Der ABT 156g Build

[CaptainRon]

My two snowflakes are separate from each other all the time - Often at different ends of the tank! The don't battle each other but the sure don't stick to each other like glue either. I'm hoping they actuall do become a nice little pair in the future. It's pretty cool that yours became such good buddies so quickly

[surf&turf]

Looks good Evan, what I can see, nice fish pickup!!

[roni]

Evan, that tank looks fantastic. Nice pair of clowns. Let me know if you need some help getting the 156 going.

[surf&turf]

Evan, that tank looks fantastic. Nice pair of clowns. Let me know if you need some help getting the 156 going.

 

+1 If you do the move on a weekend, would also love to help.

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

Nice pics! You should do some top down pics.

[Der ABT]

well actually got some more work done today though it was only a little its still a step closer

 

got the overflows cleaned up and then worked a little on the stand, had to take a few things apart so I can actually level the tank when i put it in.

 

tomorrow morning the plan is to epoxy/seal the basement and then get the wife and child out of the house so the fumes dont get me kicked out.

of course i realized a few minutes ago the can of epoxy i have is for bare masonry and its painted.....home depot trip early tomorrow i guess.

 

well here are some pics of the end product....still have a little cleaning up to do and need to take the paint of the back pane

 

 

i think i may be up for the slowest build thread.

[Steve175]

It's gonna be worth the wait! Keep 'em coming.

[OldReefer]

You are going to have one heck of a frag sale when you transfer that livestock!

[Der ABT]

Well ok start to the new year

sealed up the wall the tank will go on,

got the stand in today...not set but in the room so i can start lining things up.

Not level yet have a BUNCH of shimming to do...floor is kind nimbly bimbly......right meow....smell only took a day or so to get rid of which was nice....

 

just need to cut the one side of the wall and figure out what i need to do for framing...hopefully that step will be the next completed update....its slow going but i at least have the stand down here to prove some progress.

[zygote2k]

meow

[Der ABT]

got the black paint taken off the back of the tank and am getting ready to drill the overflow holes....need to do a little more planning before i actually drill though. so may just start working on the wall framing instead...we shall see.

 

also trying to figure out the overflows so i can drill the tank

[Amuze]

hmm. i would not do the overflows directly under that brace. could be a pita if a problem were to occur, clogging and cleaning, etc..

Edited January 7, 2013 by Amuze

[steveoutlaw]

There are a few on the beananimal thread on reefcentral that show all three over to one side. Also, you want to make sure that your full syphon is a good 1-2" below your secondary (pipe entrance, not the hole). I tried to have all of them at the same height and the full syphon would never catch because the secondary would always kick in before it had that chance.

 

This is how I started off

 

And this is how I got it running smoothly

 

I put eggcrate in the bulkhead hold to keep any large stuff out of it (I have that on all the holes).

Edited January 7, 2013 by steveoutlaw

[Der ABT]

Thanks for the pics steve i was very confused in beans thread about how two pipes at the same height would not both try to syphon

looking at the glassholes rob mentioned, looks like they use a small piece of acrylic to stop the syphon from sucking air/whirlpool effect.

im thinking of doing something similar to the glass holes

going to have an L-channel made out of acrylic and most likely will have beanish overflow...aka 3 holes (i know the emergency drain is that 1 in a million shot and ive been fine with 2 in my main and only 1 in my frag) but i think the wife will like me saying it has an emergency drain

thing i do like about the glass holes is how low profile they have the internal box....going to try and mimmic this but not sure if that will actually play out that way.... may do a glass holes style overflow and then add an emergency drain a little bit higher up so i wont need an elbow or ill say forget it i dont have enough time and just drill and do the bean with a normal coast to coast.

 

 

Cut the wall a little last night and its all the steel studs, so im tyring to figure out if they will support the viewing window or if i am going to have to splice in some wood (used to working with wood so maybe im over thinking the weight it would handle)

but plan to have it look somethign like this but with a stone sill.

