90-Gallon AGE Rimless Aquarium Build

camaroracer214 · 03/26/2011, 10:47 PM

After what seems like an eternity, my new aquarium build has finally gotten underway.

The aquarium is a 90-gallon trimless reef-ready tank from Acrylic and Glass Environments (aka AGE). It has black silicone, an internal overflow box, and best of all a PVC bottom. The glass is low-iron, of course, and the overflow box contains two 1" drains and one 1" return.

A little background before we start the build...(it's quite long, so feel free to skip)

In 2008, I graduated from Texas A&M and moved back to my hometown. My wife and I rented a small apartment and I proceeded to fill it with a 180-gallon Aquarium Obsessed reef tank that I picked up from a friend. It was one of those killer deals I couldn't pass up. After staying there a year, we bought our first home.

Wanting to take advantage of all the new space, I sold my tank and all my livestock to prepare for a huge display aquarium. Unfortunately, the wifey decided she needed a massive dining room table instead, so my plans had to change. I sort of went without a tank for a while (like 8-9 months) because furnishing a new home is more expensive than we anticipated...especially when the wife wants high dollar furniture. And when I couldn't take it anymore, I finally set up a frag tank that I could put some livestock in until the the actual aquarium was given the green light. Fast forward about a year, and I finally have a tank in hand.

The purchasing process has been quite frustrating to say the least. I ordered the tank from a reputable store here in Houston. The tank has taken a total of 2.5 months to get from Dallas (where it's made) to my home. I was told this process would be a week or two at the most, but the official company stance of the fish store was 4-6 weeks turnaround time in case issues arose or whatever. Well, the tank is here and it looks great, but somehow the fish store forgot to tell their mill shop to build my stand. So, the tank is sitting on the floor in my entryway and the stand should be here sometime late next week. The store did apologize for the slip up, and are in the process of making it right, but it has been irritating.

duncantse · 03/26/2011, 10:49 PM

Good luck with your new tank! Can't wait for some pics.

James404 · 03/26/2011, 10:53 PM

Grats on finally getting the tank, looks good from the pic. Tagging along!

camaroracer214 · 03/26/2011, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duncantse

Good luck with your new tank! Can't wait for some pics.

i've got a couple of boring ones, and i'll get them up soon i promise.

as for the equipment plan, i've been carefully mulling things over and here's what i've come up with so far.

-sump: 28"Lx20"Wx16"T
-skimmer: ATB 8.5 Deluxe
-calcium reactor: GEO 618
-lights: undecided...either LED or T5HO
-return pump: ATB Flowstar 1500
-powerheads: 2 x Tunze 6105 on 7096 controller, 2 x Tunze 7045
-media reactor: 2 x Vertex UF-15 media reactors (one carbon, one biopellets or GFO)
-controller: neptune systems apex

keep in mind the above list is merely a wish list. there only a handful of items on that list that i actually own at the moment.

one drain from the tank will most likely feed the refugium while the other will feed the skimmer section of the sump. i toyed around with the idea of having both drains going to the skimmer section and through a pair of 4" filter socks, but the space is just too tight i'm afraid. the return pump will feed both media reactors and the calcium reactor through a manifold system, as well as the tank of course.

toash · 03/27/2011, 01:08 PM

looks like it is going to be beautiful....good luck

camaroracer214 · 03/27/2011, 07:09 PM

couple of more shots of the tank...

as you can probably tell, there's a black removable lid that covers the overflow box to hide the plumbing. i didn't specifically ask for this extra piece, but certainly glad it came with the tank.

jhs · 03/27/2011, 07:43 PM

Nice lookin tank......I so like the looks of a rimless, wish i would have ordered mine that way......Will follow your thread as I am a month off of doing mine.

camaroracer214 · 04/02/2011, 09:18 AM

i finally got the stand. it's a shame though that there was a nice little ding on the door and they completely forgot to drill holes in the stand for the plumbing. unfortunately i didn't see the lack of holes until the delivery guy left (he did take the door though to have it fixed) and the tank was already on the stand. i've got the tools to cut the hole, but that's obviously not the issue. this should have been done prior to bringing to my house.

the sump plans look they are going to change. 28x20 is too big of a footprint for the inside of this stand. i assumed it might when i was planning, but i needed to maximize my space. so back to the drawing board on this one.

on a side note, because the sump will be smaller, i'm thinking of going with a smaller protein skimmer. i'm considering the vertex alpha 170 or the atb elegance 200 pro because both have a smaller footprint. any thoughts?

Bamm Bamm · 04/02/2011, 09:29 AM

beautiful tank.. One question... i've been noticing alot of pvc bottoms latel but haven't gotten around to doing any research on them.. Why did you go with a pvc bottom? stronger?easier to drill?

camaroracer214 · 04/02/2011, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamm Bamm

beautiful tank.. One question... i've been noticing alot of pvc bottoms latel but haven't gotten around to doing any research on them.. Why did you go with a pvc bottom? stronger?easier to drill?

they are definitely easier to drill. you can swiss cheese it up if you want.

also, the pvc is pretty thick. i'm not sure on actual thickness, but i suppose it would be both thicker and stronger than glass that would normally be used in this application, plus it won't shatter.

Ethan Music · 04/02/2011, 06:56 PM

Looks nice hope you have better luck than me. Had to take mine down because the sump decided to leak. Know im in the middle of a builder who said the sump never left his shop that way which I can see from the work he has in his shop and the builds he has done for major companies. But the lfs is saying they got it that way. None the less the guy fixed the sump but now I have to get a new stand. And wait to see if are wood floors are damaged so I don't have to take it down agian.

camaroracer214 · 04/04/2011, 05:06 PM

stand is finally finished. the door has been fixed and the holes for the plumbing have been drilled. i will be out of the country for a week starting tomorrow, but will continue on with the build when i get back.

