Reef nutrition

Mike's newest disaster...

What is the plan for the type of overflow?
Single or dual overflows?
Return pump rates?

My recommendation would be to have 4 x 1.5" pipes.
1 for emergency overflow.
2 adjustable running full-siphon (dead silent)
1 minimal leftover flow. (almost silent)

I use 3 x 1.5" pipes. One of which is just emergency. But the other two are pretty close to full-flow.
Using dual DCT-6000 return pumps.

I hate using 2" pipe. So huge, no flex.
 
I meant 2" physically coming out of the tank side that goes into the weir box, I haven't really thought too much about the actual pipe configuration in the box. I looked up somewhere and think I saw max horizontal flow rate of 1500gph or something like that, so figure 3 of those gives me 4500gph worth of volume, 3000gph if one gets clogged so that hopefully should be good enough to empty the tank. Don't have much time right now, but I'll sketch up some ideas later (unfortunately sketch in the literal sense as I don't know how to use those fancy CAD programs everyone seems to use to make a pretty isometric 3d render of their tank :D
 
And the bomb from Miracles dropped, $900 to ship it to Oakland and then on top of that I have to do all the heavy lifting to get it home. No offense towards them, as they are a premier builder, but fuck that, that would increase the price of the tank by 25% when all is said and done.

Not that I was leaning towards that company anyways as it's twice the cost of the other one before the shipping, although if I calculate everything they're doing it's actually a fairly comparable price (i.e. if I do 3/4", tempered back, starphire front and side) but that shipping... man o man. It's a matter of them using their idea of safety factor versus what I'm willing to accept.
Although looking around at various calculators, I think I am going to increase the thickness of the bottom, as I think 1/2" might be a bit on the low side... of course it all depends upon how the bottom of the tank sits, whether it floats or is fully supported.
 
Forget shipping. Road trip!
:)

Given a trip from Canada with a very heavy fragile box, $900 does not seem so unreasonable.
 
The hell if I know how much stuff costs to ship, they could just wait until there's a really large load coming this way (not necessarily aquariums) and just throw it on that truck to save in shipping. I mean this is a fairly major port so I have to assume quite a lot of shipping traffic comes this general direction.

That said
1) not sure it would quite fit in my Prius
2) It's irrelevant whether or not it's reasonable for freight from that far, it still adds to my cost, which in this case is about a 25% increase

I wonder if you see a distribution of custom tank types based on location though, i.e. do you see mostly Leemar and the like on the West Coast, up on the north east you see MIracles, etc. Now if it was $900 to my door and they also put it up on the stand I would call that reasonable.
 
sfsuphysics said:
The hell if I know how much stuff costs to ship, they could just wait until there's a really large load coming this way (not necessarily aquariums) and just throw it on that truck to save in shipping. I mean this is a fairly major port so I have to assume quite a lot of shipping traffic comes this general direction.

That said
1) not sure it would quite fit in my Prius
2) It's irrelevant whether or not it's reasonable for freight from that far, it still adds to my cost, which in this case is about a 25% increase

I wonder if you see a distribution of custom tank types based on location though, i.e. do you see mostly Leemar and the like on the West Coast, up on the north east you see MIracles, etc. Now if it was $900 to my door and they also put it up on the stand I would call that reasonable.
Click to expand...

I think trucking company do combine/optimize shipping automatically. I ordered 3 pallets of porcelain tile and it was trucked in from Texas. I had the tracking to watch the progress. The truck stopped / backtrack all sort of places along the way. My tiles arrived in 2 weeks but it only cost me under 2k ($1/sqft) including freight.

I'm guessing the bulk of what they charge you probably for packing/padding/crating the tank for the trip.
 
Shipping costs is also the reason I didn't buy a Dreambox. The shipping was 25% of the total cost. Granted it was coming from Germany and had to transit the whole continent to get to me. Still didn't feel worth it.

Did you check with Keith Grandt? He is up in Sacramento. A little on the pricey side but you'll get exactly what you want and it will be top notch work!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Well, you could build it yourself.
Have some local metal worker build the frames.
Have a glass shop cut and drill the glass.
You just have to glue things together.
What could be simpler?

Or rethink acrylic. There are many pros/cons.
 
