J-Dog's NEW 60x30x24 BUILD

[J-dog]

Starting my first tank build and decided to have Jason from Clear Fabrications be in charge. The tank will be 187 gallons (60x30x24) and will have a 55 gallon sump. I've been taking my time on this build, since it's my first and because I want to do things right. Here is a link to see the progress of the tank......

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f116/j-dogs-new-tank-63859/


I will update shortly with more pictures, but photobucket isn't working, so I will need to wait until the site is back up.

 

[Peppie]

Very nice, J-dog!
I looked into this same size tank thru Jason it was a good price, but if I were to go 30'' tall it would have needed to be built with 3/4'' material. Almost doubled the price. ouch!!! Thick acrylic is spendy.
Jason is doing a great job for you.
I will follow.
Closed loop?
Bean animal? or Herbie?

 

[J-dog]

Thanks peppie! The overflow will be coast-to-coast with a bean animal. No closed loop, flow will be provided using Vortech MP40's. I want the system to be as quiet as possible, so the least amount of equipment, the better. If u have any tips, please let me know.

 

[Peppie]

Tips?
Need more info on tips for what?
IMO you will create much better flow to remove detritus with a closed loop. There are some great quite pumps on the market.
Another tip??
Research all the equipment you plan on using, buy the best you can afford. It is better to save a little longer and buy a good piece of equipment, than planning on upgrading in the future, Now you have just paid more for what you wanted/needed in the first place.

Tips? Go LED

Tip, Know what you are going to put in the tank before you buy anything.

Research , Research, Research!!!!!!!

 

[J-dog]

Sorry it took so long, but here are some new pictures. The new tank arrived last week, but I've been out-of-town since then, so not much has been accomplished since.....

Let me start from the top. Here is where the tank will be going....it's in an weird place with the ceiling being slanted, so the stand had to be custom made so the setup wouldn't be too tall

Here us the stand....

 

[J-dog]

After doing some research I decided to go with an ATB skimmer and return pump....

And now for the tank! Jason at Clear Fabrications did an awesome job....he is definitely the MAN when it comes to building quality tanks.

Water going in...should be filled by tomorrow. More updates to come

 

[eww]

One quick question...its hard to tell but did you put a solid top on your stand before setting your new pretty acrylic tank on it?

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[mcoomer]

Would you post up some pics of the overflow setup? I run a Bean Overflow on my 180 and it's the quietest setup I've ever heard but it's important to build it correctly in order for it to perform correctly. Have you tested it?

Mike

 

[J-dog]

One quick question...its hard to tell but did you put a solid top on your stand before setting your new pretty acrylic tank on it?

Yes, I used 1/2 inch plywood on top of the stand.

Would you post up some pics of the overflow setup? I run a Bean Overflow on my 180 and it's the quietest setup I've ever heard but it's important to build it correctly in order for it to perform correctly. Have you tested it?

Mike

I just looked and there already is a picture posted on my overflow with the Bean Animal showing. Does something look wrong in the picture?

 

[07FocusST]

Yes, I used 1/2 inch plywood on top of the stand.

Had me worried there for a second myself! Looks great! keep us posted.

 

[mcoomer]

I just looked and there already is a picture posted on my overflow with the Bean Animal showing. Does something look wrong in the picture?

If you're overflow is setup per the picture 4 posts above this one then yes, there does appear to be some stuff missing. Looking at your pic it's pretty apparent that the center channel is your closed suction drain, I'm assuming that the left most channel is your emergency drain, but the right most channel doesn't have the elbow and air tube that an open channel drain should have. Take a look a the pic below. My setup is not typical as the previous owner drilled the tank with vertical holes rather than horizontal but the setup works well.

The left channel is the open suction channel, the center is the closed suction channel, and the right is the emergency drain.

On the rear of the tank you can see that the open suction channel has an air tube plumbed into the PVC line. The other end of that tube is routed to the overflow box and secured in place so that when the water level rises and covers the open end of the tubing the channel becomes a full suction channel and pulls more water out of the tank. When the water level drops the tube opens up again and the channel pulls out less water.

If you haven't seen it yet, take a look at the Bean Overflow thread on Reef Central. Anything and everything that you need to know about setup and adjustment of one of these arrangements can be found in that thread.

Mike