Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Stand Design
So after contemplating using steel or a wood to build my stand and after reading all the positives in the reef central thread I've decided to go with a wooden stand made with 2x4 pieces of pitch pine. I had to customize my stand in incorporate my chiller because I intend to have a very clean cut tank with the display tank the focus and with the rest of equipment hidden within the stand. Basically i designed the frame using Google Sketch Up which is a free CAD tool. It's rather addictive and relatively easy to use. I will probably use it to design the plumbing section of my tank as well. Anyway below is the initial design for my tank.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Planning
Have been really lazy in updating this blog but here goes:
I have had an aquarium built with dimensions looking like 48x24x18 inches. The tank was made by a custom glass dealer who has alot of experience with tank building. I initially wanted wanted a shallow rimless tank but to do this i would need very thick glass which would put the tank outside my budget. In the end i went with these dimensions and had to live with two braces in the middle of the tank running from the middle of the overflow. It's not what i pictured but I will make it work. Along with the tank i also had a 50 gallon sump built. When designing the system I was very confused and as a result i ended up with a wet-dry filter instead of a refugium. Later on I will customize this to suit my needs. Overall I am very happy with the build quality of my tanks.
I have also aquaired all my bulkhead fittings from www.glass-holes.com along with some fancy loc line fittings and plan to install these to increase flow entering the aquarium. My wife also bought me a 6 stage Reverse Osmosis system so that i will have the extra clean water that is required to start my tank. In my possession from my last tank i have a Tek 36 inch system with 4 t5's. Later on I will need to upgrade this system but for now i hope to incorporate it into this system. I also possess a Tradewinds Inline 1/4 hp chiller which is much needed in the caribbean in order to maintain a constant temperature for the coral to live.
Currently the only things I am missing to start my aquarium are a tank stand (which i plan on doing myself) and my new house which should be ready at the end of this month (maybe thats why I've been so lazy in updating this blog...
Anyway I plan to design my tank stand using google sketchup and use a model which i found in this informative thread on reefcentral. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=14306359#post14306359.
By the way reefcentral has now become my new addiction and I am sure when i set up my tank i will have problems with the "go slow let it grow" mindset that i must undertake when i start my tank.
I have had an aquarium built with dimensions looking like 48x24x18 inches. The tank was made by a custom glass dealer who has alot of experience with tank building. I initially wanted wanted a shallow rimless tank but to do this i would need very thick glass which would put the tank outside my budget. In the end i went with these dimensions and had to live with two braces in the middle of the tank running from the middle of the overflow. It's not what i pictured but I will make it work. Along with the tank i also had a 50 gallon sump built. When designing the system I was very confused and as a result i ended up with a wet-dry filter instead of a refugium. Later on I will customize this to suit my needs. Overall I am very happy with the build quality of my tanks.
I have also aquaired all my bulkhead fittings from www.glass-holes.com along with some fancy loc line fittings and plan to install these to increase flow entering the aquarium. My wife also bought me a 6 stage Reverse Osmosis system so that i will have the extra clean water that is required to start my tank. In my possession from my last tank i have a Tek 36 inch system with 4 t5's. Later on I will need to upgrade this system but for now i hope to incorporate it into this system. I also possess a Tradewinds Inline 1/4 hp chiller which is much needed in the caribbean in order to maintain a constant temperature for the coral to live.
Currently the only things I am missing to start my aquarium are a tank stand (which i plan on doing myself) and my new house which should be ready at the end of this month (maybe thats why I've been so lazy in updating this blog...
Anyway I plan to design my tank stand using google sketchup and use a model which i found in this informative thread on reefcentral. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=14306359#post14306359.
By the way reefcentral has now become my new addiction and I am sure when i set up my tank i will have problems with the "go slow let it grow" mindset that i must undertake when i start my tank.
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