How thick does the plexiglass have to be do you think? The pics you posted looked about 1/2" for like 35 gallons? I think i caught the fever from you here...its off to the hardware store I go
__________________ Samuel
"If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.... There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded men be plunged in his deepest reveries--stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region."
How thick? well... how large is the "box"? What are you using it for?
I use 1/4 inch for any box less than 50 gallons. My new seahorse tank will be at least 1/2 inch. The images above are 1/4 inch.
However, you do need to keep in mind the ultimate use of the DIY project. If it is a sump, with low water levels, and small in size, 1/4 is fine. You should use a "eurobrace" construction if you have no baffles or anything else in there to help brace it all together.
If you are making a big sump, with lots of water pressure and flow, then you should increase the thickness.
If you are making "fixed" baffles, glued from the bottom up, that retain pressure (as opposed to floating baffles where water can run under) you should use thicker acrylic or it will bow. This is a recipe for disaster, especially if you are bonding acrylic to glass with silicone.
Hmm. This is interesting. I was thinking of making a macroalgae garden "display" underneath my big tank . The box would be W 24", H 18" , D" 12". This works out to be 22.4 gallons. The eurobrace is the ledge running across the top of the tank right? If so, i would not mind doing that, it might help with the salt creep a bit and keep my cat out.
The basic idea is for a DSB, about a 10x turnover (so 220 gph), some hermits and snails, and some macroalgae. Just brainstorming here but i was thinking of dividing a section off in the back for Chaetomorpha to do the "dirty work" so to speak, then some nicer macro's in the front display part.
am i making sense? Sorry, this is all still in planing stages. 1/2" is probably safe huh?
Oh, have you ever tried bending the sides by heating up the plastic with a hair dryer or paint striper?
__________________ Samuel
"If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.... There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded men be plunged in his deepest reveries--stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region."
The eurobrace is the ledge running across the top of the tank right? If so, i would not mind doing that, it might help with the salt creep a bit and keep my cat out.
Yes, basically, you make an entire 4 sided box, but on the top, you use a drill and router to cut out the hole, leaving as much "brace" as you feel is needed. Keep in mind that any exaggerated brace will make it harder to get to the side panes for cleaning etc. You should also use a blow torch to polish the edges as they can be sharp and will scratch up your arm as you work in the tank. The torch will smooth down those edges.
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he basic idea is for a DSB, about a 10x turnover (so 220 gph), some hermits and snails, and some macroalgae. Just brainstorming here but i was thinking of dividing a section off in the back for Chaetomorpha to do the "dirty work" so to speak, then some nicer macro's in the front display part.
You could do that... you could build a "quazi-overflow" looking section and put a powerhead and hose such that the water enters into this chamber, causing the chaeto to tumble, and then lets the water cascade back into the sump-fugium. You could use a light that covers the entire fuge..or a simple clip on that lights only that chaeto tumbler.
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am i making sense? Sorry, this is all still in planing stages. 1/2" is probably safe huh?
You could actually get away with 1/4 since you will be using "chambered construction" and therefore will have something bracing the box together.
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Oh, have you ever tried bending the sides by heating up the plastic with a hair dryer or paint striper?
No... though some have said that there are heat strips for doing this same thing. Others use a blow torch. I'm sure that a hair dryer will NOT do it...unless you run it long and hard (probably kill the missus' dryer ) Personally, I've not had a need to do this. However, my buddy Gustavo (Neo) has done things using torches etc. I've heard mixed reviews about the heat strips that others use.
Hey David, I no so busy today and decide to stop by
I like the pics, I think they are about 2 years old?
any way...
You can bend acrylic using many different technics, Heat Strips, blow torch, heat gun , oven, light and etc...
I did use heat strips to bend a 1/4" acrylic, but that took over a hour to warm up the acrylic to the point that I could bend it.
The problem using a blow torch is that the acrylic get to hot to quick and you stress the acrylic so much that it can crack really easy.
Heat gun, work really well, it is a slow heat and does not stress the acrylic that much, but will take some time to get the acrylic to the right temperature.
If you are making something small, you can make a template out of wood and set the oven to like 250F and the acrylic will be ready in about 20 min.
And as far as thickness of the acrylic, the largest sump that I build was a 153g total volume (37x48x20h) with 8" of water running through it and I use 3/8" cast acrylic.
The sump below holds 77g 60x15x20h and is made out of 1/4" acrylic.
Well hello there sir.... Yes, that was when we were building the sump for my 75G. More than two years ago...and between us....about 75 cases of beer ago!
When are we finishing my cabinet
Thanks for adding your comments. If you are ever interested, we'd love some more DIY stuff at TR. Don't be a stranger!
So i successfully bent a sheet of acrylic 90 degrees using a butane torch and some of the corner clamps! It was really easy although predicting the exact length after the bend is rather difficult. I ordered the glue from RPlastics.com so i should be able to create a pretty cool sump for my new tank.
One last question, i assume you use some aquarium-safe silicone along the inside of the sump, correct?
__________________ Samuel
"If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.... There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded men be plunged in his deepest reveries--stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region."
hey david
i have a 33gallon tank i was planning on turning into my sump. i wanted to make is a sumpfuge, similar to the design you made. is it going to be hard for me to make the baffles since the tank is already built? and about the plumbing does it make a different if its like the way you showed or if the drain is like in the middle and it tees both ways with ball valves on both sides of the tee...does that make sense...? and finally ..is weld on available at any sort of store? or is my only option getting it online?
First and foremost...if you have a tank, and it is glass, you do NOT want to use acrylic for baffles and you do NOT want to use weld-on. You would want to use glass baffles and aquarium silicone.
Acrylic does not bond with glass using weld-on and acrylic and glass do not bond well with silicone. Use glass baffles on glass with silicone or plexi/acrylic baffles on plexi/acrylic with silicone.
You should not have a problem making the baffles. It won't be "pretty" because you'd have a hard time glueing/bonding the parts (lack of hand room), but you could still do it. I did this and used a thin dowel to help make the bead and bond.
The plumbing is your choice. You could use a T and torque down each side with a ball joint. However, you DO want to make sure that ALL of the overflow from the display is allowed to freefall in some manner. I guess what I mean is if you valved down the flow to both sides and created backpressure, your overflow would be restricted, the pump would still work, and you'd overflow your display.
Your "unrestricted" overflow will match the GPH of the return pump. If you restrict that overflow in any way, you are going to have a disaster.
) Personally, I've not had a need to do this. However, my buddy Gustavo (Neo) has done things using torches etc. I've heard mixed reviews about the heat strips that others use.
