new 100USG tank

Liron Mishal · Nov 3, 2018

Hi ya'll

After being out of this hobby for almost 15 years, I decided that its time to get back in!
My last tank was a 260 gallon fish only. that was when I wasn't married and didn't have 3 kids

anyway, a lot has changed since then, so this one should be different as well.
its going to be a rimless 100 gallons mixed reef tank. due to it's location, It will be constructed with extra clear 12mm glass with 15mm bottom. dims are 41"x 23"x 23"

currently, the fish wish list is:

Zabrasoma - yellow
Zabrasoma - purple
flame angel
emperator
percula x 3
blue powder tang
yellow wrasse

I decided to try and plane everything technical I can using CAD software. the goal is also to build everything myself when possible.

here are some rendered pics of the setup:

Now off to the actual build!

Liron Mishal · Nov 3, 2018

I want to try and build it myself if possible, so I went ahead and ordered the glass panels.
after cleaning everything with acetone and Alcohol, I masked the panels and went ahead with the construction.
for bonding the panels, I used the "silicone injection" method.
here are two pics, tank and sump. tank is waiting for it's seal and bottom euro bracing.

Let me know what you think!

Liron Mishal · Nov 3, 2018

I decided to go with the the BM A8 skimmer. it's over sized but knowing myself, the bio load will be on the high side with heavy feeding.
For the return pump, I ordered the Jecod DCS-7000. it should allow about 1300gph, which is more than 10 times the DT volume per hour so I should be able to tune it down (DC pump).
for lighting, i ordered a couple of Chinese LED black boxes. after taking their covers off, I figured out where to connect a PWM signal in order to control each channel's intensity.
As I deal with Arduino codes as a hobby and at work, I was able to program sunrise, sunset and moon cycle. the next step is to make a custom housing to house both black boxes with LCD display to show the different tank values,
such as light percentage, PH, Salinity (still needs to figure it out) and temperature.

I'll post some pics of the lighting making when i'll get to it.
I'll keep you posted!

NY_Caveman · Nov 3, 2018

Nice! Welcome to the forum!

Liron Mishal · Nov 3, 2018

Thanks

SPR1968 · Nov 3, 2018

Great build thread and pictures and thanks for sharing them with us

And welcome to R2R as well!

Oscaror · Nov 3, 2018

Liron Mishal said:
As a wrote, I want to try and build it myself if possible, so I went ahead and ordered the glass panels.
after cleaning everything with acetone and Alcohol, I masked the panels and went ahead with the construction.
for bonding the panels, I used the "silicone injection" method.
here are two pics, tank and sump. tank is waiting for it's seal and bottom euro bracing.

Let me know what you think!

Welcome to R2R

Good luck with the build!

Liron Mishal · Nov 3, 2018

Thank you all!
I'm looking for clear water spouts for the return line, something similar to loc line. I want it to "disappear" in the DT. any ideas?

here's a more detailed images of the plumbing and overflow. blue pipes are for the return line:

Liron Mishal · Nov 7, 2018

Stand is done!
All dimensions are spot on, weldings grined and galvanized!
Turned out way better than I expected as my welding experience sums up to welding a fence

Next step would be ordering the stand covers..

Liron Mishal · Nov 9, 2018

So I'm ready to leak test the tank.
Is it safe to test with tap water or should I test with ro?

Liron

Liron Mishal · Nov 17, 2018

made some progress.
got the wood plates for the stand and cut them to size. I also added some stripes of LED for cabinet lighting

I was reading about the Chinese black boxes, especially regarding the "Disco ball" effect.
The common recommendation is to put some black tape over the green and red LEDs, so i decided to remove them and put some 6500K LEDs instead, as that's what the rest of the LEDs are.
came out great! no issues at all, if you do that, make sure to put some thermal paste on the back side of the LEDs.

Today I got my tank and stand outside and started the leak test! following other's reccomendations, I will let it sit for 3 weeks before moving it to it's permanent location

more to come!

