Downsizing my 280 to a 240 rimless.

[2Sunny]

After struggling with the overgrowth in my acrylic 280 I decided to try for a new "feng sui" in my aquarium life. The goal is ease of maintenance, lots of "negative" space, and a concentration on a dozen or so of my personally favorite acro's. With that in mind I ordered a new 240 gallon rimless from GlassCages, and am in the process of changing over my system. So here's the opening salvo . . . The silver brackets are my stolen idea using 1/2 inch conduit bent into an L shape for hanging my dual 48 inch PFO fixtures which will house two 250 watt XM 10k MHs and two 250 watt 20k XM MHs all driven by PFO-HQI ballasts as well as four VHO actinic bulbs. Funny, considering I was the guy who ran three 1000 watt bulbs over my 280 just 4 years ago. I plan on painting the conduit black before installation, and adding a custom acrylic overflow cover as well as a black background. I'm still going back and forth on the circulation (haha - I made a funny without meaning to) between hidden Tunzes or an external recirc pump. My inspiration comes primarily from Steve Weast, but of course I don't have near the space he has, none the less I aim to try. Anyways, thats it for now . . . I'll be sure to keep ya posted
Joe

P.S. Did I mention that the anemone on the opening page is a clone from my tank :biggrin: given to Greenwich Aquaria!

 

[NYreefNoob]

tank

looks nice, but question for you, without any bracing on top of glass arent you worried about seams pushing out ? you could wrap top of glass for support.

 

[2Sunny]

Rimless.

Life is full of gambles I guess . . . :shhh:

No really, several manufacturers have been doing rimless for more than a decade now with great success. There is some controversy over the particular company which I have chosen, but there are atleast 2 tanks identical to the one I ordered which have been in operation for more than 3 years, and I'm willing to give it a try considering I doubt I will keep this tank more than 5 years before I get bored and try the next project. Any sort of strap or brace would blow the whole point of the aesthetics I'm trying to achieve. Of course when 400 gallons of water spill out over my living room floor you can be the first to say "I told you so!", but we'll see . . .:bigeyes2:

 

[NYreefNoob]

tank

naw i wouldnt do that, and i had a gc tank. not the prettiest, but was solid, and you could always use a clear plastic strap to bind it. you plan to have it as a look down tank ? and whats the dimensions

 

[1UCKY]

Beautiful set-up! Good luck with everything!

 

[2Sunny]

Straps and dimensions.

Actually a small strap around the top edge might be a real possibility. It certainly would add a large amount of support if done right . . . hmm.

As for the dimesions, I can't believe I forgot. They're 48 x 48 x 25.

 

[ming]

Nice tank. Is that stand also from GC?
Can you take pics of the inside of the stand as well?
I want a tank that size in the future, so I want to see more pics of it.
Heck, maybe I should come over and see it.. lol

 

[2Sunny]

Come on down!

Absolutely Ming I'll take some pictures of the inside, and yes the stand is GC also. I struggled over whether to go GC for a long time, but considering the tank and stand were $1420 delivered to White Plains, I couldn't resist since the next closest bid was over $5000 for a tank and stand. I don't know how Tom at GC does it so cheaply, but they sure do offer real discounts. We'll see . . .

And, of course, you're welcome to come visit anytime!

Joe

 

[NYreefNoob]

tank

well since i just down graded size's from a gc 62g and looking to buy a home before upgrade, and looking for same size tank almost, a 36x36x25. want the island effect of rock

 

[tripstank]

Love the idea and great dimensions, however, I doubt the metal conduit will hold the fixtures for very long. That thin of conduit easily crimps under any kind strain. I would personally rethink that decision and half some steel tube welded or bent to size.

 

[crox99]

That's going to be a sweet set-up. What color are you going to stain the stand?

 

[2Sunny]

Love the idea and great dimensions, however, I doubt the metal conduit will hold the fixtures for very long. That thin of conduit easily crimps under any kind strain. I would personally rethink that decision and half some steel tube welded or bent to size.

