My 120 Gal reef

[MyMonkey]

Very nice. Can't wait to see the progression. Tagging along.

[kwgozy]

Looks great can't wait to see the finished product.

[kwgozy]

Looks great can't wait to see the finished product.

[friendtothefish]

Your work is great! I hope mine comes out as nice...

So far I am only at the sketching point, as I have about 5 months till I am moving. I am going to be installing my 120 in my new house.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=792732

I am also very interested in what you think of the megaflow system. I was going to build my own overflow, but now I m having second thoughts...

Great stuff!
Friend

[gmatt]

Originally posted by Bruno
It looks great so far. I sure would like to see that in person whens it's done. I live in Boynton also.

It's going to be a while, but you are more than welcome to come by and see it when it's done.

[gmatt]

Originally posted by nanokeeper
No problem. Joining that club was one of the best things I've ever done in this hobby. I was fortunate to be one of the first members and watched it grow to what it is now. Everyone involved are some of the best people I've ever met. Initially each monthly meeting was held at a local hobbyist's house so that you had a chance to see their tank and learn the philosophies of how they approach the hobby. My wife, who really dislikes this "fish stuff", even went to some of the meetings and really enjoyed them. You wouldn't believe how many amazing tanks are located in PBC. I don't think you'd regret it at all.

As far as stores. Rob at Ocean's Below is great and always stocks the primo stuff. There was a store that opened last year and is located a few blocks north of 10 ave on Federal hywy. Can't remember the name but if you ask at the www.pbmas.org site I'm sure they can tell you. All of their display tanks are made of starfire glass and they have a beautiful tank dedicated to sps. Coral Sea Aquariums on Military trail north of Southern blvd has some nice stuff too.

I love how your stand is turning out. Please keep the pics coming.

Yeah, Rob at Oceans below is a great guy, very knowledgeable, very helpful. I’ll definitely be shopping there when I get up and going.

The name of the place on Federal is “Tanks a lot� , great people, lots of livestock. They let me take a close look at their big display stand I’m stealing some ideas from there.

[gmatt]

Originally posted by mille239
Beautiful work, I can't wait to see it come together! I used the Kilz paint for my stand and the wall behind it, it seemed to cover pretty well.

How is the euro-bracing comming along? any pics?

I too am setting up a 120 gallon, the build-up is at:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=754066

Great job, keep it comming!

I'm not finished and this weekend I made some major changes to the euro-brace. You can follow the progress at the following link.

If you would like to follow the progress of converting from a center brace to a euro-brace you can click on the link below:


http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...ferrerid=42160

[gmatt]

Thanks to someones comment about an external overflow for my tank. I've been thinking and researching on the Internet, and I changed my mind again about modifications to my tank. I never did like the size of the overflows in my 120gal. all-glass aquarium. I've always been thinking of how to hide the overflows with my corals, liverock, and aquascaping. I have come up with OK stuff but nothing great. Then it hit me! The problem isn’t aquascaping it’s the overflows! So simple! There too big, there ugly, and they take up too much space! Then I found it! Many others have done it, it’s simple, elegant, it gets the job done and it can be done in less than half the cubic inches of the All-Glass overflows. CALFO Over flow! Yeah I didn’t know what it was either. So I looked it up. Fantastic! Another great idea for me to steal. LOL!

Thanks to Anthony Calfo!!
Here a good series of links about it:


http://reefcentral.com/forums/showt...threadid=619976




So here’s my original tank:










This is the new design:

[gmatt]

Help!

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah... I know, I should have been asking this question before I did the demolition of my overflows.


I have removed my overflows. When I planned it, I though the overflow wouldn't be connected in the original silicone seam on the bottom of the tank. I was wrong. Now I don’t want to go through all this work only to find out my tank leaks.

My question:

I’ve heard Silicone won’t stick to existing silicone. Is it sort of true? Does it work somewhat? Is there a way around it? Like paint the old silicone with something that sticks then put the new silicone over that? Prepping with acetone?

