Build thread

Starting a build log, I'll try to keep updates contained to the first post, it's going to be a process so this is going to be several months in the making before water gets put into the system.

September 6th.

I picked up a 93 cube from a club member for a great price last week. He also sold me a sump that fits my needs at well below my budgeted sump price.

I noticed the 93 had some lifting of the factory silicone at the edges and decided to disassemble the tank and reseal it, so I broke out gum spirits turpentine and fishing line. I'm glad I did this, one of the side panels had a large piece broken at the bottom corner. It's not something that you could see due to the amount of silicone used on the bottom side and only showed up when I was cleaning the silicone off. I'm now able to prevent a possible flood by flipping the pane over and pointing that corner at the back overflow where it will never be a problem.

September 9th:

Used way too much silicone on first reseal try, this one is much better. No bubbles I can detect and a pretty even gap between panes.

September 11th:

Here is the finished product. I think it looks much more clean in black.

 

We're going black on this. Going to practice getting clean lines on this tank with taping off and getting that nice corner bead. I have an order of glass ready next week for a 210g cube build as the main display. I want to get the lines right on this one before I burn a lot of silicone on the big boy.

 

Nope, haven't done it before. Planning on having to seal it a couple of times before I get it right. I've settled on a 48"x48" main display. If I can get this 90 put together in a way that I'm comfortable with I'll move onto the big one. Working on the first try tonight. Will most likely spend the weekend finding flaws and stripping the new silicone off to try again.

 

Just finished up today. Posting the picture at the tail end of the initial post. I learned a lot from the first attempt, and while the finished product isn't perfect, the imperfections shouldn't cause leaks and will mostly be hidden by sand and behind the overflow. I didn't try very hard with tape lines at the back corner for example since it won't be visible. I'm going to leak test it for two weeks in a couple of days and hopefully I did a good enough job.

 

Slower than I'd like, but that's okay. That 90 has been holding water for a few days with no leaks. I'm picking up a 120 tomorrow and just trying to figure out if I'm going to partition part of my garage for equipment and move around ducts/walls to make that work, or design a cabinet system in the living room to hold the equipment. Never enough room or ideal layouts. Since one tank is going to be largely non photosynthetic, I'm trying to figure out where I can put a plankton grow out station.

 

There's mostly a space consideration. Most of the equipment would sit in a couple of 24"x24" 7' tall cabinets, and there's a lot of junk to pack in there. As we all know the more cluttered and less easily accessible everything is the more likely we are to neglect it. I'm going to try to get the sump up off the ground and my skimmer is external and can be placed higher so cleaning is more convenient. That's why the garage consideration for some of this equipment isn't easy, I'd essentially be building a clean room. New walls, vent filters, and door skirts to create an atmosphere bubble. Conceptually providing the least to the most food and nutrient chain would be more beneficial for an entire ecosystem. I'm curious at what critical point the live planktonic food chain can be sustained in a captive aquarium where the growth and reproduction of the organisms exceeds the ability of my skimmer to strip those organisms.