75 g drilled, lots of holes

[AcidRayn]

well, some of you know, i been pondering setting up a fuge for a bit,
so i been hunting, gathering, buying, trading etc the things i need.

i already have a 75 up and running, but no fuge, i been running hob's for 2 years now, and time
to grow up and go to a sump,

i picked up a 75 bottom drilled of CL with a fuge and a ton of parts from someone closing up his tank for 100.00.
the one light is worth that.

so, i then realized the corned overflow is in a bad spot and will obstruct alot of viewing, so i started geting my read on.

after much reading, mush plotting and plannig, ive decied it will be a BeanAnimal overflow. 24" wide x 5" high x 5" deep, 3 1 inch bulkheads.
i like this system of all the ones ive looked at. i got a 2' x 2' piece of black acrylic and the weldon from McMaster Carr through work, and it will be my
first attempt at making something from acrylic, but i am confident i can do this, as im skilled with cutting things with a table saw, router and sanding.
i did my research on that, and willl make the overflow tomorow.

it will have 2 3/4" returns

i also seen a design on reef central, where someone put 4 extra holes in the tank, 2 supply and 2 retruns, 3/4" bulkheads, for flow. i am going with this set up,
and will builld a solenoid relay set up for a custom wave maker type deal.

this is a total of **9** holes to be drilled in the back of this tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i just dropped about $100 at glass holes on bulkheads, drills and fittings, (they were overall cheaper then piece by piece on eBay, had everything i needed,
with free shipping).

so, in a couple days ill be drilling and fitting, i will update this thread with pics as i go.
ive drilled plenty of tile and granite and steel and wood and and and, well you get it, so i think i got it all planed out

any advice on working with the acrylic, drilling the glass, anything, please, chime in, as it will be first time for all of it, in a sense.

 

[AcidRayn]

i started today, and siliconed a piece of glas over the 2 holes in the bottom of the tank

i smoothed out the silicone with a straight edge (a long saw sawzall blade, it was first thing i seen)

then placed it, and ran a bead around the edges of the glass

and i put a light under it to help it cure, as the tank is in my garage and its not heated.

then i cut egg crate that will go under the sand, my tank now uses a shallow sand bed, and i had a rock slide once and heard the gut wrenching sound of rock hitting and sliding on the glass bottom, so no more.

 

[AcidRayn]

next time to build my bean animal ohio river to colorado river. (ive heard of the coast to coast beans, going from side to side, well i m only going 24" across the back center, so ohio to colorado it is)

i did the 24" box, as im going to drill in 2 return on either side of it for the return lines, there will be nothing coming over the top of the tank.

i will be drilling an addtional 4 holes for 3/4" bulkheads, 2 supply and 2 return for a circulating pump, i will be eliminating any power heads from within the tank, unless i dont get the flow im expecting, there will be a total of 9 holes drilled in this tank.

the bulkheads and diamond hole saws will be here this week, and i will update this thread.

so, here is the table saw set up to cut the black 1/4" acrylic, mind you, i HAVE NEVER cut or worked with acrylic before, this is totally new to me.

also, take note of the pencil drawing on the saw of the 4 finger hand, a past employee of mine did lose a finger on this saw!!!!!

i couldnt find the fence, so a level and couple clamps set the 5" cut

heres the 4 pieces cut

next to cut the teeth into the front and 2 side pieces, note the blade directtion, i am sitting behind the saw, so i can pull the pieces into the teeth

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS!! LEAVE IT TO THE **COUGH** PROFESSIONALS!!!!

Here are the pieces on my table, ready to be welded. notice the broken teeth, its cold out, and the acrylic got cold and brittle i think, and i lost 6 teeth, so i have to weld them back on, i should of clamped the piece to a piece of wood and cut through both, as a backing

my actual first ever welded acryic test piece, this is neat stuff!!!

dental work complete

back side welded. i used a speed square to make sure it set up square.

front piece in place

almost finished product

i need to sand out the end pieces to blend, starting with 150 grit and ending with a 1200, should nt be able to see the seams when im done.

like i said, i have never worked with this stuff before, i did a lot of reading and
then went for it.

the acrylic and glue were about $50. the bulkheads, hole saws, returns and that flexi return tube is about $100.
i guess i need about another $100 of valves, pipe, and various fittings to complete.
i'll post as i advance. any suggestions will be appreciated

 

[AcidRayn]

well, i gota send Kudos out to the cats at glass holes, i placed my order on Feb 23rd for 3 1 inch bulkheads and 6 3/4" bulkheads, some of that flexi black ball return pipe, and the diamond hole saws, wholy bejesus!!!! the box came today at the office!!!!

