Design for 150G Acrylic

[giulianom]

I've been thinking about having a custom 150 Gallon Acrylic reef tank made, so I've been mocking up a design in SketchUp.

Not 100% dimensionally accurate or even structurally accurate (it's a SWAG)...


Approximately 60" x 24" x 24" (or so), 3/4" acrylic all the way around.

6" eurobracing around the top, three 12" x 12" holes with 1" radius corners (2" dia).

1" x 48" weir overflow slot in the back, 1" diameter ends. No strainer teeth, but I'll probably put a guillotine-style slot cover on the outside to make the overflow slot height adjustable.


On the back there will be an external overflow, with a 3 pipe siphon drain as described http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx">here</a>.

Not sure what the pipe diameter will be yet, but I was thinking of 1.5".


Thoughts?

Pic:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/z05jY.png>

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[grouper therapy]

I think the euro bracing could be smaller and only 2 holes in the top.

 

[giulianom]

Yeah, that would be better.

3" or 4" eurobracing?

And one center brace, 3" or 4" wide?

Is 3/4" acrylic overkill, just right?


I saw a nice 150G that had 3/4" around, 1/2" on back..


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[gmpolan]

I got the same tank, made out of glass tho if you ever want to come look at it. I actually went rimless. Im in buckhead btw....

 

[giulianom]

Rimless on a 150?

Any center brace?

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[gmpolan]

Yep rimless....and Nope nothing....

 

[giulianom]

I may want to see that...

What did you do for a overflow?

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[gmpolan]

Center overflow about 14 inches wide in the middle, im actually moving to a new tank so this one will be for sale in a lil bit...

 

[giulianom]

Adjusted for 3" eurobracing, one 3" center brace - two openings, 25.5" x 18" each.

48" x 5" x 6" overflow in the rear, with 3/8" acrylic, with a center baffle/support in the middle. There's a 1" gap underneath the baffle.

I also factored for a overflow cover, but it's not shown.


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[giulianom]

First choice is probably My Reef Creations, who reportedly make very nice tanks.

It will probably take me some time to get things in order before I get a quote.


I'm thinking of 3 x 1.5" drains to the sump.

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[giulianom]

Visited My Reef Creations this afternoon, got some design suggestions, and requested a quote.

Options suggested were "museum grade" seams, where they polish the edges and join them with liquid acrylic instead of solvent. Adds $$.

Also suggested was a sheet of black acrylic for the back panel, so as to hide the overflow and plumbing. Adds $$$.


Made some changes to my design:

Resized the model to make the external dimensions 60" x 24" x 24" exactly.

Raised the overflow weir (the slot) to have its lower edge 2" from the inside top.

Made the access holes on the top exactly 18"x24" (inner dimension), with a 1/4" routed lip for plexiglass cover panels.

Center brace is now 6" wide from edge to edge. Eurobracing still 3" from edge to edge. The routing subtracts 1/4" from each edge.

Added two more bulkhead supports for the overflow.



I still need to lay out the design for the bulkheads, drains and returns...

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[giulianom]

I think I've just about got it done...


Here are the components laid out and dimensioned:

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And here is the overflow with the three (3) drains: Left is secondary drain, middle is primary drain, and right is "emergency" drain.

The two drains on the left are supposed to work together completely silent.

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[smote]

That looks awesome! I am very interested to see if the overflow design works as advertised. I am thinking of doing something similar with a 300 that I am planning. Keep us posted! Thanks for the highly detailed drawings.

 

[giulianom]

smote;650596 wrote: That looks awesome! I am very interested to see if the overflow design works as advertised. I am thinking of doing something similar with a 300 that I am planning. Keep us posted! Thanks for the highly detailed drawings.

Thanks - I didn't come up with the drain idea myself, it's a variant on the "Herbie" drain style, but with a third drain as an emergency drain.

It's supposed to be dead silent, and safe.

I found the concept written up here:

http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx">http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx</a>


There's also a very long thread on ReefCentral that starts here:
[IMG]http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1310585">http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1310585</a>


The overflow weir (the slot) works by surface skimming, and purposely has no strainer teeth, as they would defeat the purpose of the silent overflow - the teeth cause turbulence and noise. Also known as a coast to coast..

The primary drain handles 99% of the flow, controlled by a gate/ball valve. Whatever flow the primary can't handle, the secondary one handles as a trickle.


Based on the volume of the tank, it should contain about 117 gallons in the tank, and 40 gallons in the overflow - without any other items taking up volume.

 

[giulianom]

Got my quote from MRC:

Tank ¾ Cell Cast Acrylic $1200.00
Overflow $150.00
Polycarbonate lids $90.00
Bulk heads w/ holes $15.00ea. (5 total)
Museum quality seams $180.00


So in total, $1695 for the above options.

I'm still inquiring about the black acrylic rear panel.


But otherwise, not bad considering glasscages lists the same base tank for $1495, without the options.

I'm probably going to pull the trigger on the order soonish, once a sort out a few things...

 

[smote]

Sounds like a good deal! Keep updating, may source mine from MRC as well.

 

[giulianom]

smote;650796 wrote: Sounds like a good deal! Keep updating, may source mine from MRC as well.

It helps that they're like 15 minutes away from my house. ;-)


Very nice shop, they have an absolutely huge CNC router bed.

 

[snowmansnow]

My 120 came from MRC.. GREAT price and a good product

 

[giulianom]

They had some smaller tanks on display, also made of 3/4"... Very nice.

The ones with the museum finish seams were crystal clear where the seams met. Very nice.

 

[giulianom]

Bad76Boy;650886 wrote: MRC is making the excellent products, in fact they custom built my 145 gal (54x24x26)-with one big opening on the top, 3inch euro bracing, and the custom sump. I could not be more happy with the results. If you like to see it in person you are more than welcome to swing by, i'm in Lawrenceville also, about 3 mil. from MRC (Sugarloaf and Grayson area).

Cool, I will send you a PM to arrange a visit...