40 Breeder AIO

[Kilo hat]

Hello all, I am posting my build so far and looking for some feedback. I am doing a rimless 40 breeder AIO. I already know about the bowing concern of the tank with water. I am planning on putting a center brace from front to back to deal with that. My question is should I use glass or acrylic? I was thinking of using some of the 1/4” acrylic I have left over and notch the edges about half the thickness (1/8”) so it would sit a little lower on top of the glass and not be as noticeable. I have seen most of these builds be peninsula tanks or not the whole back of the tank so I decided to do it a little differently. The back section is 3.5” deep with middle over flow and then have a heater on one side a tunze 9001 skimmer on other side and then small 250-300 gph return pumps in both corners. The reason for dual return pumps was trying not to run power heads in tank. Also added random flow nozzles to end of lock line to help with random flow pattern. My plan is to use water from my next water change on 180 and rocks from sump with a bag of live sand to prevent or at least minimize cycle time. Here are some pics of what is done so far.

 

[Ron Reefman]

It's such a nice looking build! I mean really clean. But why did you use such thin acrylic?

 

[TDEcoral]

You could probably get something like a 2" wide strip of 1/4" glass and silicone it across the top front inside of the tank as a pseudo-eurobrace. I think that would look better than doing a center brace and give you more room to work in the tank.

 

[Kilo hat]

It's such a nice looking build! I mean really clean. But why did you use such thin acrylic?

It’s 1/4” thick and once filled the pressure equals out so no need for something thicker.

 

[Kilo hat]

Forgot to say thanks on the nice comment.

 

[Kilo hat]

You could probably get something like a 2" wide strip of 1/4" glass and silicone it across the top front inside of the tank as a pseudo-eurobrace. I think that would look better than doing a center brace and give you more room to work in the tank.

That’s an idea as center brace will run right across overflow area. Didn’t quite think the center overflow idea all the way through.