Gem's 60 gal Cube

[gem]

The back pain of glass is smoked, but it just wasnt dark enough to hide the plumbing. It was kind of a shame to paint that pretty smoked glass but I don't want to see the plumbing. So a little Krylon paint and we're almost ready to get it up on the stand, plumbed and filled with water!!!

[gem]

Thanks to a couple of local reefer friends, we got the tank back in the house and on the stand and positioned perfectly so I can get the framework around the tank on there. The tank is sitting on a foam pad. I'll be making a tabletop/frame for the top of the stand with 3.5" wide red oak boards. The bottom 1" of the tank will be hidden and the boards will overhang enough to accomodate skins attached by magnet.

[gem]

All of the above has been happening at a slow pace over the last month or so.

Here is where I'm at today.....Today was plumbing day....

The top of the drain is a piece of PVC cut at a 45 angle in a 45 angle connector. This set up my boyfriend used on his last 2 tanks and they are virtually silent! I'm hoping it works as well on this type of overflow. Pretty sure it will.....but I have a back up plan.

The closest drain is the main overflow drain. It's 1.5 inch pvc. It's reduced underneath to 1" and then to the fuge it's reduced again to 3/4 " after a ball valve.
The far drain is 1" all the way down and is an emargency drain. It sits about 3/4 " higher than the main overflow drain.



Here's the underside.



And return hose....not yet set up. I was so happy to find it at Home Depot and not have to order it. I've never been able to find black 3/4" vinyl hose locally. Till now!

[gem]

And you can't have a build thread without a couple of screw ups. I am notoriously clutzy.....besides the half quart of white paint I spilled in the garage while painting...
(I just kind of rolled with it and dipped my brush in the puddle




Here's a pic of the Christy's Blue PVC Glue I spilled on the carpet.....oops.



A little goof off and a stiff nylon brush and it's better. There's still a blue tinge, and I will get more goof off and continue to work on it....but it's definately better.

[Cliff]

Your build is looking good. Great journal too.

I must say, I didn't think you could get any PVC glue out of carpet, but almost got it all

I have a question about the plumbing in your overflow. I was wondering why you have chosen that design. Most people go with a typical stand pipe so when I see some different it really makes me think

[SunSchein89]

Can tell already it's going to look great when finished. Keep the updates coming

[gem]

Your build is looking good. Great journal too.

I must say, I didn't think you could get any PVC glue out of carpet, but almost got it all

I have a question about the plumbing in your overflow. I was wondering why you have chosen that design. Most people go with a typical stand pipe so when I see some different it really makes me think

This overflow design is something my boyfriend came up with on a lunch break. It's not typical. And that's why I chose it. We are always looking for ways to make our systems quiet and he suddenly thought "what if we took a 45 and a piece of PVC and cut the PVC at a 45 degree angle....what would happen". He tried it on a 15 gal nano and it was dead silent. He then used the same design on his 70 gal shallow rimless leemar tank and it was silent and worked flawlessly. It has yet to be tested on my type of overflow. I will soon see how it works out. The difference between the others and mine is that I have an emergency drain. Both of his tanks have standard overflow boxes that are the same height as the tank. My tank is 24" deep while my external overflow box is only 5 inches deep. So I will soon find out if it is feasable. The pieces inside the overflow are not glued in so that they are adjustable. If it doesn't work, I can convert it to something more standard.

[gem]

Can tell already it's going to look great when finished. Keep the updates coming

Wait till you see it with the lights on. Ok...I'll tease you with a pic. This is empty (obviously) with actinics, moonlights, and 250 watt pheonix 14K MH. The light is a Coralife 250 watt with 2x65 watt pc actinics.

[Cliff]

Thanks for the info Gem

I think I'm going see if your idea might work on my tank.

I can hardly wait to see you tank all set-up and stocked. It's going to look great !!!

[hockeyhead019]

Lookin good gem! love the color of the lighting:)

And that's an interesting idea for the overflows too I'm interested to see if it works or not!