375 gallon glass tank build
- Thread starter mdstark
- Start date
Yes, there were updates. And it is about time I posted some pictures. The tank and stand were moved into the house yesterday. I had 6 guys help with the move, and I think it went fairly smoothly. I owe a big thanks to Pharoah for his assistance yesterday. He was one of the 6, and was a big reason why the move went relatively smoothly. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the actual move.
Anyway, here are the pictures I do have. The tank is in place. The canopy is still in the garage, as I need to put a couple of coats of spar urethane inside the canopy to help resist the humidity. I also plan on using T5HO retrofit lights, and still need to mount the reflectors inside the canopy.
I used 2 coats of Cabot Colonial Maple stain, and also put on 2 coats of Cabot Semi-gloss polyurethane. The stain choice turned out to be a good match with our dining room table and hutch. I also put a coat of spar urethane inside the stand to help protect against spills. So those are the updates for today. I am hoping that now that the tank is in the house, this project will progress a bit more quickly.
Anyway, here are the pictures I do have. The tank is in place. The canopy is still in the garage, as I need to put a couple of coats of spar urethane inside the canopy to help resist the humidity. I also plan on using T5HO retrofit lights, and still need to mount the reflectors inside the canopy.
I used 2 coats of Cabot Colonial Maple stain, and also put on 2 coats of Cabot Semi-gloss polyurethane. The stain choice turned out to be a good match with our dining room table and hutch. I also put a coat of spar urethane inside the stand to help protect against spills. So those are the updates for today. I am hoping that now that the tank is in the house, this project will progress a bit more quickly.
I got some work done on the tank this weekend, and have more updates to report. I painted the inside of my canopy white and coated it with a couple coats of polyurethane.
I also got the floor braced. First a little background info. I'm not good with making diagrams on the computer, so hopefully I can explain this sufficiently with words. The tank is sitting against a load bearing wall, but the floor joists run parallel to the tank. The main center beam of my house, running the entire length of the house, runs perpendicular to the tank, and sits directly below the center of the tank. This main beam is made up of three 2x12" nailed together. It is supported by concrete piers set in concrete every 5 feet along the length of this beam. The parallel floor joists are 2 x 8" and are 16" apart. They probably span 12-14 feet or so. So that is the makeup of my floor before bracing.
I decided to double up two 2x8" to essentially make a 4x8" beam (4 feet long), make two of these beams, and place one beam directly under each end of my tank. These beams are supported by adjustable screw floor jacks (tapco model j C4) sitting on concrete blocks. I also put one jack under the 6x12" main floor beam (again, this main floor beam runs perpendicular to my tank, and exactly bisects it.) This jack under the main floor beam is probably completely unnecessary, but I already bought it so I figured it couldn't hurt. I didn't realize that the main beam was supported by concrete piers every 5 feet until I got into the crawl space- I thought they were farther apart.
Sorry if I lost anyone with that explanation. I diagram would have been nice. Hopefully some pictures will help.
Here is one end beam I installed. This beam supports the right side of my tank. To orient you, the wall on the right side of the picture is a load bearing wall and is the wall the tank sits against. I actually moved the beam after I took this picture so that it supports 4 floor joists instead of the three in the pictures. My tank only sits on three floor joists, but the wood was long enough and I figured supporting 4 joists couldn't hurt.
Here is a picture of the middle beam with the single floor jack support (probably unnecessary). The pvc pipe running along the beam is the drain line for my automatic drip system. It runs into the central drain line for the house. I ran it up through a wall and it comes out on the back wall behind the tank. (the automatic drip was already installed on my other tank).
And here is the second 4x8" supporting the left end of my tank.
This is the best picture I could get that shows all 5 floor jacks. 2 on each end and one in the middle. They make an x pattern. Again, sorry for the wordiness of my explanation. Hopefully I didn't lose too many of you. Aside from dropping one of the concrete blocks on my thumb, and being covered in spider webs and dust, I'd say this step went fairly smoothly.
I also got the floor braced. First a little background info. I'm not good with making diagrams on the computer, so hopefully I can explain this sufficiently with words. The tank is sitting against a load bearing wall, but the floor joists run parallel to the tank. The main center beam of my house, running the entire length of the house, runs perpendicular to the tank, and sits directly below the center of the tank. This main beam is made up of three 2x12" nailed together. It is supported by concrete piers set in concrete every 5 feet along the length of this beam. The parallel floor joists are 2 x 8" and are 16" apart. They probably span 12-14 feet or so. So that is the makeup of my floor before bracing.