CC Reefer · 11/21/2011, 02:34 PM

any updates on the tank? It was looking good.

03/26/2011, 10:47 PM	#1
camaroracer214 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Baytown, TX Posts: 332	90-Gallon AGE Rimless Aquarium Build After what seems like an eternity, my new aquarium build has finally gotten underway. The aquarium is a 90-gallon trimless reef-ready tank from Acrylic and Glass Environments (aka AGE). It has black silicone, an internal overflow box, and best of all a PVC bottom. The glass is low-iron, of course, and the overflow box contains two 1" drains and one 1" return. A little background before we start the build...(it's quite long, so feel free to skip) In 2008, I graduated from Texas A&M and moved back to my hometown. My wife and I rented a small apartment and I proceeded to fill it with a 180-gallon Aquarium Obsessed reef tank that I picked up from a friend. It was one of those killer deals I couldn't pass up. After staying there a year, we bought our first home. Wanting to take advantage of all the new space, I sold my tank and all my livestock to prepare for a huge display aquarium. Unfortunately, the wifey decided she needed a massive dining room table instead, so my plans had to change. I sort of went without a tank for a while (like 8-9 months) because furnishing a new home is more expensive than we anticipated...especially when the wife wants high dollar furniture. And when I couldn't take it anymore, I finally set up a frag tank that I could put some livestock in until the the actual aquarium was given the green light. Fast forward about a year, and I finally have a tank in hand. The purchasing process has been quite frustrating to say the least. I ordered the tank from a reputable store here in Houston. The tank has taken a total of 2.5 months to get from Dallas (where it's made) to my home. I was told this process would be a week or two at the most, but the official company stance of the fish store was 4-6 weeks turnaround time in case issues arose or whatever. Well, the tank is here and it looks great, but somehow the fish store forgot to tell their mill shop to build my stand. So, the tank is sitting on the floor in my entryway and the stand should be here sometime late next week. The store did apologize for the slip up, and are in the process of making it right, but it has been irritating.

03/26/2011, 10:53 PM	#3
James404 I <3 Acros Join Date: May 2010 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 2,523	Grats on finally getting the tank, looks good from the pic. Tagging along! __________________ 80g Deep Blue Rimless - http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2651295 225g Reef Savvy SPS Dominant - Retired http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1945361

03/27/2011, 07:43 PM	#7
jhs Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Ks. Posts: 117	Nice lookin tank......I so like the looks of a rimless, wish i would have ordered mine that way......Will follow your thread as I am a month off of doing mine. __________________ Signatures???? We don't need no stinkin signatures.... Current Tank Info: 29gal reef 65gal reef

04/02/2011, 09:29 AM	#9
Bamm Bamm Saltwater Guru Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Brentwood, NOR CAL Posts: 9,309	beautiful tank.. One question... i've been noticing alot of pvc bottoms latel but haven't gotten around to doing any research on them.. Why did you go with a pvc bottom? stronger?easier to drill? __________________ 25g rimless cube in the works Current Tank Info: 60g cube

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03/26/2011, 10:49 PM	#2
duncantse Fish Advisor Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 1,604	Good luck with your new tank! Can't wait for some pics.

03/27/2011, 01:08 PM	#5
toash Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 85	looks like it is going to be beautiful....good luck

03/27/2011, 07:09 PM	#6
camaroracer214 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Baytown, TX Posts: 332	couple of more shots of the tank... as you can probably tell, there's a black removable lid that covers the overflow box to hide the plumbing. i didn't specifically ask for this extra piece, but certainly glad it came with the tank.

04/02/2011, 09:18 AM	#8
camaroracer214 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Baytown, TX Posts: 332	i finally got the stand. it's a shame though that there was a nice little ding on the door and they completely forgot to drill holes in the stand for the plumbing. unfortunately i didn't see the lack of holes until the delivery guy left (he did take the door though to have it fixed) and the tank was already on the stand. i've got the tools to cut the hole, but that's obviously not the issue. this should have been done prior to bringing to my house. the sump plans look they are going to change. 28x20 is too big of a footprint for the inside of this stand. i assumed it might when i was planning, but i needed to maximize my space. so back to the drawing board on this one. on a side note, because the sump will be smaller, i'm thinking of going with a smaller protein skimmer. i'm considering the vertex alpha 170 or the atb elegance 200 pro because both have a smaller footprint. any thoughts?

04/02/2011, 06:56 PM	#11
Ethan Music Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Shelby, Michigan Posts: 394	Looks nice hope you have better luck than me. Had to take mine down because the sump decided to leak. Know im in the middle of a builder who said the sump never left his shop that way which I can see from the work he has in his shop and the builds he has done for major companies. But the lfs is saying they got it that way. None the less the guy fixed the sump but now I have to get a new stand. And wait to see if are wood floors are damaged so I don't have to take it down agian.

04/04/2011, 05:06 PM	#12
camaroracer214 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Baytown, TX Posts: 332	stand is finally finished. the door has been fixed and the holes for the plumbing have been drilled. i will be out of the country for a week starting tomorrow, but will continue on with the build when i get back.

11/21/2011, 02:34 PM	#13
CC Reefer Registered Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: MA Posts: 19	any updates on the tank? It was looking good.