Mike's 75 rimless

[Dr.DiSilicate]

A few weeks ago I got a craigslist deal on an oceanic 75 with hood and stand. Good condition bit needed some love. I decided to redo the oak stand and canopy in lacquer. (pita) by the way but looks great. The tank was also oak so I painted the top, bottom, and back with black krylon. The rim and bottom chip way too easy! I started to fabricate an oak top and bottom with oak. Looked pretty good as a cover. I used black silicone to attach the base. Then I went to elite reef yesterday! They have an awesome rimless 75 display. My tank already has a big glass center supporting the rim so I figured what the heck...... The tank was cheek and I can find another if it doesn't work. The tank is now rimless! Looks great! I hope it works and think it will. Pics soon as well as more progress.

 

[Cake_Boss]

I'm jealous I love the rimless look. My tank also has oak trim, I used electrical tape to cover it up though.

 

[Wicked Color]

ya, rimless is sexy.

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

Here are a couple of pics of the tank. I have more polishing to do but it is starting to look really custom.

 

[djkms]

take that damn center brace out NOW before you fill it with water. Place 2 glass strips 1/3 and 2/3 of the way along the top if your comfortable it will structurely support it. I have a glass brace going down the center of my tank and HATE it. If I had to do it over again I would have replaced that stupid center brace with something different.

Love the tank btw, im gonna go rimless next tank around. Cant wait to see the progress on this one!

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

The center brace is huge. I am considering my options. I would love no brace at all but not comfortable with the build for that. 2 smaller ones may look better???

 

[djkms]

I think not only will it look better but less maintenance. I have to clean my brace daily and its a huge pain. It also depends on what lights you plan on having. One of my LED fixtures is right over the brace and that sucks.

 

[Cake_Boss]

You could do euro bracing, if you're not familiar think Gonzo's frag tank

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

I have a tek elite t5 so I will not have to worry too much about it blocking the light.

 

[Zooid]

I agree, get rid of that huge center brace. I have a center brace on mine that is TWO FEET long. Pain in the a$$ to clean the center area of my tank.

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

Ok, idk what I'll do in the end but take a look @ this.

 

[Cake_Boss]

much better

 

[crustytheclown]

looks great! What r you gonna do to brace it? I was reading the manual to the VorTech MP10 and it has a WARNING about making sure the tank is supported properly while using wave makers! Kinda Freaked me out?

 

[Wicked Color]

just to cover their a$$e$

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

I think the tank would be fine with no brace. It is 3/8 think one o Lu about 19 inches of water. I think I will get a small center brace and 4 small triangle braces for the corners. I am going to make a window screen with bird screen to cover the top for my jumpers. (I got 1/4 inch clear screen from brs this time so it should really disappear) The braces will be inset by about 1/4 inch to keep the rimless look. The brace will provide a piece of mind as well as something to set the screen on.

And yea, the vortech mp10 is in mo way powerful enough to knock a tank over or cause any other problems. I love mine but let's get real with the caution statements people!

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

Question about fish. I have a small yellow tang I have had for almost 2 years in the current cube tank. What do people think about adding a powder blue tang to the mix? Too aggressive? Or too big? I love that fish!

 

[Wicked Color]

powder blues are prone to stress related infections the resident tang might make it difficult to acclimate into a stable /stress free environment.

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

ok, some more advise and opinions. I have about 50 lbs of sand that was given to me(thanks crustytheclown) that I have washed because it had so much detritus in it. It is a larger grain size than I want but I will use it as the 1st inch and for the fuge. I also got about 25 lbs of reefsaver rock from brs. My (40 gallon) tank currently has about 35 lbs of live rock and 50 lbs of sugar sized sand. I want to move the contents from the 40 to the 75 and put the tank in the same spot as the 40. Any thoughts on making the move. Should I seed (with a little sand and some small rubble from my sump) the 75 in the basement and then drain and move? Should I buy new sand so as not to disturb the nasties in the deep sand bed? Move everything over in 1 bug move. The 40 is doing so well I don't want to go thru any huge pain.... How would you all go about this? I do have several 15 gallon rubbermade totes that things could hang out in for a few hours but that is my only option (i think) for holding things. My wife would not like having the second tank hanging out in the family room for more than a couple of days either. so, there you have it... shoot away, thanks in advance!

 

[Wicked Color]

This is a big move, and there are a few factors;
How deep is the current sand bed
Is it kept reletivly clean, and moving by sand sifting CUC?
Do you plan on making the sand deeper/same/more shallow?
Do you already have any excessive nutrient issues?
Is there a new sump/fuge?
Has everything been dry fit/run to ensure all needed supplies are on hand?
You will want to have at least 30 gal new saltwater mixed in case you need to do an emergency WC
If you want help with this LMK

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

Thanks for the response Aaron, I have a sump on the current tank but no fuge. The new tank will have a fugue with a 5 or so inch sand bed and macro algae of some kind.

My current tank has no issues with nutrients but has a 3 or 4" sand bed that my cuc does keep clean. I do vacuum the top 1/2 inch or so every so often. I think I will get everything Plumed and running in the basement for a couple of weeks and seed things with a few pounds of sand from the current tank. That way I will also have the extra water in the case of an emergency.
Thanks for offering to help! I think I can get someone up here to help with the lifting and such when the time comes.
Also, here is the tank with the smaller center brace. I may also do 1 on each end for some insurance and to help with the sloshing from the tunze nano wavemaker I picked up on rc today.

Thanks for the suggestions! Any are appreciated!