Well, it is finally starting to get a little real. My stand materials arrived yesterday from Framing Tech. I was a little miffed there were no assembly instructions, but once I organized all the parts, and spent a few minutes with the CAD drawings, it was pretty obvious. This is what 172 lbs of aluminum can look like:
New Build: 10 foot frag tank
- Frag Build
- Thread starter ScottB
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Waiting on @Joe Glass Cages to send along a little photo to share with you guys. Nothing crazy, but it will be 10 feet long. Dual overflows -- one on each end. It will be my first experience with acrylic.
It will replace by current Rube Goldberg frag contraption. It consists of a 40G and 2 X 80G and three sumps. All connected. I will get a picture of that up tonnight.
It will replace by current Rube Goldberg frag contraption. It consists of a 40G and 2 X 80G and three sumps. All connected. I will get a picture of that up tonnight.
getting there. Love that STAND!
Here is my Rube Goldberg frag contraption schematic. Obviously, I would never have designed this at the outset, but each year I just NEEDED more capacity. It all "works" fine, it is just hard to work around all the wires and plumbing. The water bridge is just 2" flex PVC with some unions.
Nick Steele
2500 Club Member
Holy cow!!! I’m going to follow this to get ideas for the future
This is a pretty old picture, but you get the idea. It all works, but access around the back side of the tanks requires gymnastics and precise footwork to get around all the interconnecting plumbing and power cables.
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Very cool Scott,This is a pretty old picture, but you get the idea. It all works, but access around the back side of the tanks requires gymnastics and precise footwork to get around all the interconnecting plumbing and power cables.
The reduction to 1 raceway probably will cost less too, look at how much less plumbing, lighting, pumps, etc will be eliminated, most importantly, less headaches and failing points. Can't wait to see this come together!
Cheers
Agreed. Now I can forgive myself for never having tidied up the cable mess along that wall.
Spent a little time yesterday setting up 150G Rubbermaid temporary holding tank. My old ATI 8 X 80 watt battleship gets another shot at glory for a while. I may hang it over part of the raceway, not sure yet. I still like my Aquatic Life & Hydra hybrid setup.
Anybody concerned much about the roughly 1100 pound load spread over these eight buckets? I was going to do cinder block, but then I have 8 cinder blocks sitting around afterward. A hundred years ago when I was in construction, I saw people do some crazy (temporary) loading with buckets.
Agreed. Now I can forgive myself for never having tidied up the cable mess along that wall.
Spent a little time yesterday setting up 150G Rubbermaid temporary holding tank. My old ATI 8 X 80 watt battleship gets another shot at glory for a while. I may hang it over part of the raceway, not sure yet. I still like my Aquatic Life & Hydra hybrid setup.
Anybody concerned much about the roughly 1100 pound load spread over these eight buckets? I was going to do cinder block, but then I have 8 cinder blocks sitting around afterward. A hundred years ago when I was in construction, I saw people do some crazy (temporary) loading with buckets.
You going to use that 150g holding bin as a sump or fuge? Go ATI Scott. We both know that the reflectors, design, and output on ATI is rarely matched, certainly not by AL hybrid. If just for growing, a no brainer. Throw a couple of those new SB Reef lights on either side, call it a day! That light fired right up didn't it? It looks pretty
The Kings Chalice
New Member
Looking to do the same thing but a little smaller scale. Getting quotes right now is tough. Really can't get anyone to answer back and the one that did is pricey, would love something to compare. Want an acrylic grow out. What do you suggest?
This is going to be a cool build! What’s the purpose of raising up the holding tank? Is it to make it easier to drain to a sump?
Thanks Tim. I have been tinkering with this idea for a while before committing, but now that everyone has my money it is time to get started.
I have a vacation coming mid-month and hopefully the tank gets here just after that.
Two rough categories compete for space:
a) Stuff I grow to supply coral to a couple LFS. Nicer zoas, red/blue/green staghorn, various LPS and torches. Mostly just midrange stuff.
b) Special acropora tenuis, milli, suharsonoi that I collect from people here on R2R, Pieces of the Ocean, and coral shows (now that they are back!)
I wish I could use it as a sump but it really does not fit in my footprint. It is just a temporary holding tank for everything that is in my current frag system plus all the sump rock. I am just trying to prep as much stuff as I can, figure out what all parts I am going to need, get some of the nasty time consuming stuff out of the way.You going to use that 150g holding bin as a sump or fuge? Go ATI Scott. We both know that the reflectors, design, and output on ATI is rarely matched, certainly not by AL hybrid. If just for growing, a no brainer. Throw a couple of those new SB Reef lights on either side, call it a day! That light fired right up didn't it? It looks pretty
The only downside to that fixture is that it draws a lot of watts and throws a TON of heat into the room.
I hear you. Not only are there still serious supply issues, overseas cargo pricing has gone insane. 2X to 20X depending.
Jury is out on acrylic; I just don't have real world experience working inside an acrylic tank. Given the price of glass these days, acrylic is less than half the price.
Thank you. A lot of new (to me) material, scale and equipment choices I've made for this build so I am curious to learn what I love hate about these decisions.
The holding tank is (hopefully) fairly temporary but raising it up is just to make the comings & goings work in it easier. Tearing out the old and putting in the new system creates at least one, unavoidable all nighter on my knees crawling around plumbing it all back together.
Dude, the pics in your thread are amazing. I wish I could get my iphone to take some pics 1/2 as good.
The tank is finished and crated, ready to ship. I had to hold off on shipping while I sort out how to take delivery. Believe it or not, FedEx is the carrier for this 11' crate coming in at 375 pounds. I had a choice of renting a forklift ($525/day) plus $350 extra for home shipping, or driving an hour to the terminal with a 15" Uhaul for $29/day. I am not a cheap person, but that is a stupid spread to eat.
My flight school schedule is heavy next week, so think I will have it come in early the following week. My son should also be available to help out some then too.
My flight school schedule is heavy next week, so think I will have it come in early the following week. My son should also be available to help out some then too.
Today's work for the temporary (hopefully) stock tank:
a) Extended dosing lines for A/B and kalkwasser
b) Installed Tunze osmolator (auto top off).
c) Two gyres and 2 MP40s for flow. We will see if they can hold on. Imperfect mounting surfaces. Ugh.
d) Calibrated some older (3) heaters in a bucket. 400 watts total. Pray with me.
e) Regular Saturday tank maintenance.
The real challenge is I am moving 300G system volume into 150G stock tank. I have been selling/gifting away as much as possible. It is all about rack space. Stock tanks are round. Racks are square. Hard to optimize. Starting to understand how my kids feel.
a) Extended dosing lines for A/B and kalkwasser
b) Installed Tunze osmolator (auto top off).
c) Two gyres and 2 MP40s for flow. We will see if they can hold on. Imperfect mounting surfaces. Ugh.
d) Calibrated some older (3) heaters in a bucket. 400 watts total. Pray with me.
e) Regular Saturday tank maintenance.
The real challenge is I am moving 300G system volume into 150G stock tank. I have been selling/gifting away as much as possible. It is all about rack space. Stock tanks are round. Racks are square. Hard to optimize. Starting to understand how my kids feel.
Arthur_Dent
Active Member
Love the stand. Following along for finished product.
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