My 1st Father's Day Gift
- Thread starter astiesi
- Start date
So you'd put the laptop IN the tank and look through the glass panel while wearing polarized sunglasses? Then if you see "Stress Cracks" then the glass is indeed likely tempered?
astiesi
Member
I'm a huge fan of the overflow so far, takes up very little room. The guys at glass-holes.com are great to work with too.
Hey Al...thats exactly what I did. Basically if you rotate a lens of polarized glass (i.e. some sunglasses) in front of a laptop screen you will see at a specific angle (normally 45 degrees) the screen will disappear. Doing this with a pane of glass in between will show "stress lines" when you hit this angle if the glass is tempered.
I knew the bottom glass was tempered so I started by putting the laptop in the stand under the tank and looked through from above. The stress lines were easily noticable. Once I knew what to look for, I put the laptop in the tank and looked through from the side...saw nothing but the LCD display disappear. Being an engineer I thought this was pretty cool.
Hey Al...thats exactly what I did. Basically if you rotate a lens of polarized glass (i.e. some sunglasses) in front of a laptop screen you will see at a specific angle (normally 45 degrees) the screen will disappear. Doing this with a pane of glass in between will show "stress lines" when you hit this angle if the glass is tempered.
I knew the bottom glass was tempered so I started by putting the laptop in the stand under the tank and looked through from above. The stress lines were easily noticable. Once I knew what to look for, I put the laptop in the tank and looked through from the side...saw nothing but the LCD display disappear. Being an engineer I thought this was pretty cool.
astiesi
Member
Alright, I haven't updated in a while and things have been progressing slowly but I have made some progress. In the past month I've managed to do the following:
- I ordered a Reef Octopus NWB-150 Protein Skimmer. I am quite impressed by the craftsmanship and am looking forward to getting it up and running.
- I painted the back black. I used Rustoleum flat black spray paint which worked out really well. I've read about the reduction of PAR values due to painting the back glass but I really prefer the look.
- I picked up a 20L to use as a sump and added glass baffles which separated the 20L into 3 compartments: refugium, return, skimmer.
From here I have to find time to work on the plumbing and then its time for water.
- I ordered a Reef Octopus NWB-150 Protein Skimmer. I am quite impressed by the craftsmanship and am looking forward to getting it up and running.
- I painted the back black. I used Rustoleum flat black spray paint which worked out really well. I've read about the reduction of PAR values due to painting the back glass but I really prefer the look.
- I picked up a 20L to use as a sump and added glass baffles which separated the 20L into 3 compartments: refugium, return, skimmer.
From here I have to find time to work on the plumbing and then its time for water.
YEAH!! It's coming along VERY nicely! Good work
I Think I've also decided that "Even though it DOES make a difference initially since in the long run it will be completely covered anyway with coralline and such I'm going to paint mine from here on out as well"
astiesi
Member
Thanks Al for stopping by, I went back and forth with the paint issue. I hate wasting PAR if I can avoid it but realized from my first tank that there was no way I was going to clean the back glass every couple weeks let alone every couple days. With plumbing along the back a Mag-Float doesn't really work well which is my tool of choice for cleaning the glass...therefore I went with the paint.
I did get some plumbing done as nstiesi has pointed out, just haven't had a chance to snap a pic. Basically both drain lines are plumbed down to the sump, thanks for the help by they way. I am currently trying to decide if I should do 1 return or split it into 2. By my calculations due to height and fitting loss I'm looking at around 500 GPH delivered by the Mag 9.5 to the top of the tank. If I split that I will have 2-250 GPH returns. I'm thinking it may be better just to do one return and have a K2 on the other side. Anybody have any thoughts??
I did get some plumbing done as nstiesi has pointed out, just haven't had a chance to snap a pic. Basically both drain lines are plumbed down to the sump, thanks for the help by they way. I am currently trying to decide if I should do 1 return or split it into 2. By my calculations due to height and fitting loss I'm looking at around 500 GPH delivered by the Mag 9.5 to the top of the tank. If I split that I will have 2-250 GPH returns. I'm thinking it may be better just to do one return and have a K2 on the other side. Anybody have any thoughts??
astiesi
Member
I have to agree with bskinn77, I can't wait to see water in it either! Unfortunately, I just got laid off at work on Friday so the build is going to be put on hold for a few weeks till I can line up something else. Luckily the build is still at a point where I don't have to spend any money on maintenance.
BigAl, since I have nothing but time now I'll write up a better description of the plumbing when I get more than 5 minutes to type it up. The one thing I can say is I love the union ball valves...they were considerable cheaper than buying both individually and they simplified things greatly.
BigAl, since I have nothing but time now I'll write up a better description of the plumbing when I get more than 5 minutes to type it up. The one thing I can say is I love the union ball valves...they were considerable cheaper than buying both individually and they simplified things greatly.