LBReefer · Nov 17, 2018

Liron Mishal said:
made some progress.
got the wood plates for the stand and cut them to size. I also added some stripes of LED for cabinet lighting

I was reading about the Chinese black boxes, especially regarding the "Disco ball" effect.
The common recommendation is to put some black tape over the green and red LEDs, so i decided to remove them and put some 6500K LEDs instead, as that's what the rest of the LEDs are.
came out great! no issues at all, if you do that, make sure to put some thermal paste on the back side of the LEDs.

Today I got my tank and stand outside and started the leak test! following other's reccomendations, I will let it sit for 3 weeks before moving it to it's permanent location

more to come!

This is amazing. You've got skills.

Can you post more details on how you assembled the aquarium?

I haven't seen clear hard piping, but I'd imagine it wouldn't stay clear long. I use clear flexible PVC hose in one of my aquariums and it's full of nasty growth.

Where are your returns going to go? The black locline really does disappear on most ta s.

Liron Mishal · Nov 17, 2018

Hi LBReefer,

Thanks, but I do think my skills are pretty average.. it's just my minor OCD that makes me plan ahead

are you looking for instructions on how to assemble the glass panels together? or just the overall piping?

it's going to be a glued on external glass overflow, which I plan on doing after the leak test is completed.
all the pipes (BA) will be installed at that stage.

return is going to the sump underneath the tank, you can see it in the first post.

Cheers!

Liron Mishal · Nov 17, 2018

I just ordered some black locline tubes. I think you are right about the clear tubes staying clear..

thanks..

L

Liron Mishal · Nov 24, 2018

Update:
after 1 week full of water, no leaks! everything looks good, but if I would to do the tank assembly all over again, I would make the inner seal a bit narrower.
however, this gives some peace of mind...

As for the other stuff, I decided to ditch the filter socks and go with a roller filter as there is no way I will be changing socks every 3 days and no way I will put them in our washer (unless I would like a divorce)

I designed a roller filter that will fit a filtration media I sourced locally. rated for 80 microns and can also be found at 150 microns.
this required changing the plumbing as well, so I guess I need to order some more tubing parts..

tested the filter media and with the surface area of my design, it should be good for 3500 gallons per hour!
with my setup, I believe that I can get over 2 months of a single roll, but that's heavily depends on the bio load and how you feed, so time will tell I guess..
I also designed it to accept the three line bean animal overflow setup, so all three lines goes into the filter.

the pictures below shows the new setup. I already added a hole (not in the pictures) for emergency overflow in case the motor or float malfunctions.
the tubes will be below the water line in order to keep it silent, except for the emergency line.

more updates to come
L

Liron Mishal · Nov 27, 2018

So, 10 days into the leak test and it seems to be ok.
Yesterday I was looking at the tank and it looked like there's a lot of dirt in the water, it gets dirty real quick here..
I decided to call it "Pass" and drained all the water out, now it's time to do the overflow, piping, refill and let it run for a while..
I ordered two Jebao RW-8 wave pumps, should arrive today, I guess I'll be tinkering with it tonight

can someone give a recommendation on where to mount the pumps and recommended mode?
roller filter is going out for laser cut today, should be ready within a week, I'll let you know how it worked out!

L

count krunk · Nov 27, 2018

Great job so far!!

What do you mean by injection method for building your tank! Could to go into some more detail there?

With the pumps, you will want them on opposite sides of the tank, one blowing in front of the rock, one behind. But really, there are many ways to set those up. That is a loose guideline. Many ways to make it work

Liron Mishal · Nov 27, 2018

Thanks @yungreefer2410

Silicone injection is a method of constructing a glass tank.
Basically it means aligning all the glass panels with the correct gap.
After that, you "inject" the silicone into the gap.
This way there is no skin forming on the silicone bead and you get a perfect gap all around.
Some say its the wrong way of constructing a tank, others say its the best way..
It's the first time I build a tank so I can't recommend it but I have done my research and for me it was the way to go

As for the pumps, there is no option for mounting them opposite to each other..
The right side is the only option as the tank is visible from three sides..

L

count krunk · Nov 27, 2018

Ahh peninsula style. Well, to avoid putting a pump of the far end is difficult. Strong pumps on the side that isn't visible is all you can really do without a closed loop system.