I decided to double up two 2x8" to essentially make a 4x8" beam (4 feet long), make two of these beams, and place one beam directly under each end of my tank. These beams are supported by adjustable screw floor jacks (tapco model j C4) sitting on concrete blocks. I also put one jack under the 6x12" main floor beam (again, this main floor beam runs perpendicular to my tank, and exactly bisects it.) This jack under the main floor beam is probably completely unnecessary, but I already bought it so I figured it couldn't hurt. I didn't realize that the main beam was supported by concrete piers every 5 feet until I got into the crawl space- I thought they were farther apart.
Sorry if I lost anyone with that explanation. I diagram would have been nice. Hopefully some pictures will help.
Here is one end beam I installed. This beam supports the right side of my tank. To orient you, the wall on the right side of the picture is a load bearing wall and is the wall the tank sits against. I actually moved the beam after I took this picture so that it supports 4 floor joists instead of the three in the pictures. My tank only sits on three floor joists, but the wood was long enough and I figured supporting 4 joists couldn't hurt.
Here is a picture of the middle beam with the single floor jack support (probably unnecessary). The pvc pipe running along the beam is the drain line for my automatic drip system. It runs into the central drain line for the house. I ran it up through a wall and it comes out on the back wall behind the tank. (the automatic drip was already installed on my other tank).
And here is the second 4x8" supporting the left end of my tank.
This is the best picture I could get that shows all 5 floor jacks. 2 on each end and one in the middle. They make an x pattern. Again, sorry for the wordiness of my explanation. Hopefully I didn't lose too many of you. Aside from dropping one of the concrete blocks on my thumb, and being covered in spider webs and dust, I'd say this step went fairly smoothly.
So now that I got the floor braced and tank leveled, I can finally do my first test fill.
So far so good....
And full! (at least up to my overflow, sump and plumbing was yet to be installed in this picture).
So far so good....
And full! (at least up to my overflow, sump and plumbing was yet to be installed in this picture).
I also built my sump out of a 75 gallon. Not the prettiest thing but it should work alright. It has a hole drilled along the back that isn't seen in the picture which will be the overflow that I use to drain my automatic drip system. I'll put a bulkhead over the hole and connect it to the drain line seen in the crawl space pictures. I still need to make a drip plate for this sump. I'm going to use one of those cheap rubbermaid plastic totes, cut a side off of it, and drill holes in it for my drip plate.
So next was installing all the plumbing. This was not particularly fun. I have 6 return lines to install, and two 2" drain lines. It was hard attempting to work in the 6 inches that I had available behind my tank. It took about 8 hours and three trips to the hardware store to get the pvc installed. I ended up using braided tubing for return lines and part of the drains, which made things quite a bit easier than working with the rigid pvc.
Due to the location of the plumbing, I don't have many good pictures. Here is a pictures of my sump, my Dart return pump, and 3 of the 6 return
Here is a shot behind the tank showing one of the return lines.
And this is where I am at right now. I took the hinges off the canopy until I install the lights.
Things I still need to do:
1.Attach the doors to the stand and canopy
2. Figure out the water level I need to run my sump at to avoid floods and running my pump dry.
3. Install my T5 lights to the canopy
4. Aquascape
5. Add fish.
I'm getting closer.
So next was installing all the plumbing. This was not particularly fun. I have 6 return lines to install, and two 2" drain lines. It was hard attempting to work in the 6 inches that I had available behind my tank. It took about 8 hours and three trips to the hardware store to get the pvc installed. I ended up using braided tubing for return lines and part of the drains, which made things quite a bit easier than working with the rigid pvc.
Due to the location of the plumbing, I don't have many good pictures. Here is a pictures of my sump, my Dart return pump, and 3 of the 6 return
Here is a shot behind the tank showing one of the return lines.
And this is where I am at right now. I took the hinges off the canopy until I install the lights.
Things I still need to do:
1.Attach the doors to the stand and canopy
2. Figure out the water level I need to run my sump at to avoid floods and running my pump dry.
3. Install my T5 lights to the canopy
4. Aquascape
5. Add fish.
I'm getting closer.
Everything looks top notch and great. My only suggestion would be is to add pvc supports under your drip tray. It needs to be level, not slanted. If it's slanted the bio balls will recieve an uneven amount of flow with the plate tilted and you will loose bio surface area potential. The idea is to maximize chance for beneficial bacteria colonization on the media. Awesome build your craftsmanship is really good.
