400g Build

FlipperFin · Oct 20, 2015

I am building it and delivering it. The stand is going to be a steel open concept stand. It will be in the basement of there house so i'm not worried about weight distribution. They currently have a 300g. I will be building them a 200g sump as well. I plan on using green intake pvc and red output pvc just for some color.

FlipperFin · Oct 20, 2015

Here are the dimensions they want:
36" Wide
30" High
96" Long

They currently have a fish that is 24" and is having a difficult time "Turning Around" in there current 300g that is 24" Wide.

Ed Menard · Oct 20, 2015

ok then heres the things we discovered the hard way...

Stand...mine did not fit in the elevator OR the stairwells so we had to dis assemble it outside and carry it up in pieces and re assemble it in my apartment. If you have to go down basement stairs I would make a mock stand out of thin tubing to test the viability of it fitting down the stairs and to its final location.

Second the tank...weight wise you will be looking at well over 500 pounds. and its absolutely dead weight with little to no grip. this means at least 4 people(strong people) to carry it in

we had difficulties with the bottom piece getting it around turns...so hopefully the stairs are a straight runfor you)

Ed Menard · Oct 20, 2015

a quick reminder about aquascaping....they will need to do all aquascaping before adding the water or getting pieces to the back of tank wont be very easy.

FlipperFin · Oct 20, 2015

Fortunately they have a door in there basement that goes right outside lol

FlipperFin · Oct 20, 2015

what are your thoughts on a sump? How big should it be to support 400g tank? I was thinking 200g but that might be a little much.

Ed Menard · Oct 20, 2015

I had mine be 90 gallons...its more than enough....as you can see in this pic it leaves a good amount of room for the other equipment such as the pump,UV filter, plumbing, and some storage as well)

Ed Menard · Oct 20, 2015

the UV filter is mounted to stand directly above the return pump.

FlipperFin · Oct 20, 2015

What are the dimensions of your stand?

FlipperFin · Oct 20, 2015

Can you message me more pics of the stand and tank if you have them?

ReeferBob · Oct 20, 2015

Wow. You do not sound experienced enough to take on a tank this large especially if you are thinking acrylic. I hope you are insured. I highly suggest you farm this out to an experienced tank builder. This has 5 o'clock news written all over it.

FlipperFin · Oct 20, 2015

Hey reefer bob thanks for the confidence booster. No i have not built a tank of this size. I have built 90g, 100, and 200g aquariums. I have never used acrylic and was more curious as to its purpose over glass. The customer also asked for the benefits of acrylic over glass and i was not knowledgable enough about that material so i asked you guys.. If someone close to the southern Wisconsin area wants to build this for me I would not have a problem with that as this is going to take A LOT OF TIME. I assume with your comment that you are knowledgable enough so I will first ask you if you would like to assist with this build?

melypr1985 · Oct 21, 2015

I for one think you'll be just fine. You have plenty of experience building smaller tanks than this so this will just be the same thing only bigger! You've gotten some very detailed tips and some hard lessons learned so your already a step ahead. I'd like to see some progress pics when your done with it. I'm going to build a small frag tank (first time ever) by cutting up a 75 gallon tank and I'm plenty nervous about that, but i know it can do it. So can you!

I also think its very smart and responsible of you to seek guidance and have done your customer a service by doing so.

Pepcrylic · Oct 21, 2015

Ed Menard said:
my glass was all beveled before the build...the bottom piece was several hundred pounds...took 4 of us to get it up one flight of stairs..

let me walk you step by step.
Cut and drill all pieces prior to build. For the overflows use 1/2 inch clear as well as a thinner black glass with the black glued on the outside of the clear.

Set a thin sheet of foam on top of stand and place bottom sheet of glass on top. Line up the tank appropriate to your plans)

now for the sides...first do a thick line along the length of the back piece and have a helper or two to assist in placing the back glass down on it making sure its perfectly aligned.Have them hold in place while you lay your caulk along the side meeting the corner.

Place first side piece down firmly making sure to get a tight seal.

Now do extra caulk inside the tank of all seams...be thoughrow as a spot missed can cause a weak seam.

Place a few clamps to hold the glass firmly and do the exact same steps on the remaining side first and then the front glass...ensure all inner seams are caulked and that whole tank is clamped for both horizontal and vertical bracing

What did you use as a spacer? From what I have seen you must leave space in between the panes, for proper adhesion of the silicone. Wasnt you worried that you would squeeze out all the silicone between the joints when you put on the clamps?

Make sure you Properly caulk the outside joints and then let caulk set...mine took about 4-5 days...

Now is eurobrace time....and overflow installation)

Install the overflows using the same basic procedure.Remember to caulk inside as well as outside)

Euro brace the tank and clamp to set.

4-5 days later...

Add 2 12 inch wide cross braces on top of tank...these can be caulked on top of euro brace where needed..

let set...

Cleanup...

taking razor blades cleanup edges and glass both inside and outside tank...

wash glass and voila!...ready to assemble plumbing)

Pepcrylic · Oct 21, 2015

Building a glass tank compared to an acrylic tank is a walk in the park. IMO. The tolerances in an acrylic tank need to be spot on. If you screw up a seam you will either buy a crap load more acrylic, or the tank just got smaller. (labor verses cost)
Videos on Utube will show how NOT to build an acrylic tank. If you want to get educated on Building a tank with acrylic, you should search Reef Central . James Acrylic use to have a thread over there that is the Best place to get all the info you will need. It is a very long thread, but it is all there.
Floyd R Turbo can also help in regards to fabricating with acrylic.

FlipperFin · Oct 21, 2015

At this point im going to stick with glass. I need to contact a local glass store and look into prices and delivery. I am going with a steel open concept stand and some colored pvc for pop.

ReeferBob · Oct 22, 2015

FlipperFin said:
At this point im going to stick with glass. I need to contact a local glass store and look into prices and delivery. I am going with a steel open concept stand and some colored pvc for pop.

Good call. I don't mean to insult but I have seen more than 1 acrylic disaster. As Pepcrylic said, there is a world of difference between Acrylic and Glass. However, making this large a tank out of glass is going to result in an enormously heavy tank. At the least get a few quotes to have this made out of acrylic. Off the cuff I would guess $5k-$10k or so.

myboyblu · Nov 5, 2015

I'm considering building an acrylic tank... About the time I'm 98% confident that I can do it, I read something like this. Thanks [emoji19]

Ed Menard · Nov 7, 2015

myboyblu said:
I'm considering building an acrylic tank... About the time I'm 98% confident that I can do it, I read something like this. Thanks [emoji19]

On the plus side my friend you are reading this thread BEFORE you spend the money...and that's a huge thing)