 

would like to mount it flush but to get the cantelever id have to add another piece of wood to teh top and it would make the stand a bit higher than i want, and im running out of room in the ceiling.....and it would be harder to seal the wall/have to cut a bunch away (and i want to be able to return this wally to a non fish tank wall at some point in time....a long period of time but still.

 

anyone worked with steel studs before, you think it will be easy to make a sill that would support this type of window?? it would be 5ftx2ft square......i see adding the track for the sill is pretty easy (tin snips/screws etc) just not sure how it would hand the weight if someone leans on it etc...im guessing fine since ive seen windows done like this on exterior walls.

[Der ABT]

Well actually have a pretty good update to give

Measurements made, hopefully done right.

biting nails

foget it lets get it done

 

First hole ever drilled

2 more done

i think they came out good enough and as most said its much easier than one thinks...my template worked great and no skipping of the bit. first one came out a little rough but the gasket covers it all.

 

now i just need to decide on internal or external....im thinking and external glass with an internal acrylic shallow as a back up....technically the glass should do just fine with a silicon seal but i dont know ill have to decide once i get the tank in the room and make sure there is enough room etc.

 

got a home depot trip in for the fraiming supplies and that will be the next project woooptie...

[Coral Hind]

Congrats on drilling your first hole!! Remember to lay something inside the tank, like a towel, to catch the plug when you drill through. I saw one fall and crack the tank, just something to think about.

[Der ABT]

yeh when drillling i had that towel underneath but the duct tape held it each time....definately thought about somethign like that happening though

[zoozilla]

Nice looking holes for being a 1st timer. Hard parts behind you now and should be all downhill from here.

[steveoutlaw]

Go with the external - They are awesome..........you won't regret it!!!

[Der ABT]

Thanks, i thought they looked terrible but will do, i think next time i would secure a piece of wood below the hole so the glass doesnt get pushed out, i used duct tape and it only sorta worked....i would think if a piece of wood was below it and secured to the glass it would be less likely to chip as the last thin piece would not be broken by the weight of the drill/any pressure i put on it. but i could be wrong

 

 

Steve pretty sure you convinced me to go external...now i just need to decide on glass thickness etc. and make sure it wont be in the way of working on the tank etc...(not the largest room it will be placed in....im guessing 1/4-1/2 glass would be plenty...ill probalby go thicker cause it wont cost much more and will make me worry less.

now where to get glass...any suggestions?? i know home depot sells it but im thinking of getting it cut somewhere for me then ill do the drilling.

[steveoutlaw]

Go in the middle with 3/8". I would look up glass shops in your area. I've had them cut it and sand the edges. they are still flat but you won't cut yourself on them.

[matt]

Sounds like a good idea, wish I'd gotten my sump baffles polished....human blood isnt toxic to our fish is it ? ;-)

[Der ABT]

Finally got some more to update, getting much closer but still have alot to go.

No turning back now.

oh boy first time working with metal studs.

 

preliminary look from the basement playroom/tvroom

metal is easier to work with than i thought, still prefer the wood but only cut myself twice

 

and got the rest of it framed in and level

 

 

***edit the bowing the on the top right was fixed***

now i just need to go pick out the Trim and seal up the back of it, and then paint.......hopefully ill have that done this week

 

then ill be calling for a little help to get the tank downstairs (3 of us should be fine, moved it out with two but that thing is heavy) then ill have to fill it up and get her level as the floor is NOT level......do some finishing painting of the trim/sill etc and that should be all

 

I would really like to have a piece of Granite or somekind of stone vs wood on the trim but time is getting to me, I may end up putting some Tile down but i want to see how it looks first with just the white wood.

 

if anyone is any good at cutting stone/has a saw/ and or some scrap that would fit well please let me know (5 foot opening)......

i think thats it for now....

Edited January 22, 2013 by Der ABT

[Coral Hind]

Nice job on the opening!

[surf&turf]

Looks good Evan, are you going to have any access to the tank from the front?

Edited January 22, 2013 by surf&turf