicone seams curing, still clamped, these bubbles / tears started forming in the center of the seams.
Anyone seen this before? Almost lost control of my bowels when I saw this last night and have been up googling ever since to no avail.



The darker portion in the photo is the structural seam, then the corner bead to the left and the blue painters tape...

Any chance that this is normal? That the black silicone does it too but you just can't see it?
I'm close to the end of my rope here

Could it be slight imperfections in the glass edge that is being filled in by the bubbles? I am no expert at tank building, but just a thought.

There are vendors (ie Dave at Concept) that are experts on this forum, and would be nice to hear from them.