Atlanta acrylic and glue source?

[bgi]

Having started up a 54 bow / corner reef tank, I want to squeeze as much under the stand as possible. If you have seen these stands, you know how tight things are inside. So, I'm going to make a custom sump. Where can I get acrylic and glue locally? I've found piedmont plastics. They have a 4x8 sheets and only one type of glue. Home Depot has .230" acrylic. It seems thick enough for this project, but I'd like to use 3/8". Is the HD acrylic suitable? Pointers, anyone?

thanks in advance. My critters will be happy to move from the JBJ nano to the 54.

[RobinsonFam1]

hd and lowes carry 1/4". it is suitable but hard to work with in comparison to better quality acrylics.i go to mcmaster carr. they are on Fulton Ind. Blvd. great prices and material selection. they ahev everything a diy reefer could need. i get glue from under the wave in duluth. piedmont carries it as well as others. look in yellow pages under plastic and acrylic. the lower the number on weldon glue the runnier it is.
use shaarp blades! you can heat it to bend it and form into curves. you can flame the edges to give it the factory look too.

let us know how it goes!

try mcmaster.com

hth BR

[pwest]

I got all the plastic for my sump at

GE Polymershapes
Contact Info:
(770) 944-6114
Location Info:
960 Six Flags Road # B, Austell, GA 30168

I bought glue applicator needles at Highland Hardware, and they probably have the glue, too.

-Phil

[flaunt]

I second mcmaster carr. They told me only businesses can come pick stuff up, but I had some black acrylic shipped ups ground and I got it the next day because it's so close. They have a good selection and decent prices.

[seehorse]

Piedmont carries probably the cheapest acrylic; you can probably get a full 4x8 sheet for what a 2x4 piece at home depot would cost but most of theirs is foreign made. You can also try TMX Ain plastics in Marietta. They're right off Allgood Rd. and they will cut to your specifications for a small charge.

[bgi]

Thanks for all the replies, folks. We ordered the material over the phone while driving down to McMaster Carr. Huge warehouse. The prices were better than Piedmont and HD and they had more cut sizes. The big plus for me is: They are open on saturday. They DO take orders from individuals. Pay on phone with CC, then pick it up. The stuff at HD just looked cheap and easy to crack.Now I have to design this thing and put it together! The 54 bow stand is so tiiiight. I just hope I can fit the skimmer and drain in one end and get 700-800 gph through the baffles with no bubbles to the other end of a 10"x20" sump PLUS fit the refugium and calcium reactor in there somewhere!

[flaunt]

well that's cool they let you pick it up. when i talked to them on the phone they told me they weren't "set up" to allow orders from individuals. i guess next time I'll have to argue with them

[bgi]

I ordered more stuff from the phone at the will-call after I picked up the first order. Give them a try next time.

[seehorse]

bgi - if you want a little help with your project don't hesitate to ask - I'd be more than happy to show you some pointers.

[bgi]

Hey, Michael, that would be great!

Although I'm decent with tools and have built lots of other types of things (telescope, RC planes from kits, for example), I've never worked with acrylic. It will be some time before I start cutting plastic.

I got some 0.394" cast acrylic for the main parts and some 0.177" for baffles, and some #16 glue tubes and a can of the watery-thin glue.

I'm trying to squeeze these under an AGA 54 bow corner stand:

MRC Nano Dual calcium reactor with small cylinder (5 lbs?)
Refugium (undetermined size - probably whatever I can squeeze in leftover space)
Mag 9 return - hopefully outside the sump
Bubble-stopping baffles between the drain/skimmer section and return pump
Aqua Clear Aquatics 75 skimmer (thankfully has a small footprint)

Since this calcium reactor has such a huge footprint relative to this stand, I think I'll chop up the base and re-arrange it a bit to reduce it's footprint.

The one thing I think I need immediate help with would be some suggestion for baffle design. I want the baffles to be as small as practical yet still functional. With the Mag 9, I expect to get around 600-700 GPH through the system. I need to decide how large to make the baffles and how many to install. I'm guessing there is some standard rule of thumb saying how much area (width * length) to allocate to each baffle based on how many GPH is running through the sump to allow the microbubbles to move upward against the flow.

[seehorse]

Did you get whole sheets or is it cutup already?

[bgi]

I got some 2'x4' sheets. I didn't want to haul the trailer down there and that first cut of 4x8 material on the tablesaw is always challenging to do smoothly. ;-)

[wildemon]

My sump works great. First 2" wide chamber has vertical drop from tank into bioballs, held in place with a vertical partition open 2" at the bottom. I put a sloped floor and used eggcrate to hold back the balls. Then vertical partition that has a 1/2" flow over the top into the main chamber. In a small space this can be the pump pickup but in mine I am growing the macroalgae and so added one more vertical partion that is overflowed. This put my mud/sand in the middle and pump pickup in last chamber. I bet that the Calcium reactor and tank will take up too much space to set inside.

[bgi]

William,

You are correct: the reactor is kinda large by comparison. It will go outside of the sump. I'm getting some good ideas here. I think I'll put the skimmer next to the the drop from the tank, then an overflow (my hacked skimmer is sensitive to the depth of the water it's in), perhaps then a baffle or two, and a mudpit for the refuge, then an overflow to the return outlet. I'll experiment with the bioball noise reduction. thanks!

[seehorse]

bgi - if you need some cuts, feel free to come over and i'll make them for you...also, we can set it up and "glue" it together.