New 75gal Reef Tank Step-By-Step Setup DIY - Page 7

PowerManJ316 · 02-13-2006, 09:58 PM

Good News!
I just got my material to start the sump. I found some re-donkulously cheap 3/8" Polycarbonate. I am picking it up tomorrow and am going to start making the sump. I am planning on using a fine-toothed jigsaw to cut the stuff...not really sure what is the best. If anyone's ever worked with it, let me know. I am going to use a small scrap to practice on and i'll post what method I think works best for cutting the stuff.

three90s&125sump · 02-13-2006, 11:12 PM

Go with the most aggressive tooth blade you have and slow the jig down, to say maybe 300 reciprocations per min.

Geoff · 02-14-2006, 09:15 AM

how far along on the sump build are you.

use a guide when cutting with a jigsaw. cutting acrylic with a jig saw is tough. it will melt on you if you are not confident in your cut. make sure to leave the paper coating on for as long as possible. i like using a fine tooth blade, but you need to feed the saw throught the acrylica at a very high rate of speed.

if you can get a circular saw or access to a tabel saw, you will have better results.

i like your design so far. have you thought about switching the fuge area with the return area? less of a chance of bubbles making it back into the display. also water flowing over a baffle into the sump area are notorious for creating bubbles.

G~

PowerManJ316 · 02-14-2006, 01:04 PM

The sumps almost done!

Heh, or at least I am getting the material tonight. I like your idea about moving the refuge to eliminate bubbles. However, rather than switching it with the return area, what about putting the refuge section on the far right and having it overflow into the small chamber for the skimmer inlet. This way the skimmer inlet would never run dry and it would reduce the flow through the refuge, i.e. 1/2 of the return would flow through the refuge instead of all of it.

Geoff · 02-14-2006, 03:08 PM

why do you have that small area for the skimmer pump? it is not needed. it does not matter how many times the water goes through the skimmer, as long as it is at least once.

moving it to the far right is fine also.

G~

PowerManJ316 · 02-14-2006, 10:07 PM

I had put that spacer in between the skimmer inlet and outlet so that a stream of water would not be created that would flow directly from the output of the skimmer back to the inlet of the skimmer. Thinking in terms of the flow, I could see that the majority of the water being pulled into the skimmer would have just come from the skimmer while the top layer of water just flows over the baffles and back into the display tank. This was the point of the barrier, but perhaps it is unnecessary

Geoff · 02-15-2006, 10:04 AM

i do not have a problem with that thinking. if you have the room than keep the inlet and outlet seperated. as long as the drain from the tank going in there can keep up with the skimmer you are fine. this is my worry. without the divider if the drain can not keep up with the skimmer, than the skimmer will just reskimm water. if the drain can not keep up with the skimmer with the divider the pump can run dry.

G~

PowerManJ316 · 02-15-2006, 10:47 AM

I practiced making a few cuts on the polycarbonate last night. It cuts pretty easy. I was using a 5400 RPM circular saw with a 60 Tooth blade. The edges came out pretty rough, thought but I had no trouble with melting. I am going to HD tonight and getting a 200 Tooth blade. This should make the edges very smooth. Ill post some pics of the differences between the two blades.

tdwyatt · 02-15-2006, 11:04 AM

Look for a zero-kerf blade, it makes the best cut and requires the least amount of finishing. When done, you may want to run the edge with a 3-cut router bit using a guide clamped to the stock piece to make your edge as straight as possible. This will give you the finish needed to increase contact area at the interface between construction elements (edge perpendicular to the face of the pane without saw kerf marks).

PowerManJ316 · 02-15-2006, 11:25 PM

Making some progress on the tank now. I have cut the four pieces for the overflow, but still need to make the weirs on them. I am testing the Weld-On glue on some scrap pieces of acrylic since it is the first time i am working with it. Also, I have made a small base to place my stand on. I used wood/styrofoam to lift the tank higher off the ground without modifying the stand and I used the styrofoam to help level the tank and reduce any vibration from the floor into the tank. Ill keep more pictures coming as I make progress. I plan on cutting all of the polycarbonate sheets this weekend for the sump.

PowerManJ316 · 02-15-2006, 11:29 PM

BTW, I was able to get a 150 Tooth blade. It works much better than the 60 Tooth I was using before. I don't have any closeups of the edges yet, but they will come this weekend. I think I may be able to run a little bit of sand paper over the cut edges and be ready to glue, they are very smooth from the cut.

SmokinReefer · 02-16-2006, 01:45 AM

(We can help you with a retro light kit.) as three 90s and a 125 sump said, what did you have in mind becuase i really need help.

Geoff · 02-16-2006, 06:31 AM

instead of cutting weirs on my overflow i just glued a couple rows of eggcrate to the top of my overflow. silly cone seems strong enough for this purpose. if it did not work i was going to try Weld-on 16. i found that using a couple rows of eggcrate was much easier than cutting weirs.

G~

PowerManJ316 · 02-16-2006, 12:50 PM

Heck Yeah! I was hoping i would not have to cut weirs into it. I do not have a router so I woul have had to drill a hole and cut up to the hole with the circular for every weir. Bleh

. That is a great times saving idea.

PowerManJ316 · 02-17-2006, 07:21 PM

More progress and Pics...well a little more.
Here are some pics of my overflow made out of 1/8" acrylic. The Weld-On #16 works real nice to hold the pieces together. You get about 30 seconds to move the piece around and then it is in place pretty well. I am going to wait 24 hours and then check for any leaks. The egg crate on the test overflow held really good with the weld on and I plan to span the entire top of the overflow with the egg crate. I plan to somehow make a couple of removable sections in the egg crate so I can remove small sections to clean the overflow.
Tomorrow I plan to cut all the pieces for the sump and hopefully get it glue together as well.