All Acrylic Build

I have decided to build a coral frag tank setup from scratch using all acrylic materials for the tank and stand. The dimensions will be 36L x 24w x 18d, the stand height will be 36” and I will be building the filtration system into the acrylic stand. Still working on finalizing the filter design, but I am thinking along the lines of creating several square or rectangular removable buckets at different heights so that the water can naturally flow from one bucket to the next. With removable buckets, maintenance should be easy, and having a number of them will allow for some creative filtration options.

I am thinking of initially setting up a bucket with a DSB fuge, another one for the skimmer, one for the return, and possibly another for a higher flow rate (cheato) or something along those lines. I should also have enough room for a carbon flow though chamber, heater, and make-up water bucket.

I just ordered all of the acrylic (ouch) and will start the build in a few weeks. I will also be doing a DIY LED lighting system for both the main tank and fuge.

Like most of my builds, they are unnecessarily complicated, but I love tinkering around with this stuff; and who knows – perhaps I will stumble onto something that works really well!

 

Congrats, but I read this correctly? The stand will be arcylic too? How thick is this arcylic??

 

Tank and stand will be 1/2", internals will be 1/4".

 

Do you have a drawing of this contraption your going to build? LOL
I will tag along for this one. I to like to over tinker.
I started to work acrylic about 2 years ago and really like it. It is much like working with wood, in that the tools work well on both.
How do you prep edges?
What type acrylic did you choose?
Do you prefer WO 3 or 4 or 40?

Wont that be a lot of wieght for 1/2''?

 

Id build the stand out of wood, because its cheaper. but you ordered everything so nevermind.

 

Lots of different pencil and paper drawings... have not bothered to throw it on a computer... but I guess I should just so I can post the design. Since this is just about all right angles except for the support for the lighting system there is not much complexity to the design.

For joining edges I simply polish until the WO 3 can be evenly distributed. Usually does not take much prep if cut with a very fine saw specifically speced for cutting acrylic. Normally I am not very concerned with the finish, but in this case I will be focusing much more on fit & finish as this will be a display piece. Rather than “breaking” the outside edges I am thinking of doing a simple round-over with my router. Going to experiment with that on scraps and see what works well…

The acrylic is cell cast from Delvies plastics, I have used their acrylic on a number of projects and have been very pleased with the quality.

I really like WO 3, as I am sure you are aware you just have to be extremely carful as it is very easy to splatter, but the capillary action makes joins very easy. After application I use several high pressure clamps to ensure a complete weld.

½” should be far more than adequate to support the system (*crosses fingers*) – looking at the structural properties of the acrylic, flex, compression, etc… I can’t imagine this will be an issue, but if it is I guess I could simply add support as required.

I appreciate you following along; I may pick your brain on a few issues as this project starts to unfold. I am expecting the acrylic to be delivered next week sometime and then the chaos will ensue!

 

Wood would be MUCH cheaper, but part of the plan here is to have a fully transparent system, I like to observe the fuge, filtration system, etc... almost as much as the DT. Since this tank is being built specifically for coral frags the filtration system will likely be much more entertaining anyway ;D

 

I would be more than happy to have my brain picked. Just a heads up if you pick to hard I may have nothing left for thinling out my next build. LOL

My research and experience has told me that Plexi-glas- G is one of the best to use for vessels, also acrylite, and polycast are highly recommended by tank builders.

I am sure the 1/2'' will hold the weight if properly designed.

I am always concerned about prepping my edges. I use a router, and then a cabinet scraper to be sure the edges are smooth.
IMO the #3 sets a little to quick for my liking, I use the #4 on my 3/4'' builds. My next build will be a 180 and I will weld with 40.

 

What if you were to use 2" acrylic tube with 1/4" wall (or close to it) or even solid rod in the corners of the stand for better support instead of wood? Just a thought as you can still keep it transparent.

 

There is no wood involved in this project, all trasparent acrylic, with a few excptions where I will use black acrylic where I need areas shielded from light. The stand itself will end up almost as much a a DT as the actual DT. I plan on the lower portions of the stand being water tight. Essentially it will be an aquarium built ontop of another aquarium with an ~20" void between the two tanks.