The 180gal Family Project

[nikkipigtails]

My husband picked up our new tank (180gal) and cabinetry Saturday. :whstlr: The tank was originally set up as FW and it's not drilled so we're going to have to make a lot of adjustments. We have a friend who ownes a glass shop who's going to drill it for us as soon as we decide what size bulkheads we're going to use. We're going to back-drill the tank instead of having to deal with acrylic. We also have a friend who does auto window tint and we'll have him "tint" the back glass with mirror or black tint, we haven't decided which (don't worry, he's tinting the outside, not the inside of the tank). We're going to take our time setting this up because we want to do it right.
We're going to use a 75gal tank as our sump and a 41.5gal QT tank that was custom built to sit next to the 180gal and look like an extension of the larger tank. Anyway, I have pictures to start. Any advice on the size of bulkheads? We're going to have 2 drains, 2 returns and 1 CL.

 

[nikkipigtails]

The trailer full of stuff...

The tank in the garage...

Olivia looking at her new "toy"...

 

[BigAl07]

:LOL: Love the pic of the lil one

Can't wait to watch this coming together

 

[boozeman]

she is too cute !!!

tank looks great...looking foward to the build :lurk:

 

[Tru2nr]

looking like your gonna start off on the right foot thats for sure keep us updated

 

[tbittner]

I love the title! "Family Project"

I'll check out the pics after I get home later. Can't see them here at work.

 

[rmlevasseur]

ooooo, you are so smart! Call it a "family" project and get away with anything!!! I am so stealing this.

 

[nikkipigtails]

ooooo, you are so smart! Call it a "family" project and get away with anything!!! I am so stealing this.

LOL! It works too!! As do bribes and pouts (mostly from the kid). :angel4:

 

[vdituri]

I like the sound of tinting the back glass.
My only concern if it was my tank would be the salt slowly corroding or dissolving the tint glue and causing it to pull away.

You are probably better off painting the back glass.

Great start though. Looking forward to more updates.

 

[BigAl07]

That's a very good point Vic. I actually did this with a FW tank and it looked GREAT for about 3 months. Then it peeled off and it was in a way that I couldn't reach it. I had it looking bad for about 6 months until I finally tore the tank down due to broken glass (vacuum cleaner... don't ask).

 

[nikkipigtails]

I like the sound of tinting the back glass.
My only concern if it was my tank would be the salt slowly corroding or dissolving the tint glue and causing it to pull away.

You are probably better off painting the back glass.

Great start though. Looking forward to more updates.

Thanks. I'll have to talk to our friend about salt vs. the tint glue. We didn't want to paint it because the sides are already painted and we've got to try to find a way to get it off and we thought that the mirrored sides and back would look really cool. Any ideas on how we can create that mirrored look without using the tint? I've seen mirrored backgrounds but they all look pretty cheap.

 

[tbittner]

Silicon mirrors onto the glass.

 

[nikkipigtails]

Silicon mirrors onto the glass.

That means that we would have to drill the tank and the mirrors plus it would make the tank heavier. Not to mention how expensive a piece of mirror that size would be.

 

[tbittner]

Great point! I wonder is aluminum foil would work?

You need to talk Sasquatch into joining here. He visits the craft store quite frequently and has come away with some brilliant ideas.

 

[Dentoid]

That means that we would have to drill the tank and the mirrors plus it would make the tank heavier. Not to mention how expensive a piece of mirror that size would be.

Do small tiles of mirror, like a disco ball!

 

[tbittner]

Nikki, have you all decided where you are going to put the tank? This setup will weigh in at close to 2,000 pounds so make sure the structure can support it.

 

[nikkipigtails]

Yeah, we have a long, empty entry wall when you first walk into our house. When you walk into our house, there's a long, empty wall on the right and our living room is on the left. Our house is built on a slab so it should be ok. We just need to find a new place for all the baby toys.

 

[nikkipigtails]

Here's the wall...

 

[BigAl07]

Slab is ALWAYS good! Our new house is designed so that one section is "Slab on grade" for the sole reason of the Monster Tank! Just makes life so much easier that way!

Can't wait to watch it GROW!!!

 

[nikkipigtails]

Yeah, we're lucky, you go 10 miles south and all the houses are built off-grade because they're closer to the water. We are prone to hurricanes in this area.