Help. I am thinking about building a tank.

[knut-ove]

Hello Gurus and other DIY people.

I have just started up a nano tank RedSea max 130 L, but now a got a decease called liter sickness i am wondering to build a tank about 800L or so (the total cost will deside)

I am in the planing prosess and need help and advice on how to do it.

My first tought is to bulid one with the messures of 200x 70x 65 cm.
acording to calculations this means i need 15mm for the sides and 19mm for the bottom. I have got price on tempered glass, but this was way to mutch kr 14 000,-
20 429 Rad.... Norway is expensive.....

Here is the first question: do i need tempered glass on the sides, or even the bottom??

What type of glass can i go for?

Is there someone who have drawings for a good tank, about 800L or so..

Glad to get any help. and promise to bug you a lot
If i do bulid it i will throw in some photos, but you people of mesa dont like to look at photos or what....??

Knut Ove
The Nordic Viking

 

[Reef Maniac]

Hi Knut,

Here is the first question: do i need tempered glass on the sides, or even the bottom??

No, normal float glass will work fine - in fact, many people believe it to be better, as normal glass will mostly fail by cracking, but tempered glass will fail catastrophically with the whole pane shattering at the same time.

Is there someone who have drawings for a good tank, about 800L or so..

No drawings, but you can have a look at my tank thread and/or TOTM thread, where I have some photos showing how I built my 1.8m 800 liter tank and sump.

I will gladly advise, if needed

Hennie

 

[knut-ove]

Thanks for the reply Reef Maniac.

Will float glass do the trick for the bottom also??

I will definitely need help along the way, so i am honoured to have people like yourself to help me

Knut Ove

The Nordic Viking

 

[ben lloyd]

HI Knut Ove
i have build my own tank using the knowledge i had at the time, but to be honest there will be a lot of things that i will do div rend, even if it going to cost a lot more money ,in the long run it will be much better, and remember if you go into the marine tank hobby your in info the long-hole.
use 20mm acrylic glass on the bottom and sides make a steel frame strong enough and ask your self will this survive a small explosion! if yes then it will last for a long time, and you can worry about things like fish and stuff!

 

[Reef Maniac]

Will float glass do the trick for the bottom also??

Yes, but it will probably have to be thicker than the side panes IF you go for a conventional "supported-on-the-edge-only" type of stand. If you have a rigid stand which will deflect (bend) less than the bottom glass, then you can use the same thickness glass as for the sides - that is what I did, and that is the reason why my stand has a 75mm thick reinforced concrete slab for it's top - the deflection of the concrete slab is less than that of the 12mm glass, and it thus supports the glass over the full area of the tank bottom.

Hennie

 

[leslie hempel]

hey dude.. welcome.. ihave built a number of tanks in the region of 2m x .700 x .700 and one or 2 of 2.5m x .1m x .800.. id say 10 mm well braced will be fine for the size you are thinking of with a word of advice to go wider rther than higher.. obviously things like CLS etc will have to be taken into account before final approval is given on the design as the positioning of these kinds of things could decrease the structural integrety of the tank should they be positioned in the wrong place.. do you perhaps have a drawing of the tank you want to build?

 

[knut-ove]

hey dude.. welcome.. ihave built a number of tanks in the region of 2m x .700 x .700 and one or 2 of 2.5m x .1m x .800.. id say 10 mm well braced will be fine for the size you are thinking of with a word of advice to go wider rther than higher.. obviously things like CLS etc will have to be taken into account before final approval is given on the design as the positioning of these kinds of things could decrease the structural integrety of the tank should they be positioned in the wrong place.. do you perhaps have a drawing of the tank you want to build?

Hi Leslie.

The tank is in an early planing process at the moment. I have a lot of reading up to do before i can go hands on. I am going to limit myself to 65cm high with regards to depth, 70cm seems to be excellent.
length of the tank is not decided yet, but i am wondering about something like 2 meters.

I am reading up on reef-maniacs tread along with others, but so far i am considering concrete slab for top on the table structure like reef-maniac did. This is also something i know well how to do, becouse i work as a manager for a constructon company that is building recreation cabins.

One thing is for shure. I will not start the build before i have drawings for everything:nono: and gotten some feedback from you guys that have done this before.

When I come further with the planing I will posting drawings for feedback......

Hope Crispin will come and help out when the time comes to go hands on....
I promise to feed you Crispin


Knut Ove

 

[crispin]

knut, leslies idea of planning your closed loop system (do you know what they are, if not search some threads on here very useful) is a very good one. You want lots of planning and playing before you start with buying, have you ever used google sketch before? some guys use it to good effect

 

[knut-ove]

knut, leslies idea of planning your closed loop system (do you know what they are, if not search some threads on here very useful) is a very good one. You want lots of planning and playing before you start with buying, have you ever used google sketch before? some guys use it to good effect

I am not quite sure what he is talking about, but i will definitely look it up on this forum. I think he is talking about pipes and holes if i am not mistaking? ::

I use a drawing program in my work, it`s named VectorWorks and is a professional cad program. The plans will not be but to work without "approval" from the DIY guys here

 

[crispin]

I am not quite sure what he is talking about, but i will definitely look it up on this forum. I think he is talking about pipes and holes if i am not mistaking? ::

I use a drawing program in my work, it`s named VectorWorks and is a professional cad program. The plans will not be but to work without "approval" from the DIY guys here

what are we waiting for, design drawings please! shees you norwegians are slower than hiberanting bears!

a closed loop system is very clever and basically something you want for a number of reasons. to my limited knowledge the primary advantage is being able to put pumps connected to your tank, outside the tank) which blow water in and out. its a loop system, yaking water from the tank on one side and sifting it out on the other. thats great for internal flow and you dont have the pumps in the tank to chop up nennies and the likes. Also if its connected to a LR stand (pipes with holes in it) you can blow all the detritus out the reef and have far better water quality.

the draw back to them is the structural integity of the glass (holes drilled through them makes them weaker) and the fact that the are perminatley in place. Pumps might be noisy and I think you can get some heat issues. But read the threads on here and google a bit, i have never buildt one or used one, or seen one used so i really am out my depth here....

 

[knut-ove]

what are we waiting for, design drawings please! shees you norwegians are slower than hiberanting bears!

I thought you knew that mutch by now
Guess it like that with your noon reefer also
But when summer is coming it will all change:wazzapp:

.....the draw back to them is the structural integity of the glass (holes drilled through them makes them weaker) and the fact that the are perminatley in place. Pumps might be noisy and I think you can get some heat issues. But read the threads on here and google a bit, i have never buildt one or used one, or seen one used so i really am out my depth here....

Yehh it was like I thought.