I was concerned about that myself. I'll have to experiment and see what the bending weight is before commiting to any final design. I wonder if 3/4 inch would be significantly stronger? The good news is the PFO hoods are fairly light since all the ballasts are external. I would love to do steel, but I have absolutely no idea where I could get that done. :help:

That's going to be a sweet set-up. What color are you going to stain the stand?

Not sure yet since all decorating decisions have to be ok'd by the family boss, but I believe we're leaning towards a white wainscot finsh.

 

[NYreefNoob]

steel

there's a company up by me that built steel gate's. i am sure they could build what you want. you can always buy steel bars. and i do believe hd has it or 1\2 plate rod's. if interested ill get the number to the place by me. lmk

 

[tripstank]

I could do it for you... I built Randy's stand for the 240 gal at Pratt

 

[masterswimmer]

Joe, the tank looks great. I really like the dimensions. I'll be following along. I want to see the progression.

Question for you, also regarding the light brackets......aren't your two little girls going to get tired? :biggrin:

In case you're wavering on who you want to fabricate steel brackets, I'll give a resounding thumbs up to tripstank (Leo). He does great work.

Good luck and don't let this thread get stale. Mo' pix!!!!

Russ

 

[jhale]

great start Joe, I like the negative space idea as well. I find it's so hard to resist putting in just one more frag or small colony. If you can stick to your plan I'm sure it will look amazing in a short time.

I would not worry about the construction of the tank, if anything from what I've seen GC overbuilds the tanks. some more close ups of the tank would be nice to see

are you going to be using rock from the old tank or do you have something new in mind?

 

[ColdZero]

Wait a tick, did you pick that aquarium up on the 22nd in White Plains. I think I remember them unloading it from the truck and said to myself, wow thats a pretty sweet looking tank. I was picking up a tiny 75 that day

 

[2Sunny]

I could do it for you... I built Randy's stand for the 240 gal at Pratt

Leo, PM with info on where to send the PayPal or CC#. I'm looking for 72 inches tall and 40 to 42 inches overhang painted black if you do that too. I can't tell you how awesome that would be!

are you going to be using rock from the old tank or do you have something new in mind?

Actually I setup a temporary 180 in my basement and filled it with all new LR. Then I kept it independent for about 3 months and added 100 peppermints to clean out all the aiptasia then attached it to my total system and moved my keeper colonies down. (Thank-you Bill at Salty Creefers!) Hence the recent fire sale that some of the guys came to. At the moment my poor ole' display tank is in shambles and the 180 is undergoing a bit of hair algae outbreak, but so far so good. I really wanted to start with all new LR to increase my odds of keeping out all the pests I've dealt with in the past including aiptasia, mojanos, yellow star polyps, and palythoa. Plus I wanted a large piece to showcase my anemone (which by the way has spilt again making 3 clones and one primary, 3 of which are in the picture below).

Wait a tick, did you pick that aquarium up on the 22nd in White Plains. I think I remember them unloading it from the truck and said to myself, wow thats a pretty sweet looking tank. I was picking up a tiny 75 that day

LOL, I guess its a pretty tight community we got goin' on here! Ya can't sneeze without someone knowin', heh?! Yeah, I hired Runge Moving to pick up my tank from GC because believe it or not I was in Cabo San Lucas at the time. I know tough life, but heh, someone's gotta do it rangehat

Question for you, also regarding the light brackets......aren't your two little girls going to get tired? :biggrin:. . . .

Mo' pix!!!!

Russ

I thought of putting chains on my girls to keep 'em in place, but I think they frown on that these days, and always happy to share pics :biggrin:


Joe

​

 

[tripstank]

pm sent!

 

[meschaefer]

Beautiful tank. I really like the look of the rimless, there are some really nice looking rimless tanks out there and I am sure yours will be great. When I was pricing out tanks, I thought about going rimless, until my wife gave me the go ahead to increase the size of the room behind the tank, so that I could put it in wall.