Need Advice Please...new build.

[RTMA]

Well I got the ok from the wife to upgrade yet again. I've been been looking at a few options and would like some other opinions.

the tank is going in the middle of my basement as a room divider and to hide a concrete post, so i want to view from both sides.

tank budget is $300-400 with shipping / delivery

I am considering the following:

Rimless Glasscages w/ Starfire front.
48x18x16 - 65 gallon rimless with right side overflow
48x18x21 - 75 gallon rimless with right side overflow

or

-75 Gallon AGA with Megaflow (don't really like the overflow on the back, which will be viewable as well as the middle brace)
-75 gallon AGA and do a glass-holes type overflow on the right side.

Only issue I see atm is that I only have a 30" single 250 watt MH, that I'd like to use until I can get a 48" (few months). Should I downsize to a 36" tank or will the single 250 DE light enough of the 48" tank (bta/sps/clam in middle w/ softies to the outside)?

Also, Anyone have a good experience with Glasscages? Cause the only posts I seem to find are bad ones. Then again no one complains when they are satisfied.

I'll be building my own stand (I have woodworking skills and plenty of the tools)

Thoughts? TIA.

[tank o tang]

How much space you have to work with? I wouldn't do starfire unless it will be on all 3 visible sides. Go used and go as big as you can. If you are set on a 4ft length I would go 120gal so you get some depth to look through.

[Kdocimo90]

Be careful with Glass Cages, I havent heard much good about them. Most of the reviews I have seen have been bad ones. Personally, I dont think they're that great. Their tank silicon sealing looks horrific.

I'd go with an AGA tank. Which tank? IDK thats up to you. If you want to take the risk drillin the tank yourself and make it look how you want, then go for it. If not, then just stick with the megaflows.

(If no one buys my 40g set up, I'm going to part my stuff out. I have a Dual 175 MH ballast with retrofit reflectors, all of which is in GREAT condition).

Or you could just buy my 40g setup :)
It doesnt have an overflow, and you could drill yourself.

[Gooch79]

I was wondering about glass cages myself, and then I read their warranty section. It was plain awful, they only warranty for a year or so I think, and thats only if padding is used underneath the tank and a special kind of stand is used with it. Seems overly ridiculous when some tank manufacturers warranty for life.

If I were you I would search the classifieds for a used non reef ready tank. Some good sites are bostonreefers and manhattanreefs as well as using this site and ctfishstores. You'll find a decent sized tank fairly cheap and you can then get an overflow from gl*******s and drill it for the side.

Glass holes can totally custom make you a box for any dimensions or setup you need. They made a custom box for me that was a bit deeper than normal for 80 dollars shipped.

I don't think it's unreasonable for you to get a solid tank and get it drilled with a custom overflow for 200 or so altogether.

[RTMA]

Thanks for all the great comments. Tang, I think I may have to stick with the 18" depth as 24" would be a bit too wide for that area. I think a 120 may be too big for me at this stage.

As for a used tank, no doubt that would be much more cost effective, I'll look into that. I don't think I'd have a problem drilling my own and glass-holes stuff does look good.

Anyone have an Acrylic tank? I hear that the biggest con is that they scratch too easily. The clarity is supposed to be much better, but I haven't seen one in person.

kdoc - let me know about the lights if/when that day comes.

Thanks, Joe

[Gooch79]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15057107#post15057107 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RTMA
Thanks for all the great comments. Tang, I think I may have to stick with the 18" depth as 24" would be a bit too wide for that area. I think a 120 may be too big for me at this stage.

As for a used tank, no doubt that would be much more cost effective, I'll look into that. I don't think I'd have a problem drilling my own and glass-holes stuff does look good.

Anyone have an Acrylic tank? I hear that the biggest con is that they scratch too easily. The clarity is supposed to be much better, but I haven't seen one in person.

kdoc - let me know about the lights if/when that day comes.

Thanks, Joe

what I hear about acrylic is that they are not preferred to glass by most but only in the situations where it just becomes too heavy to use glass. From what it sounds with the 48x18 dimensions you are shooting for that you're going to be using a 90g. Glass is more than fine for that.

It should be fairly easy to find a decent used 90g tank that isnt reef ready. You should find it for under 100 dollars.

[Wheel of Time]

I have an acrylic tank. its a pretty good size and Im quite happy with it, except for minor scratches. The problem with scratches in acrylic is a reality each time you clean the face -- sand can get under the magnet etc. they can be easily scratched. I never wanted to have to deal with the extra weight of a big glass tank, but if I had it to do over again, Id go glass.

I second tank o tang: I would go as big as you can and def. buy used. You will save enough to put towards the light fixture you want. If you want to see an acrylic -- come to the June meeting of the group -- itlll be a bbq at my house -- you can see an acrylic then. Dont forget about sump or sumps etc -- the more water volume you have, the bigger the room for any mistakes in water quailty. on a small scale you have to nail the right parameters to be successful (same with big tanks, but have margin of error / extra time to find out and correct before coral damage) IMO.

[RTMA]

Hey Seth, thanks for the heads up on the Acrylic. I'm a beast with the mag-float, which means I'll scratch it up real good. Plus my son likes to help out and clean the glass too, so thats is just asking for hazing.