Is there anything I can do? Or do I now have to remove all the silicone in the whole tank and start over?




Here’s my tank with overflows:










Here’s my tank without overflows:










Here’s a close up of one of the seams where the overflow connected with it. This picture was taken after I removed all of the silicone from the bottom and vertical surfaces. I left what was in the bottom seam.

[mille239]

I would just silicone over the spots where the overflow met the seam, just make sure it is clean with rubbing alcohol/acetone. Reasoning:
A) The strength of the seam as well as the majority of the sealing strength comes from the silicone BETWEEN the panes of glass, i.e. the bottom sheet and the back wall. The silicone running along the corner bead is just redundancy.
B) Though not quite as strong as the bond to glass, I found the sure enough silicone does bond to other silicone.
C) From my AGA 120, this seems apparent in that the tank appears to be sealed and dried (w/clear silicone) before the overflows wee installed and attached (w/black silicone) which even in your photo, you can see overlaps the clear. Therefore I believe the actual tank seal (clear silicone) should still be very much intact.

With that said I would clean out seams where the overflows used to be, apply a small bead of fresh silicone and let dry. Then do a wet test in the garage or something for a day or two: no leaks, you're home free.

Good idea on the CALFO overflow, those are much more efficient at surface skimming, and even better.. nearly silent!

Are you going to drill the back for the overflow, or atttach it to the holes already present in the bottom of the tank?

[gmatt]

Originally posted by mille239


Are you going to drill the back for the overflow, or attach it to the holes already present in the bottom of the tank?

Thanks for the tips.

Yes, I am going to drill the back for the overflow. I am going to try using 1 1/4in. bulkheads and build Durso style plumbing. Hopefully I can do this without building a box on the back of the tank.

The holes in the bottom I am going to use for circulation pumps in and out. I was going to do this originally anyway. I was just going to drill the back. Now I don't have to make those holes. I guess it's just a wash.

Thanks again.

[gmatt]

The AC panel

I am doing 2 AC panels, one at each end. I am doing this on two separate circuits. With the total current draw of everything for the tank there will just about max out a 20 amp circuit. By separating this will share a lighter load on each of the two circuits.

Panels:









AC cord:
I found it was actually cheaper to buy a 25 foot 12 gage extension cord and cut it than it was to purchase good quality plugs and raw wire.









Outlets:









Switches and Timers:









Testing the outlets and switches:
The timers are made by Intermatic called Digital Auto-adjusting Timer model SS8C. One big problem I ran into with testing the Timers (this could potentially break your ballasts, lights, or any other gear) is that if you pull out the battery pack for the timer while in timer or auto mode, then you replace the battery. The timer goes crazy! It starts in rapid succession turning off and on, and won’t stop until you unplug the AC supply. Wow! I can see it now broken gear everywhere. If you pull the batter and replace it still continues! Some sort of software glitch I guess. The solution seems to be to program everything before you plug in your gear. Then, put the switch in Manual mode before you pull the battery. This works every time, no problems.

I would never pull the battery or put the battery in for the first time with gear plugged in while in anything other than manual mode!!!

[elephen]

For your euro bracing I suppose your going to use peices of glass?

[gmatt]

Originally posted by elephen
For your euro bracing I suppose your going to use peices of glass?

Yes.

I had a hard time finding information about removing the center brace and installing a euro-brace. I thought others might find the same problem so I created a separate thread. If you would like to follow the progress of converting from a center brace to a euro-brace you can click on the link below:


http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...ferrerid=42160

[pedropsk]

I love the progress!!! keep'em coming!

[friendtothefish]

Gmatt its really coming along beautiful.

Do you have any sketches for your plugs and switches? Or any pics of the wireing for them.I just bought a book about basic house wiring, but I would really love to see how you hooked all this together.

PM me if you want to talk that way...

Thanks,
Friend