get this, i open it up, utterly amazed that it was here already, free express shipping? who does that? and theres a twizzler and an airhead in the box!!! great price, fast delivery and frigging treats???? my gawd man!!!!

so, back to business, i got home, and started laying out the 9 holes,

all marked out. the bottom of the box will be 6" from top of trim, the center of the 1" bulkheads will be 4" from top of the trim, the weir, or waterfall, will be even with the bottom of the trim

i thought i had some plumbers putty at home, but it was old and dried up, so i had to improvise, as i live about 1/2 hr one way from nearest form of a home improvement or hardware store, so, my ol friend Rube Goldberg gave me an idea!!!!

sacrificed an old plastic bowl, and ran a bead of silicone around the bottom, then stuck it to over the marked hole, and filled with some water, this, worked like a champ!!!!

then got the drill goin, slow and easy

first hole down!!!
8 more to go!!!

all 9 holes done!!! i think im going to polish the slugs edges, and engrave them
and the kids can use them for GeoCache Coins

tomorow ill clean the silicone off, drill the overflow box and start puttin the bulkheads in !!!

man, gettin pumped about this now!!!!

 

[rudy16189]

Nice thread...now i learn a new trick with plastic bowl....efficient and cheap

 

[shipwrecked]

Hey great idea on the bowl and silicone,lotta holes,looks like somethin from the wild west..lol I like the makita drill,great choice in tools! The overflow came out nicely.Will you silicone that to the tank or just use the bulkheads to secure it to the tank?Also what will you use to keep fish crabs,snails out of the overflow box? Eggcrate maybe?

 

[AcidRayn]

Hey tony, yes the makita is a great
Tool. I have the impact gun and radio too. That came back strong.
Blows dewalt outa the water.

I'm going to run a bead of shipwrecked supplied silicone around the perimeter
Of the box and just around the holes where they meet the glass to keep water from getting behind the box

There will be a lid on it leaving a 3/8" opening for water and then plastic nettin over
The 3 intakes to insure no critters ride the water slide.

 

[AcidRayn]

well, got home from a day trip to the ohiblow river, echhh, and got some tank time,

got the overflow box drilled,

got it mounted and siliconed in

all bulkheads in, and cheesey lfs backround applied (if you need to know y, then you can ask her, i hate it)

these are invaluable for cutting pvc pipin

t's valves and unions in, tommorow the closed loop piping

 

[AcidRayn]

leak tested tank today, all is good.

***note, DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN BULKHEADS!!!!***

hand tight is fine, as per the instructions. im a believer of "torque = tighten till spins freely" no good, gaskets squished out, all is good now.

testing my $50 esshops 150s cone skimmer

99 gallons of new rubbish cans

getting ready to drain this biotch, ill post up more pics later, im sure much later, as im not even drained at 4 pm!!! aye yi yi

 

[AcidRayn]

so these are the before pics

man i collected alot of crap under that stand over 10 years!!! :wildone:

what is it? found a couple of them in the sand :reading:

what the heck is this blue slime? was on the bottom of a couple of rocks

couple barnacles i think that took over a torch coral skeleton

all plumbed up, ready for water in the morning :bounce1:

 

[AcidRayn]

all plumbed up, ready for water in the morning

 

[mnat]

Very nice thread, everything looks great.

 

[AcidRayn]

Very nice thread, everything looks great.

Thank you. Up and running. Unbelievably quiet. Pics tomorow

 

[toad2169]

looks good, as far as your pics the round looking thing from the sand is from snails(guessing turbos) and the slime looks like some type of sponge but hard to tell

 

[shipwrecked]

Hey things are coming along well congrats on the success so far.I think those are blue sponges too.Cool lil guys,I always seem to get the yellow ones.Really beautiful looking backround...lmao

 

[AJ1080]

Wow, im tired from just looking through this thread.

You did some damn niced work. Good lukc and looking forward to seeing more pics!

 

[AcidRayn]

Really beautiful looking backround...lmao

dont be hatin on my cool backround!! (shhhh, but i cant wait for the coraline to grow back in on the new glass))

Wow, im tired from just looking through this thread.

You did some damn niced work. Good lukc and looking forward to seeing more pics!

thank you

 

[AcidRayn]

ok, so its up and running,

can anyone use any of this mesh type stuff? i get tons of it at work, i'll mail it to you if you need a couple pieces

GRRRRRRRR.............

ALL BETTER

an after shot

and here it is, a work in progress. the 2 coralias will go behind the rock once i get the closed loop up and running

just the moon lights

 

[AcidRayn]

so, 3 weeks now, and all is good, got these in a even up trade for a remora pro, (yechhhhh) skimmer,

using the 12 to run the closed loop, works like a charm, can you say FLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

the 9.5 was too much for my sump, kept sucking the reservoir dry