ArtFully Acrylic (Adam B)

Here we go with some pics of almost all of the plumbing done. The back of the stand was also machined to cleanly accommodate the plumbing as well as the electrical wiring. I love how clean the plumbing came out!! More pics coming tomorrow!!

We are all REEF enthusiasts…and Halloween is around the corner…so we figured why not have a REEF-O-LANTERN Pumpkin Carving Contest!! You buy the pumpkin(s), carve it/them in a reef related theme, upload a picture or two, and bring us the receipt for a store credit the next time you are in the store. WHAT’S THAT?!?! Store Credit?!?! That’s right! We will PAY FOR YOUR PUMPKIN(S)!!* There is now a link on our website at www.incrediblecorals.com for the contest. Once you have completed your Reef-O-Lantern masterpiece all you need to do is “checkout” on the website with the appropriate entry product listing. The cost of entry is free. Upon “checkout”, you will be presented with an option for uploading your entry. Contest entries may be uploaded anytime between 10/17/13 and on Sunday 10/27/13 at 5pm at which time no further entries will be accepted. The actual voting page will be made visible with all entries by 7pm on 10/27/13 and will be live until NOON on 10/31/13. The TOP THREE voted entries will be announced on the page by 5pm on 10/31/13. All entries will be posted in a gallery on the website for voting. They will appear just as products. To vote, you "Checkout" with the pumpkin you are voting to win. The cost of voting will be free. The winners will receive the following prizes: 1st Place - $100 Gift Certificate 2nd Place - $50 Gift Certificate 3rd Place - $25 Gift Certificate *Winning pumpkins must be verified prior to issuance of Gift Certificate. The winning party may either bring the pumpkin with them to the store or may show a picture of them holding the pumpkin if they don’t want to bring it in. Gift Certificates cannot be combined with other discounts (i.e. Incredible Reefer's Discount or ArtFully Acrylic Tank Owner's Club). There is no restriction on the cost or size of the pumpkin used for the contest, but maximum store credit for pumpkin purchase is $10. Limit one reimbursement per household.

Piedmont does not maintain a public scrap bin. They recycle their scrap and do not sell it by the pound or size. However, they will "cut to order" pieces for you. You will pay more per square foot to get it vs a full sheet, but you are also paying for the labor of them cutting it and having a partial sheet to deal with. Also, for a sump that size, the .220 acrylic from Home Depot can work if you properly brace the top. The acrylic is extruded vs being cell cast, but it will serve the purpose just fine for a small sump like that.

The stain and poly came out beautifully =). Next up is plumbing. I'm waiting on a gate valve and a few other parts in the mail to get started there. After plumbing, I just need to bend and paint some conduit for the light rack which will attach to the back of the stand. Then she is done =). Tom has just advised me his Bday is on 10/14 so we aim to be done before then =).

ROFL...yeah..it's been a project. It's the only project that followed me from the old garage shop to this shop...and I moved in here last October . But let me tell you what...it has been, and is still, a FUN build to do. Even in the months that it sat waiting for equipment for the sump to be determined prior to it's build...I still enjoyed it being here. Looking at it brings memories back of figuring out all the elements of how to put everything together and make that cute little CAD drawing on the first page a reality =).

Pre-Stain Conditioner and first coat of Red Mahogany Stain went on. Note if you don't know...the ply is Mahogany as well. Also including a pic of the tank with the front black acrylic surround complete as this was finished recently as well, but no pic added of it. 2nd coat of the Stain has been applied since these pics and as we speak the first coat of Poly is drying. We will do a total of 3 coats of Poly. Yep - this build is an ALL-INCLUSIVE build so not only includes the tank, sump, and stand, but also includes all finish work as well as final plumbing so stay tuned!! **Note- Pics run in reverse order of completion so the lighter colored pics of the skin are the pre-conditioner, not the stain.

For what it's worth, the total system operating volume will be more like 40-45 gal. The 20gal title was established before the build began. Since then the size of the drop off increased .

I gotta say wow again. I tried to put the sump in the stand before flush routing the 1/8" excess lip from the bottom piece...it wouldn't fit. I had to finish flush routing the bottom before it would fit in the stand. There was VERY little clearance (per design of course) on any side. We definitely maximized the size of the sump for fitting under the stand. As the sump sits inside the bottom steel frame there is about 1/8" clearance all the way around....nice =).

Thank you both! I love this thing too! Almost forgot a pic with the inspiration... Only thing I can't show right now is the bio-pellet reactor which I don't have here. But these show skimmer, calcium reactor, and return pump. Front section is for frags or fuge.

The sump is basically done. The bottom just went on. Once that cures, flush route the bottom lip off, mitre the edges, and it's complete. Pictures won't show anymore detail from those actions though so what you are looking at below completes the sump =).

