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bambbrose 
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 Topic: Back after many years, looking for cube ideas
Posted: April 13 2010 at 10:00pm |
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Hi everyone! Great to see this club still as active as ever.
I took a long break with school the last few years and now I'm ready to get back into the game.
A little background about me first. I'm a nerd (Physics graduate), my wife is a nerd (Engineer), and we both are perfectionists.
I've built a few nano tanks about 4 years ago but nothing recently.
So here is what I plan on building. I'm looking for suggestions or ideas:
-custom 18" cube, may go bigger or maybe smaller, not sure. Haven't decided glass or acrylic yet. It will be rimless and all supporting hardware will be hidden in the rockwork on the back. No nozzles, no pumps, no heaters, etc. visible in the display tank. One overflow on the rear of the tank in the center. I want the water level less than 1" from the top. The flow will be coming up the center of the bottom and directed upward toward the surface with a few different nozzles and tees hidden in the rocks.
-I will be running a custom LED setup. I am obsessed with optics (from school) and currently work in the laser industry playing with optics on a daily basis. I'm going to try a few different things to try and get specific light beams heading into the tank. I might go for a simple beam centered right on the rockwork, or perhaps a few beams highlighting certain areas. This is the area where the most research needs to take place.
-I'm going to run a acrylic sump with 3 chambers (bubble trap, fuge, return). I'm going to make everything as automated as possible. I have an amtel chip programmer and a crazy mind, so I'm going to try and program automated systems for everything. A science project of sorts.
I just wanted to share my basic plan with you for now. Any input on what you would do would be appreciated.
Also if you can point me in the direction of who currently does acrylic work locally that would also be appreciated. I can't even remember the names of the local shops who did work for me in the past.
I'll update this as my plan evolves. Currently it is just in the 3D rendering stage.
Edited by bambbrose - April 16 2010 at 2:31am
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Corey Price
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Posted: April 13 2010 at 10:02pm |
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Welcome back!
An 18" cube, rimless, will be nice.
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Aquarium Creations
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Posted: April 13 2010 at 10:08pm |
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<<<< Marine Aquatics Inc does, Also can custom build your aquarium as well.
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Aquarium Maintenance,Consulting,Custom Built Glass Aquariums Rimless/Euro,24Hr Emergency Service 8015485201 Www.UtahAquariumDoctors.com [email protected]
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tcfab
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Posted: April 14 2010 at 12:06am |
Sounds like a cool project, ^^^^^Eric builds a mean sump, I am happy with mine he just built me 
Edited by tcfab - April 14 2010 at 12:08am
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bambbrose
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Posted: April 14 2010 at 4:29pm |
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Thanks for the input so far. Just sent Eric a PM, he was the one who built me stuff in the past.
tcfab, after looking at your thread, you build DIY components but not tanks? Do you just have access to a nice assortment of tools? I love your new tank so far.
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tcfab
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Posted: April 14 2010 at 5:10pm |
Thanks, I have built tanks in the past, and I am building a frag tank right now but I have never built a tank the size of my rimless so I left that to the pros lol. I dont use any really fancy tools, but I do have some tools I use for fabricating truck parts and some of those come in handy
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bambbrose
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Posted: April 16 2010 at 2:46am |
Just wanted to throw out my most recent plan. As I looked over the rimless tank thread on RC I decided that I prefer the shallow tanks that are centered in the room. A front room in my house is currently unoccupied and is the perfect size for a room centered tank. I was planning on putting it against the wall but after looking around I came up with what you see below. This would be a 30x30x12, for a total of 47 gallons (40 if you account for 2" sand). The overflow would be a centered 4" acrylic tube, for a total linear drainage of 12.56" capable of handling 750+ gph. I want to run dual 1" modified durso. The four posts surrounding the overflow would each be 3/4" inlet pipes, which would have nozzles installed and maybe an inch or two of locline to allow for some directional movement. I would then like to hide all of the drainpipe and inlet pipes with the live rock. I'm even wondering if it would be possible to make a rock island sticking out of the center of the tank that was a removable cap covering the overflow. Anyone heard of doing this? I will have to run check valves to prevent backflow of the entire tank in a power down situation. Any other major issues with a tank of this style? I'm just mulling over many ideas right now and this is the top pick so far. overall iso view  front view  the inlets and returns  Opinions much appreciated
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: April 16 2010 at 10:30am |
I would have the inlets come up through the overflow cylinder. Then, maybe out the sides of that cylinder using locline or something like that. Does that make sense? Those four white pipes inside the black pipe and I'd only have one drain.
