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new tank plans, help me plan it

well I kind of have 4 tanks going right now, bunch of small ones occupying several corners of the garage... with that being said, I actually don't want the tank in the house before I get rid of the "acoustic ceiling" or popcorn lol since that dust gets into EVERYTHING... still I want to get started on the carpentry part of the project in between popcorn, we'll see how it goes.
 
Make sure you can get into the tank from both sides for maintenance. I only had front access on my 140 and it was terrible.

I'd also suggest if you close it in to leave a side viewable as well. Let's someone peek around the corner to give a better perspective of depth.
 
haha this thread just gets funnier over time, no don't worry I haven't hatched ANOTHER plan, still sticking to the 57 illuminata in-wall tank.

Here's what I'm looking at working on next, The Sump.

It's been a long long while of research and entertaining different ideas before settling here, as mentioned in prior posts the tank I'm going with is a 57g illuminata rimless that I'm building flush into a wall. Considering that I'm building my own overflow to any design/spec I can dream up I figured I should build my own sump too.

We had a discussion a while back on different types of sumps (couldn't find that thread) and I'm 99% sure I want a dual overflow sump, ie; overflow water enters the sump at each end, like this one;

model-f.jpg


Fuge on the right, skimmer on the left & return in the middle, most of it is pretty cut & dry the only thing I need to figure out is the bubble trap and how high it should be. This will be the first sump I configure myself so I don't have anything to go on in regards to how tall I should make the baffles...

Note that I am not building the whole thing from scratch, I'll be using a euro braced 20-something truvu acrylic tank I have had laying around for a while, I will correct this later if I'm wrong but I believe it's 26"L x 12"D and 16"H I like that it's a little tall and I like that it's braced which should make for a strong sump (unlike my current weak and flexible aqueon proflex)

So yah, just thought I'd update and I came with an easy question this time. I wanted to put my thoughts down into a post before I forgot again, when I get home I'll provide exact measurements.

Lastly, has anyone used this stuff to glue acrylic to acrylic?
http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3282335

I want something that allows me to take it apart after I put it together so I can have the ability to make adjustments before permanently bonding the whole thing together. Other than glue I already have some solid blue acrylic that I'm going to cut baffles out of (figured it would help minimize algae growth outside the fuge since this sump is going to be lit)
 
Hmmm I was gonna suggest weld-on 16 but you said you want to be able to take it apart after.

Weld-on will essentially cement the acrylic together. Probably not a clean removal afterwards lol.
 
I had talked to Tap Plastics about temporarily joining acrylic n they said anything silicon will basically peel off once you're done.

I will b playing with making a bubble trap for my back chamber too. Let me know what you come up with.
 
it's not a big big must to have removable components but I'd like to be able to alter the size of baffles/traps if say I don't like the water level or I need to lower/raise the bubble trap around the overflow tube, etc. that's pretty much the only reason I want to be able to take it apart. Once I am happy with the design I certainly will put it together permanently with Weld On.
 
Since it's just temp, aquarium silicone should work. It has very limited adhesion to acrylic.That's usually a bad thing but in your case it might be a plus.

Is the tank you are using for sump bowed? That might make it tough to do a final weldon seal. Maybe #16 and/or some reinforcing square rod.
 
Tank is a TruVu rectangular 24"x13"x16" which I plan on splitting into 3 chambers.

From right to left; 8" fuge, 6" return section & 8" skimmer section. The return section is 2" short to accommodate 3 baffles 1 inch apart to make a bubble trap.

My question - how tall should the bubble trap be? this affects skimmer performance and won't be adjustable... Unless I make the 1st baffle slide up & down like the proflex sump does, but even then the following 2 baffles will be fixed. This is the only reason why I want to do silicone first and ideally want to get it right the first time because I don't have an excess amount of acrylic, probably just enough to cut the 4 baffles.

This is the sump-to-be (because who doesn't like pics hehe)

20_gallon_regular_clear_24x13x16_no_light_3.jpg
 
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Look what the reccemended water height is for the skimmer you plan on using and set baffles there?

Some people fret a lot over micro bubbles or what not, but I don't bother w baffles. More trouble than they are worth imo
 
well I have 3 skimmers and no clue which one I want to stick with... I don't have bubble traps in my current setup and no issues with bubbles. Maybe I should do away with the bubble trap & run a single adjustable baffle... This would help considering the only issue with this tank is that it's a tad short and this way I'd get 8" in each chamber.

Anyone wanna tell me why I want a bubble trap? Mike talked me out of it :D
 
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