7x4x2 glass tank build

[Evz jardini]

Great job so far Fenton can't wait to see the finished product , once you've finished would you post the costing of materials used etc for us UK members most peoples builds are priced in dollars

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[Fenton]

Great job so far Fenton can't wait to see the finished product , once you've finished would you post the costing of materials used etc for us UK members most peoples builds are priced in dollars

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Glass was was from ac aquatics along with plumbing, wier, silicone, I'm putting it together though £800
ply wood would come to about £200 I've got a lot from a builder friend though
water butts 2 x £20
i friend built the steel stand but there's £60 steel, took him an hour to weld it so about £80 in total if you don't know anyone
led light strips from eBay 2x £20
air curtains for the k1 as they're quietest I got 5 for £45
k1 £60
40 litres per min air pump was from all pond solutions £45
ive bough underlay for sound deadening in the stand at£31
paint for the stand was about £40
ive spend about £30 on egg crate to separate the pump from the lava rock in the sump and to make a filter pad tray from
got a 8000 litre per hour return pump from all pond solutions for £65
misc items such as air line, screws tools etc come to about £50
then I've spend about £300 on some huge awesome bits of bog wood from my LFS along with some plastic plants that I'm going to silicone to the glass
im having a mostly sand substrate. I've got a 220 gal lined with sand now that I'm going to use, plus I've got another 3 25kg bags at £22 a bag
3x 300 watt heaters at £22

think that covers it all let me know if I'm missing anything

 

[deeda]

Nice looking stand!

How do you plan on servicing the sump, it doesn't look like there is a lot of clearance above it?

 

[Evz jardini]

Cool Fenton thanks for the info , the reason why I ask is I'm I'm the process of finding myself a long term house of my own and getting out of rented accommodation , once I get a space garage , cellar etc I'm just going for one big build rather than the four tanks I've got setup around the house at the min
Its not so much the cost of the build but the running of it heating etc , I was thinking plywood build with window that was I can insulate the sides with removable panels

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[brich999]

Build looks great! Id love to see detailed process on building the actual tank. I really want to do one myself as it sounds easy enough but im afraid ill end up with a disaster. Well done so far im looking forward to seeing this come together

 

[Fenton]

Nice looking stand!

How do you plan on servicing the sump, it doesn't look like there is a lot of clearance above it?

Theres about 20 inches above it so not a lot as you say. To be honest though it's just having lava rock and the return pump in there so there's no real need for me to service anything. I have lava rock in my current sump and Ive never really had to do anything with it. The only difference her is I'll just have more of it.

 

[Fenton]

Build looks great! Id love to see detailed process on building the actual tank. I really want to do one myself as it sounds easy enough but im afraid ill end up with a disaster. Well done so far im looking forward to seeing this come together

To be honest all I've ever done is repaired a tank. And a much smaller one at that. It can't be that hard though. I'm just going to take my time with it and make sure every panel is de greased and straight that way the disaster I'm also fearing shouldn't happen lol.

 

[Fenton]

So yesterday, despite my jig saw giving up on me I put the pond liner in the sump, cut all the sides to the stand, put the sides on the stand that are going to be facing the wall. I also started painting some of the parts of the stand that will be seen. The 3 pieces on the top are for in between the doors on the front. They've just been sprayed gloss black and then clear coat. As you can see its a good finish already and haven't been polished yet. Pics below.

 

[bonesb66]

It's coming on isn't it!
Why two layers of plywood on the stand? you adding polystyrene for the tank to sit on i assume?
Did you think about building the tank out of plywood and just having a viewing window at the front/front and side?

 

[Fenton]

It's coming on isn't it!
Why two layers of plywood on the stand? you adding polystyrene for the tank to sit on i assume?
Did you think about building the tank out of plywood and just having a viewing window at the front/front and side?

The tank is going in a corner of the living room and I'm more confident in me sticking glass together that water proofing wood as well as making a corner view out of it all. There are 2 layers of ply just to over do it, give me more to attach the skin to (pics coming) and because there are 2 38x 40 inch gaps for the ply to cover. Each sheet is 18mm thick but there's no such thing as over kill when u want something to last. And yes AC aquatic are supplying me with polystyrene for the glass to sit on.