New Tank Build!!

Hi All,

Well after a very sad Sunday, I accidentally broke my 406L tank back panel by trying to remove the overflow fittings, so I decided I would start removing the back panel and behold, the freakin base cracked too!!!! And all this from 10mm glass. I decided enough is enough and gave up. After some serious pondering, calculating and and and, decided time for a little upgrade.

Today we ordered the glass for the replacement tank, now will be going from a 1220mm Long X 750mm High x 450mm Wide to a 1650mm Long x 750 High x 450 Wide tank all of new glass. Below are some photo's of our misfortune:

 

Below are the renderings of our new creation with FMEA Analysis!:

 

Monster tanks build ... tagging along.

 

Looking forward to the final outcome.

 

wow looks great, what program is that?

 

@Blade, sorry to hear what happened... It must be a horrible feeling...

But, your new project looks good...
Just a humble suggestion though, if you upgrading to a 1.6m tank, why not go a little wider than 450?
Maybe its just me but I just find 450 to be very narrow but then again, I suppose it all depends what you going to do with the tank

 

@perry41 I use a programm called Autodesk Inventor Pro.

@MariaS, the reason I went for 450mm wide is I am using my current stand which will just be extended to 1650mm and using my current sump filter system.

 

Will follow this build with eager, please keep us updated, sorry about the loss, I know the feeling...

 

@MariaS, the reason I went for 450mm wide is I am using my current stand which will just be extended to 1650mm and using my current sump filter system.[/QUOTE]

I guess it makes sense then, good luck with the new project.

 

Jumping on the wagen.

 

Eish - sorry about your misfortune!! A few questions -
1. Are you completely sure you only need one brace across the top - Why not put 2 to be safe?
2. Can I ask what the idea is to have your 2 returns each going to separate chambers - is it simply for ease of cleaning the floss ?
3. The water flows into the top of each chamber and how will the water flow from the furtherest chamber to get to the return pump?

 

The 2 pvc pipes are my siphon and emergency drain from the tank. Right hand pvc pipe is full siphon dialed to pump out put and left hand pipe is for incase of siphon becoming blocked which creates gravity overflow.

As for the bracing, the middle is where most of the pressure forces act on each panel, 2 bracings across would not be sufficient support cause of the middle bowing effect. I have also 2 x bracings running lenght wise at the top and bottom to distribute the pressure throughout the panel.

I have not drawn in the return pipe from the pump back to the tank as I ran out off time. This will be a 20mm pvc pipe and the pump will be either my 5500lph or 8500lph.

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Another question I have - how big is the size of the overflow pipe - if you are using a 5000 - 5500LPH return pump - will the overflow be able to handle the volume of water. Might is not be better to drill a hole in the bottom of the tank and have an overflow box ? My pump is a 5500LPH and it's a lot of water is all I am saying.
In the last pic it shows your overflow pipe opening, very close to the bottom of the tank - is that pipe not too deep - will it not drain all the water out of the tank if the electricity goes off?

 

I am using a 40mm pipe which is more than adaquite as i ran my tank perilously like this before. I drill an 8mm on the bend of the top elbow inside the tank. Once the power goes off and the siphon will draw air at this hole stopping the siphon. 40mm pipe at gravity feed will give you 5200lph and thats not even at siphon. I have tried, tested and perfected this sysyem. The long pipe in the tank is to pick up debris at the bottom. If one looks at old food and fish poop, it doesnt float, it sinks to the bottom, thats why with all my tanks i siphon to my filter as close as possible from the substrate as I can and not skim off the top of the water. Yes it means cleaning filter floss more often but i dont have problems with water quality.

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@roydenchurch - please check your calculations re return pipe etc. Flow velocity @ 5500 will be 4.8m/s and @ 8500 will be 7.5m/s. This velocity is not suited to this type of installation

 

@cft, considering the amount of 90deg bends, unions, ball valve and height of lift have been taken into account, this will give me plus minus 4400l/h on a 5500l/h pump. Like i said previously, I ran my 406L on this method without failure.

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Okay, today I collected my glass from supplier and man its intimidating looking at the size of the glass and what its going to be!

Here are the front and rear panels:




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Got the basic "box" built up and first round of marine silicon applied. Now comes the long wait for it to cure. Second silicon after cleaning initial seal will be glue devil black followed by installing upper bracings. Made some quick make shift jigs to hold panels firmly in place and ensure a perfect join between faces.



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Blade as South African we learn the see the positive in all things. They broke into my house and stole my TV so I have bought a bigger one, your tank broke so you are building a bigger one. It's the weird South African circle of life. Watching your thread with interest as I would be too scared to build a tank that size myself

 

Well said man, that's how we roll, following this thread very closely...