Glass baffle cutting

[rockstarta78]

Anyone know of a good place to cut glass baffle for a reasonable price around Reston Herndon (NoVA) area? I am trying to build a small sump and cutting the glass is pricier than the glass itself.

[CaptBlenny]

Did you try yourself yet? I've cut glass myself with no prior experience and found it pretty easy. might want to give it a try. 

[Jason Rhoads]

Same as above. If making a straight cut in thin glass, just get the cheap kit from lowes. It is insanely easy.

[Der ABT]

Look for a banner glass....very reasonable and good cuts for me

[rockstarta78]

Did you try yourself yet? I've cut glass myself with no prior experience and found it pretty easy. might want to give it a try.

No didn't try yet. Didn't wanna mess this up.

[PUFFY_SANCHEZ]

I went to circle glass and mirror in fairfax. Almost all the contact through email. Everything was cut perfectly and was relatively inexpensive.

[rockstarta78]

Thank you. I'll give them a call. Hopefully they will give me a reasonable price. Dulles glass quoted me $75 per baffle. ..... insane

[sethsolomon]

Sterling Glass is where I get mine cut.

[rtelles]

If you already have the glass, and it's just for a diy sump, it won't be all that difficult to make your own cuts using a basic kit from lowes, as someone above suggested. The only thing you'd need to do is sand the edges after you're finished cutting, but the cutting process itself is pretty straightforward. How thick is the glass and what size sump are you building for?

[rockstarta78]

Sterling Glass is where I get mine cut.

Did you have to buy the glass from them?

[rockstarta78]

If you already have the glass, and it's just for a diy sump, it won't be all that difficult to make your own cuts using a basic kit from lowes, as someone above suggested. The only thing you'd need to do is sand the edges after you're finished cutting, but the cutting process itself is pretty straightforward. How thick is the glass and what size sump are you building for?

So I screwed up big time. When I was setting up this tank I figured I'd go without a sump and I bought a big box store stand. But i realize i need a sump tank since i want a refugium badly to grow some Chaeto. Now I have a small door that I have to put the sump through. So I have no choice but have to get a 10g sump.

 

So much for trying to save money. Have to lie to the wife again since I need to buy a lifereef HOB overflow box, a return pump, and plumbing supply and hope I can plumb this thing properly. So 10g sump is all I can get. I will see if someone has an used one that I could buy cheap if this baffle thing doesn't work out.

[WheresTheReef]

What size is your DT? A 10g sump won't buy you much because remember you have to leave enough tank empty so that it can handle any back flow/siphon if the power goes out. You might end up with only 5-8g of additional water volume. A tiny refugium won't likely buy you much if the chaeto is for nutrient export. Don't know how far along your DT is, but would a larger sump fit within the stand if you drained the DT and removed it to put a bigger sump in the stand? The main issue with this approach is if the sump needs maintenance down the road.

[rockstarta78]

What size is your DT? A 10g sump won't buy you much because remember you have to leave enough tank empty so that it can handle any back flow/siphon if the power goes out. You might end up with only 5-8g of additional water volume. A tiny refugium won't likely buy you much if the chaeto is for nutrient export. Don't know how far along your DT is, but would a larger sump fit within the stand if you drained the DT and removed it to put a bigger sump in the stand? The main issue with this approach is if the sump needs maintenance down the road.

The stand is 36 inches. So yeah if I take the water out and take the tank off there's that possibility. For a 40 breeder you don't think 10g would suffice?

[rtelles]

Depends on what you're trying to do. If you want a refugium, the 3 gallons or so of space you'll get for it will be nice but won't do much for nutrient export or for pod propagation, but if you mainly want a sump for filtration (sock/carbon/etc), a skimmer, a space for a heater/ato/doser/etc, then a 10 gallon should be enough for a 40b. I ran a 10g sump on my 40b for a year and it was fine, and I used a hob cpr refugium on the display. That said, you'll only be able to use 6 or 7 gallons of the space to make room for overflow water in the event of an outage. If your main reason for wanting a sump is for chaeto growth, you may be better of creating the sump and instead buying or diy'ing an algae scrubber, which would probably be more efficient, but others may want to weigh in on that.

Edited March 23, 2016 by rtelles

[sethsolomon]

Did you have to buy the glass from them?

Yes

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[matt]

Sterling Glass is where I get mine cut.

 

What was the pricing like?

[Der ABT]

Banner glass was suprisingly cheap for 3/Glas for my external overflow...I think k it was like 40 total with 8 pieces of glass..

[sethsolomon]

What was the pricing like?

I think I paid $84 for 6x 1/4" thick baffles for my 40g breeder. They were like 13x13 panes give take a few inches.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[matt]

I think I paid $84 for 6x 1/4" thick baffles for my 40g breeder. They were like 13x13 panes give take a few inches.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

Thanks

[sethsolomon]

The stand is 36 inches. So yeah if I take the water out and take the tank off there's that possibility. For a 40 breeder you don't think 10g would suffice?

Do a 20g long instead.  Allows the addition of a good size refugium and will fit through the same size hole as a 10g.|

 

Also, how long has the tank been set up? and what livestock do you have?

[rockstarta78]

The tank finished cycling in February. My clowns are in a QT right now. DT only had few snails and couple of hermits.

[sethsolomon]

The tank finished cycling in February. My clowns are in a QT right now. DT only had few snails and couple of hermits.

Ahh gotcha, I would defenetly drill the tank instead of using an overflow box.   I can help you drill it if you want.

[rockstarta78]

Depends on what you're trying to do. If you want a refugium, the 3 gallons or so of space you'll get for it will be nice but won't do much for nutrient export or for pod propagation, but if you mainly want a sump for filtration (sock/carbon/etc), a skimmer, a space for a heater/ato/doser/etc, then a 10 gallon should be enough for a 40b. I ran a 10g sump on my 40b for a year and it was fine, and I used a hob cpr refugium on the display. That said, you'll only be able to use 6 or 7 gallons of the space to make room for overflow water in the event of an outage. If your main reason for wanting a sump is for chaeto growth, you may be better of creating the sump and instead buying or diy'ing an algae scrubber, which would probably be more efficient, but others may want to weigh in on that.

Since I am new to saltwater tank, I am trying to understand this. Why do you think the 3g or so space won't be enough for nutrie8 export?

[rockstarta78]

Ahh gotcha, I would defenetly drill the tank instead of using an overflow box. I can help you drill it if you want.

Thank you so much for the offer. I would have to drain the tank. Won't be too difficult. Hmm now you are really giving me something to think about. I'm in sterling.

[sethsolomon]

Since I am new to saltwater tank, I am trying to understand this. Why do you think the 3g or so space won't be enough for nutrie8 export?

Why 3 gallons of space is not enough is because you would have to build up a terminal mass of chaeto to absorb all the nutrients of the tank.  In order for the chaeto to grow it needs the space to do so. I would shoot for about a 8-12 inch section of your sump.  But the idea of the sump is also to move all the stuff you don't want in your display down out of sight like your skimmer, heaters, and media bags.