Well I would be lying if I said building it myself hasnt crossed my mind, but that idea quickly gets extinguished when I start thinking about the details. This isnt a small 40g tank, an 8 foot long piece of glass is heavy enough that a single person manuvering it to fit precisely on a 1/2" wide area of silicone... and to do so quicky because after about 5 minutes it will skin over and be ruined, we.ll lets just say it isnt exactly a do it yourself type of job. Plus glass is not that cheap to make it a no brainer decision, or resident stair builder can attest to that.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Well I would be lying if I said building it myself hasnt crossed my mind, but that idea quickly gets extinguished when I start thinking about the details. This isnt a small 40g tank, an 8 foot long piece of glass is heavy enough that a single person manuvering it to fit precisely on a 1/2" wide area of silicone... and to do so quicky because after about 5 minutes it will skin over and be ruined, we.ll lets just say it isnt exactly a do it yourself type of job. Plus glass is not that cheap to make it a no brainer decision, or resident stair builder can attest to that.
Click to expand...

When I was thinking DIY, it was a bit different.
Bottom and 3 sides would be plywood + epoxy + acrylic.
(with cool built in overflows, and a shelf / bottom-jet-return)
Front would be low-e glass.
Stainless angle iron to support glass and connect with wood, and for top braces.

Doing it that way made it way cheaper and easier.

But ... I ended up with Kritter building me an acrylic tank in the end.
 
Yeah I've looked at plywood in the past, and it all comes down to hundreds and hundreds worth of material and then I still need to build it myself, plus there is the unknown factor involved in doing it right, lastly there is time I just dont have to build it

And no acrylic under sny circumstances
 
Ok, finished up one batch of rocks today. I'll put them in a bin with some saltwater and get them cycling/cooking/whatever. Am tempted to put some in the frag tank, but they will get coated in algae there I'm sure, and I have a single snail as algae clean up, just keep a powerhead on to keep the water from turning stagnant and hopefully I should be good, probably don't even need to keep the water warm.

xbZfy5T.jpg

Bubbles!!!!! (and me running away as the bubbles got taller)

6pGdT1X.jpg

Some of the rocks done.

TKu1Ces.jpg

The rest of the rocks done, sure as hell doesn't look like a lot, but eh... they fit in one of the bins, so it's a lot.

6FgzM9q.jpg

Finally the aftermath with some baking soda tossed in to neutralize the acid... looks like the crap that washes up at the beach.

Fun fact, muratic acid will not magically destroy all life, aiptasia will be a little unhappy but they probably will stick on the rock, i'm guessing their foot covers the rock and prevents it from dissolving, however a strong enough bleach solution and bye bye aiptasia!
 
I recently replaced my old truvu acrylic with a starfire glass tank. I went with Crystal Dynamics and am really happy with it. It is a 300g (96 x 30 x 24) with 3 sided starfire and dual ghost overflows. It is 1/2" double euro braced top and bottom with two cross supports. Not sure why they have told you they won't do it in 1/2"?

Btw, Keith never responded to me either.
 
Wlachnit said:
I recently replaced my old truvu acrylic with a starfire glass tank. I went with Crystal Dynamics and am really happy with it. It is a 300g (96 x 30 x 24) with 3 sided starfire and dual ghost overflows. It is 1/2" double euro braced top and bottom with two cross supports. Not sure why they have told you they won't do it in 1/2"?

Btw, Keith never responded to me either.
Click to expand...
Do you mind sharing how much it cost?
 
Something in the range of $3800, they told me they could do 1/2" at 30" wide too, just had to double up on braces, reinforce seams, and I think temper the bottom. But that was about 80% more than their 7 foot tank, so didnt want to go there for an extra foot. At 36" wide though they wouldnt do it in less than 3/4
 
Flagg37 said:
Do you mind sharing how much it cost?
Click to expand...

It was about $2700. They were the least expensive quote for a custom tank. I had it drilled for four 3/4" bulkhead returns and two 20" Synergy Reef overflows. I wanted more linear return than just one 20" box. So, I plumbed one of them to the other and setup one BeanAnimal. I have a ton of flow...which is great. (My old Truvu had two corner overflows that were undersized with one hole.) Had I known about Modular Marine's 33" overflow, I would have gone with that. (Although, it appears that their website has been down...since they are too busy?...a bit odd)

If I remember correctly from my college calculus days (30y ago), the width shouldn't impact the pressure on the glass? Isn't it always about the height? I guess they would know.

Here is the rendering of mine. Not sure how to just post a pic.

-Will
 

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