As for the sump, I'm planning on a 20 long. but I have a really nice 7/8 gallon acrylic cube I was hoping to use as a display fuge, viewable from the side of the stand below the tank. I'll also get to use the 18" Nova exterme T5 lamp I bought for my Mini-bow 7. I think that would look cool. I just have to figure out how to get the flow in and out and not kill the pods in the process...maybe a maxijet 900 for flow or feed off return pump and do a simple bulkhead overflow back into the sump. Noise won't be an issue as it will be inside the stand. Only problem i see is that this has "Chiller" written all over it. I want to try and avoid that cost...

And the fact that I have a RemoraC Nano for a skimmer. Perfect for my 29 but not so sure for 75 with 20 sump.

[Gooch79]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15077958#post15077958 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RTMA
Hey Seth, thanks for the heads up on the Acrylic. I'm a beast with the mag-float, which means I'll scratch it up real good. Plus my son likes to help out and clean the glass too, so thats is just asking for hazing.

As for the sump, I'm planning on a 20 long. but I have a really nice 7/8 gallon acrylic cube I was hoping to use as a display fuge, viewable from the side of the stand below the tank. I'll also get to use the 18" Nova exterme T5 lamp I bought for my Mini-bow 7. I think that would look cool. I just have to figure out how to get the flow in and out and not kill the pods in the process...maybe a maxijet 900 for flow or feed off return pump and do a simple bulkhead overflow back into the sump. Noise won't be an issue as it will be inside the stand. Only problem i see is that this has "Chiller" written all over it. I want to try and avoid that cost...

And the fact that I have a RemoraC Nano for a skimmer. Perfect for my 29 but not so sure for 75 with 20 sump.

Are you intending on using that 18" light in the refugium? If so that is overkill. Plain old lightbulb lighting is all you need for macro algaes. I had a little CF lighting system that was for a pico tank that I used as my first refugium light. It wasnt doing so good growing the chaeto, but it was growing some coraline. I switched out to a screw in style CF bulb from lowes that was a 6500k spectrum light in a cheapo clip on fixture. The whole thing cost under 10 dollars. Now the chaeto grows fast and easy.

[RTMA]

Brett - Yeah thats what I have now over my 10 gallon sump, a 65k twist bulb in a 8 dollar clamp on walmart special. But if I was going to build a display fuge, I though that the 10K & actinic would just look better. Purely aesthetics there... I could also still use the 6500k with some macro in the 20L, as that size would be pretty large for just a sump/skimmer/return section if the fuge is isolated in the 8 gallon cube. Should be fun to plan and build.

[Wheel of Time]

Hey Joe. I really like the idea of a display fuge. In the CTARS forum there was a thread the other day of an awesome example. Im quite envous -- they look very cool. Im with you on how to move the water to not kill the pods -- maybe a gravity fed drain or something??? Im sure there are tons of guys around who have done it -- but Im no help there as Ive never done that type of set-up.

Good luck. and keep us posted with a few pics of who the process is going / the set-up.

[RTMA]

cool, I'm gonna have to check that post out. I'll get some pics of my current setup and hopefully what I am planning....

[RTMA]

Just FYI...I choose the 75 Rimless Glasscages with a Starfire front... I researched, spoke to a bunch of people and knew what to expect going in...

We'll see how this goes....I'll snap some pics and start a thread soon enough...as I picked up the tank while you guys were at Seth's BBQ, I'll have to make the next meeting.

Thanks to everyone who contributed....

[tank o tang]

rimless and starfire
sweet

[Wheel of Time]

Those rimless tanks sure look great. Now... if I can only convince the wife that we NEED[I] another tank :-)

[RTMA]

heh, thanks for the kind words. I just hope it *holds water*... They tell you you have to wait 3 weeks for the silicone to cure before you can put water in it. .. still have another week to wait. ok since nothing else is even ready yet...

[Wheel of Time]

Joe, how is the build coming along? What have you gotten doen since you picked up the tank the other weekend?

Able to get any pictures? why not start a build thread?

[RTMA]

Hey Seth, I'm plan on it, just been kinda busy lately. Got no garage and I no longer can cut wood in the basement (unless I wanna start dosing saw dust), so that kinda limits what I can do in the evenings. My 2 and 7 year old goes to bed at 8...and by the time they really go down it's 8:30 and then by the time I get some free time, its 9:15 and who wants to start dragging out tools at 9:30.

Plus I keep going over stuff, like how I want to face frame the stand, doors, etc.

But so far.

Picked up a ReefKeeper Lite
Ordered a 700 GPH Glass-Holes overflow.
Picked up a used Coralife Super Skimmer 125.
New 48" fixture (2 250MH & 4 T5 Actinics)
Framed my stand...made it 37" high
Picked up a 20L for half the sump.
Working on the separate Fuge design, still need to order 2 1 Inch bulkheads and make a stand for the fuge so its higher than the 20L (its a 8 gallon acrylic cube) and will gravity feed into the bubble trap before the return.

Got about 40 pounds of Rock basting in salt with a few female fiddler crabs my son plucked from the tidal pools at the end of my street. Don't think they are reef safe, but my son likes them so we will try and create a nice home for them in my mini-bow. Right now the minibow 7 is my QT where I am treating my new Hippo with quICK Cure as I saw a white spot on him at Greenwich Aquaria. I knew I was gonna QT him anyway, so I bought him. He's small yet, but will be my only large fish in the 75. That should give me a few years until I move and get a bigger tank.

Still lots to do... pics and thread will come...

[Kdocimo90]

aww dang, you got lights :(

[RTMA]

lol. I did...ygpm kdoc.