Upgrade to 120Gs: Quiet is Key

Discussion in 'Show Off Your Fish Tanks!' started by magnetar68, Jan 27, 2011.

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  1. scandluz22

    scandluz22 Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2011
    Messages:
    74
    Location:
    NY
    Wow that is incredible. I am subscribing to this. Can't wait to see it complete
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. magnetar68

    magnetar68 Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2010
    Messages:
    39
    Update

    I know it's been a while, but here is an update:

    The front panel of the tank bowed out. The builder was very surprised that 1" acrylic will do that, but as soon as he saw it he offered to build me another tank at no cost to me. The upside is that I will get to incorporate some design changes, the downside is that I will need to swap tanks.

    Here's the plan:

    • After having this rimless, I think the euro-brace is better because the water does not slosh out of the tank when you clean with the magnet.
    • The euro-brace means we can drop down to 3/4" acrylic which means more placement options for an MP40 or similar.
    • The 3/4" material has a little better visual quality than the 1"
    • Having a cross-brace will be better since I can add a two part net top that is more manageable than one big open top.
    • The cross brace will be clear acrylic and only 3", so it should not cut down on the light from above.
    • I am going to re plumb with 1" since 1.5" is total overkill.
    • I am going to add two filter pad pre-filters in the overflow box and with the 1" plumbing I will have more room for them
    • I am going to move the return nozzles so the magnet does not hit them.
    • I will likely move the sump into my fish closet behind the tank to make the whole thing more manageable.
    • I *might* add a larger separate refugium and use the refugium space in the pump for the external reactors.
    • I *might* plumb in a continuous water change system from the garage next to the fish closet for more stable water parameters.

    [​IMG]
     
  4. magnetar68

    magnetar68 Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2010
    Messages:
    39
    DIY LED Update

    Getting close to done my LEDs. All of the hardware is done as well as the power distribution panel. Also, while not shown in the pics below, all of the LEDs are soldered and working. I just need to add the rest of the optics and wire the fixtures to the power distribution panel:

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  5. WhiskyTango

    WhiskyTango Eyelash Blennie

    Joined:
    Oct 9, 2009
    Messages:
    1,267
    Location:
    Dothan, Al
    magnetar68,

    You are a great writer and well done on the entire process of this new tank!

    Are you using SolidWorks for the modeling?
     
  6. magnetar68

    magnetar68 Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2010
    Messages:
    39
    Thanks! I use Google SketchUp. It's free and easy to use.
     
  7. BoBo65

    BoBo65 Torch Coral

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2010
    Messages:
    1,181
    Location:
    Las Vegas,NV
    I cant believe the 1" bowed!!!! Wow that is weird, oh well I guess now you get to tweak things to your liking now it will be even better than before. Now are they going to re-use any of the acrylic or just completely redo a whole new tank, and what is the estimated date of the new tank??
     
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  9. magnetar68

    magnetar68 Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2010
    Messages:
    39
    All new tank with all new acrylic. He is in Chicago and I am in San Fran area. Also, this tank is all 1" and the new tank is 3/4", so not too practical to reuse it.

    He said he would be done in a week to unless there were issues getting the right acrylic.
     
  10. magnetar68

    magnetar68 Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2010
    Messages:
    39
    Finally Finished DIY LEDs

    Finally Done. Here's some pics and video. The one thing I did was make the acrylic splash screen so the can easily slide in and out to be cleaned (dust on the upside and saltwater on the bottom side). I did this by bending some flat pieces of aluminum and using the thermal epoxy to glue them in place.

    Video (at 60% intensity for both the XP-G Cool Whites and the XP-E Blues/RoyalBlue):
    DIY LEDs at 60 Percent - YouTube

    Pics:
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    Last edited: Mar 31, 2012