Ok, now I'm seriously going home and getting some sleep. Now the other long side is on. All that's left is to finish machine and attach the center white baffle to the toothed baffle. Then the bottom goes on, finish edge route, clean up the edges and she is done!!

Ok Ok, one more pic tonight cause I was feeling energized to get more of it done late tonight =). First set of baffles has gone in.

Your wish come true.... Material cut to dimension for all pieces of the sump build. Next Step, route and prep all edges for welding. Thennnnn.....the sump assembly has begun!!! Sides attached to "front". Stay tuned. It's on the table now, so there is no going back. Progress will come quickly now.

That's a great blade Dan =). I was referred to those before. I forego them on cost as I still have to take everything over to the router table post saw anyhow. That is an awesome blade for you though as it will give an edge that is great for the thicker solvents you guys use without the need for hitting it with the router separately. If I were doing it that way then it would be worth every penny as I'm sure it is to you =) Rosco, as it's a 10" blade then it's gonna be for either a table saw or a panel saw. Won't fit circular. There are blades much like that one made for circular saws however.

Laser-cut acrylic edges are nice for signage and many other things, but as you say...not good for building water/pressure vessels such as tanks. The degree angle you mention plays one role, but the heat of the laser plays the other. This creates stress in the acrylic. Using solvents to weld the acrylic together is another stress. Two stresses spell yucky with acrylic. The joints would likely be bubble filled and/or display crazing (stress micro-cracks inside the material). Certainly a cosmetic eye sore at the very least that may or may not display structural issues later on. And you are right again about the clean edge left by a router. It can be a thing of beauty =). Also a thing of pain...many many times I have sliced a finger or palm open on a freshly routed piece of acrylic while maneuvering it around .

HD and Lowes both carry lines of acrylic up to 1/4" (technically .220 vs .25 as there are metric, not imperial. Only a few american acrylic manufacturers that cast acrylic to imperial standards). If it's close, you can go to Piedmont Plastics in Elkridge, MD. They will do "Cut-to-Order" pieces for you on their saw if you like even. There, you can get higher quality materials. Everything Lowes or HD carries will be Extruded acrylic. I only use Cell Cast for my builds. Google the difference to determine if it will be an issue for whatever your project is. If the project is small then it likely won't be an issue to use extruded material. You will find the cost to likely be a bit cheaper than HD for better quality material. LOL, not worried about being put out of work by a blade recommendation Matt. My panel saw uses a 7 1/4" circular saw to operate. It functions well enough for the medium cut jobs. Large cut jobs I still outsource to my suppliers. I use the highest tooth count carbide blade I can get at HD which is a Diablo 54 Tooth Triple Carbide blade. It's a pricey blade but worth it. With small jobs it will last you quite a while. I replace them every month or two with my volume however. As MbVette said though, the true clean surface I use for building tanks and sumps isn't coming from the saw. It comes from the router table. I build old school as an art so don't have fancy CNC routers. I manually machine every piece and every opening. For small projects you could get by with a small big box bought table router, but those are really designed for routing wood. The fence setup, configuration, feed method, and many other things are different with a router table setup for cutting acrylic on a larger scale as to volume or piece size. If you will be welding the pieces and don't have access to this other type of equipment you can use a Jointer if you have one to get nice clean edges on smaller pieces. Or you can use sandpaper tape down to a table and run the edges across the sandpaper. Keeping the piece level and perpendicular to the sandpaper is important. You need a good square edge for the welding. 220 grit will work good for this purpose to remove the saw marks. There are also "Acrylic Scrapers" available that you can use to remove the saw marks in lieu of sandpaper. When I built my first project, this is the method that I used, but I wouldn't recommend for anything big. It's a lot of work scraping all of those edges . Hope this helps .

The blade will cut the acrylic just fine as is. Obviously, a carbide blade with a higher tooth count will make a "cleaner" cut, but how clean it needs to be really depends on the purpose of the pieces and if you are going to be doing any other type of edge prep later.

WOW guys. Just wow =)

FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE!!!!! Time for a Special Sale that hinges on an Opening Game. Tonight is the Redskins season opening game. Many of us have been patiently waiting for the season to open. With a nice win by the Cowboys last night we are really looking forward to tonight's opening Redskins game against the Eagles. So, we are going to have a sale hedging on the outcome of the game. It's gonna be a blast! And it's gonna be easy. For every POINT the redskins score you will get 1% OFF ALL Fish and Coral for this upcoming weekend*. If the Redskins score 50 points, you will get 50% off ALL Fish and Coral this upcoming Thursday through Sunday. If the Redskins score 23 points, then you will get 23% off ALL Fish and Coral. Easy right? Sound like fun? RG3 is back and the Eagles have an overhauled Offensive lineup. Both teams display weakness in their defensive lines so all the ingredients are there for this to be a BIG Discount Sale. So, get your favorite team's jersey on tonight and root for the Redskins to score high...the % of your discount depends on it =). THIS HAS THE POSSIBILITY OF BEING OUR BIGGEST (or smallest) SALE EVER!!!! Now, for those of you that know Steve and I pretty well you will know that this will be a very different night for both of us. Steve is a big Redskins fan. I'm a HUGE Cowboys fan and yes, I was raised in Dallas . I can imagine that Steve will be hoping for a landslide Redskins victory in one thought and then in the next competing thought hoping for it to be a low scoring game. I can imagine in the event of a high scoring game that Steve may grab the nearest kids blankie he can find, insert his thumb in mouth, and begin to sob in a fetile position on the couch ROFL!! Me? I'll be rooting for the Eagles of course!! LOL, but that doesn't mean I'm not rooting for all of you, our awesome incredible customers. This sale doesn't require a win at all...the higher the score, even if the Redskins lose, the bigger your discount. I like an adrenaline rush, so I would enjoy seeing a high scoring game, but an ultimate Redskins loss. Don't hate...I'm rooting for big discounts here . There might be a good chance of that tonight! *Sale is only applicable on Fish and Coral. Inverts and Dry Goods are not included in the sale. No other discounts can be combined with the sale. You may however use the larger of the available discounts between this sale and other Loyalty programs.

That is a Yellow Finger Gorgonian, which is a NON-Photosynthetic Gorgonian (I'm sure you knew this, but for all other's benefit). So, similarly to Sun Corals and other Non-Photo's it doesn't feed off light and should generally be spot fed at least periodically. The moderate flow is good as this is one means of it getting food. As long as the polyps are still coming out you are likely good. However, with the slime and algae, you have noticed the polyps don't come out. This is bad. No extension, no eat. We carry these guys in store here as well and always recommend that they go in a low light/shaded area. Preferably under a ledge or in a bit of a cave. This type of area with good flow and they will love it. Some can be successful with them being exposed to some light, but as you are finding, they will consistently grow algae and slime like that. So it must be consistently cleaned off. Best place though, low light with moderate to moderate high flow.

Thanks Steve =). You better hope I know what I'm doing....your basement floor depends on it .

Rubbish. I'm glad you didn't try this yourself Enkay and that you had me build your tank for you instead For large display tanks, the methods used in this guys video set will result in a generous helping of bubbles in your seams (looks ugly), but more importantly....his method doesn't produce a very strong bond between the panels (not enough contact time and not 100% solvent coverage). That can be risky down the line. For much smaller tanks like a small sump or an ATO Box these methods will almost certainly work if you put in the efforts to get the pieces all right. If you want cleaner and much stronger seams then as OhaverD said, pins method is your best route when using a solvent based bonding process.

Darn it all! Hocked on Phonics didn't work for me lol. I swear I actually scored very highly in my college english placement tests =P

Ok twist my arm Tom . Toms sump color scheme has been designed to mock the Bubble King skimmer. So middle baffle and bottom are white, other baffles are red, and main body is clear.

Yep, we are doing it again! All of you that have been to the store know we don't run this type of promotion very often as we already have some of the best pricing and frag sizes in the area, bbbuutttttttt.... We are ENORMOUSLY overstocked right now so take advantage while you can!! With the 4 boxes of coral and inverts we brought in yesterday we hardly have any room to frag any of the new stuff!! CHECK OUT OUR VENDOR THREAD "SPEECHLESS" FOR PICS OF THE NEW SHIPMENT AND OUR CURRENT INVENTORY!! So, we will be running a special Buy2Get1 sale to get our frag levels down to make room. This doesn't mean you can't come in and buy from the new goodies though of course =). This sale will be on ALL $10-$40 frags -- over 350 frags to choose from!!! A few pics will follow to show the type of stuff that is available in these sections right now...If you know Incredible Corals, you will know its pretty good stuff...this isn't just leftover "junk" here ...ESPECIALLY with a sale that will net you 33% off!!! Also, we will allow mixing of sections in this sale as we did once before which was very popular. As an example: Buy 2 $40 frags and you can pick another $40 or two $20's or a $30 and a $10 or four $10's. You can really stretch your buck pretty good with this sale so don't miss it!!!! Sale will start when we open on Thursday at 5pm and run through closing on Sunday at 5pm...Don't Wait!! See you all soon!! Exclusions: Buy2Get1 sale does not include fish or inverts. Those have their own sale threads anyhow for this week as you can see. Also, no other discounts can be included with this sale which includes INCREDIBLE Reefer's Discount Program and ArtFully Acrylic Tank Owner's Club Discount.