Adam
ps- one return line that comes up and then splits is much easier than four return lines
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: April 16 2010 at 12:35pm |
I agree with Adam.
When a return comes into a tank like that, it becomes a strong siphon when the power goes out and the use of backflow preventers is asking for failure and flooding. The standard return which comes up over the top and discharges at the surface is the best way to ensure the breaking of the siphon and avoidance of flooding.
I assume you are planning to use 4" black acrylic tube for the slotted overflow. If you want to save money and still use black, if it were me I'd use ABS pipe. It's easy to work with and easy to remove the brand lettering printed on the pipe or to use ABS cement to paint over the letters. 
Two drains is actually a wise idea, but make one large enough to handle the flow and the other a completely open "safety drain", cut it just 1/4-1/2" higher than the operating drain, but below the rim of the tank. Your drawing reminds me of my space saving modified Durso.  I had this kind of drain standing alone without a slotted overflow on my frag tank and on my Ray and Bat tank in 2006. Did you see them back then? I have pics.
You may want to consider that 2" class 200 PVC pipe has more than 6" of spillway where a 1" PVC Schedule 40 pipe has less than 3" of spillway. Also, the water collected by a 6" spillway can flow fast enough through a 1" bulkhead to deliver all the flow needed for a Refugium to do its job for a 120+ gal display tank if it has other circulation. (I use Class 200 PVC pipe whenever possible. It's thiner sidewall allows more flow and it's easier to work with.)
Now, this brings me to the bigger problem I see with the pictured design. Remembering that flow is paramount in a reef aquarium, an overflow like this just simply cannot provide the required flow. Since you are in the planning stages, let me make a suggestion. I've seen and put together all sorts of designs. If it were me I'd do one of two options:
1 - make the overflow large enough to handle about 1200 gph and use a large return pump or
2 - provide major circulation via powerheads or Closed Loop. Powerheads in the tank are not as easy to conceal as a CL. The intake for a CL can be screened in a way that provides unobstructed flow for months or even years without cleaning. The CL pump can be hung up out of the way near the inside ceiling of the stand. Personally, I prefer to make the overflow smaller and less noticable, utilizing powerheads or CL for the major circulation.
Unfortunately, powerheads require power cords,  but there is an easy answer to that problem. A simple extension cord can be run up through the safety drain to supply power to 2 or more powerheads. This would be less costly than a CL system. The extension cord would simply need to loop up as it comes out of the bottom of the safety drain for obvious reasons.
Also if there is no hood and the light fixture is a pendant, I would want to improve appearance. Rather than use the cumbersome extension cord female plug I might cut and connect the wires with just 2 butt-end connectors wrapped with a single layer of black tape and sealed with a layer of silicone to prevent corrosion.
Is this making any sense?
Oh one more thing, did you know that it's possible to heat and bend PVC pipe? To accomodate the larger single overflow and a 1" safety drain inside the 4" slotted center overflow, I would place the large drain in position and heat and bend the 1" safety drain pipe just slightly to set it evenly between the overflow and the drain.
Edited by Mark Peterson - April 16 2010 at 1:04pm
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rdbrown
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Posted: April 20 2010 at 8:25pm |
Why mess with using black acrylic tubing? Just use a black ABS pipe and sand off all markings, cut the teeth with a table saw and a jig. You are going to surround it with rock anyhow, so it really doesn't matter what you make it with, but ABS pipe is a lot cheaper then an acrylic cylinder. I would definitely run the return line back through the overflow tube and drill into the side and use lock-line on the outside with a threaded elbow and a rubber washer on the inside. I put all my returns in that way, it is very clean, and very strong so it is easy to adjust the lock-line without fear of breaking a fitting or pipe.
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Luckedout
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Posted: April 20 2010 at 11:20pm |
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You should take a look at Aquatic Dreams show tank. It's not a rimless but it's similar to what you are designing. They have a square overflow and closed loop system. If it were my tank I wouldn't go rimless just for ease of hiding equipment, but if you build a close loop for flow and buy a nice fixture for lighting, then what's to hide?
Awesome idea. I'll be following.
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-Ben
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Deluxe247
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Posted: April 21 2010 at 12:48am |
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I like your idea to have an "island" of rock in the center. It reminds me of what CapnMorgan's "volcano" tank concept, which I'll have to check out on the reef tour.
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90G Mixed Reef
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