375 gallon glass tank build

Well, it has been a rainy fourth at my house, so I figured it would be a good time to start my thread on my 375 gallon tank build. This tank has been a long time coming. I have spent the last 12 months saving money and the past 6 months doing lots of reading and research online. I should have kept a list of all the websites and forum threads that I got valuable information from for this build. I will try to reference the sites I remember. I spent a lot of time on the saltwater forums, reading their DIY threads on tank builds. Just about everything I do in this build is something I read about or saw someone else do through my research.

Anyways, this tank will measure 90" x 37" deep x 26" tall. It will be made from glass, and will have a Starfire glass (low-iron/ultraclear) front panel. Starfire glass has clarity that rivals acrylic, minus the scratching the comes with acrylic. It has the same strength of regular glass. It costs about twice as much, though. I will be filling the tank with African Cichlids- mainly haps and peacocks. I already have most of the fish that will go into the tank, spread between 3 different 125 gallon tanks. The 375 gallon will replace the 125 gallon show tank that currently sits in my living room. Here is a picture of my current 125 gallon tank. I have had this tank for the past 4 years. I have a drip system set up on this tank that drips 1.5 gallons/hour, and haven't done a water change for the past year. The drip system will continue on the 375 gallon tank, probably at a little higher flow rate.





The door on the right is crooked because one of the hinges broke. I need to fix that eventually.

I do have some time constraints with this build. My wife is currently pregnant and due to deliver our second child in mid- late August. I would like to have the tank completed and sitting in the house by that time. I have already bought just about everything needed to complete this build. I bought the plate glass from glasscages in February, and it has been sititing in my garage since that time. Buying plate glass from glasscages cost me about half as much as it would have to buy the glass locally. I had a good experience with them and recommend them for such purchases. I have no experience with their tanks, however.

Anyways, the first step is to build the stand. Here is a picture of the materials I used.




I did a lot of research on stand building. There is an excellent thread on a saltwater forum that gives lots of valuable information. My stand follows their design: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=14306359#post14306359 I highly recommend reading through it if you are designing a stand. My tank will weigh between 4000-5000 pounds when filled. I will be supporting it with 8 2x6 legs and 2 2x4 legs. The cross rails along the top of the stand will be 2x6 running vertically.

Here is my make-shift work table, made from two saw horses and a 4x8' 3/4" sheet of plywood that will later be used for the top of my stand



Here are the boxes for the top and bottom of the stand.



And here is the stand starting to come together






My helper (missing his pants)











Please excuse my very messy garage in these pictures. Once I get my tank materials out of there, I hope to clean it up. The last picture shows a 5 gallon paint can of Kilz 2 latex primer, for perspective. The next step will be to paint the frame with the primer to help protect it against inevitable water spills.

And here is the stand after the primer. I plan to skin the stand in 1/2" red oak plywood, with lots of trim and molding. I have big plans for the finished product, but will leave the stand as-is until the tank is built. I plan to build the tank in the garage on top of the stand, and let the silicone cure for about 3-4 weeks before filling. While the silicone cures, I plan to finish the stand.



So the next step is building the tank. The tank will be built out of 1/2" thick glass, and will have bracing both along the bottom and top of the tank. I will give more details about this later. The bottom panel is a 1/2" tempered panel, compliments of Pharoah. I will be using a Glass-holes.com Dart overflow for filtration, and will be drilling the holes for this overflow in the center of the back glass. I also will be using 6 3/4" loc-line through-the-glass return lines from glass-holes, and will be drilling holes for them in the back panel of glass as well. I figure it will be easier to drill the glass before assembling the tank, so that will be the next step. Hopefully that will be done later this week. I would like to get the tank built next weekend so that the silicone can begin to cure. The tank will weigh 540 pounds empty, so the move into the house will be fun.

Oh, and just a couple of things to consider if anyone is thinking about a similar build. Since I am building the tank and stand in my garage and will later move them into my house, I have to factor in the dimensions of the tank and stand, and make sure that I can fit them through the largest doorway to my house. The largest door into my house has a 34" opening. My stand is 37.5" deep, so I can't make my stand taller than the largest door opening or it won't fit in the house. I made my stand 31 3/4" tall, and once skinned, the stand will have a 2" lip extending above the stand to hide the silicone along the bottom of the tank. So the stand will be 33 3/4" tall once it is said and done. I would have prefered to build the stand 36" tall, but wouldn't have been able to fit that in the house.

I have a few updates to report. Unfortunately, not as many as I was hoping, but we will get to that later. I finally unwrapped the glass panes I bought from glasscages. As I mentioned earlier, I am using starphire glass for the front pane. I had never seen this glass in person, but was impressed when I finally took a look. Here is a picture of the starphire glass sitting next to regular glass for comparison. Both panels are 1/2" thick. The regular glass really looks green in comparison to the starphire. I am happy I upgraded. I ended up buying just regular glass for the sides of the tank. I hope they won't be too noticable next to the starphire front.






So before I actually build the tank, I need to drill the holes for the overflow and returns. Here are the supplies I bought from glass-holes.com. I bought a Dart Overflow box, and 6 3/4" loc-line through the glass returns.




Here is a picture of the back panel sitting on my stand, as I prepare for drilling. The orange things are glass suction cups I bought off e-bay to help move the plate glass, and ultimately the tank when the time comes. They were fairly cheap, I think I paid $50 for 4 of them. They each have 4 suction cups on them and are each rates at 250 lbs. I am still a little nervous when I use them, but so far they work have worked well.




So the next step was to drill the holes for the overflow. And this is where I ran into a few problems. While drilling the very first hole (3" in diameter for a 2" bulkhead), the drill bound up and I ended up with a rather large chip out. I was about 90% through the 1/2" glass when it happened. It was completely my fault. I tried to reposition my myself while continuing to drill, and the drill bit hung up a little. I have drilled about 10 tanks prior to this and have never had a problem drilling glass. I think I just got a little impatient, as it takes awhile to drill through 1/2" glass. Here are a couple of pictures of what I did.







The first two pictures show the bigger chip at different views. The third picture show a different chip on the opposite side. I am actually more worried about the smaller chip. The first chip only is about 1/16" deep, and is circular, returning back to the hole. The second chip looks like it is about 1/4" deep and does not return to the hole.

So now I am debating what to do. I have been in contact with Mike at Glass-holes for advice, and he has been very helpful so far. He agrees that the the round chip is probably not going to be a problem. I just recently sent him pictures of the second chip, and am waiting to hear back.

I have gone back and forth on this a few times today. Right now, I am leaning towards buying a 4" drill bit and drilling a larger hole over the current hole, to remove the chipped portions. I could still use the 2" bulkhead needed for the Dart overflow. I think if I just was able to make some large plastic washers and larger gaskets, that I could still seal the hole without a problem. I could place a 1/2" styrofoam cut-out of the glass I remove inside the 4" hole to act as a spacer to keep my bulkhead in proper position. The other options I have are replacing the back panel, or doing nothing. I honestly don't know how concerned I should be about these defects. But my tank is going to by 375 gallons, and that would be a pretty expensive mistake were something to fail once it was set up. So at the moment I am leaning towards drilling a large hole and then rigging the bulkhead to cover the hole. I am waiting to hear back from Mike at glass-holes though before completely committing to this route. If he thinks I don't have anything to worry about, then I may reconsider.

Anyways, I went ahead and drilled the remaining 7 holes on the back panel today. The remaining 7 holes were drilled without a hitch. It really is not difficult to drill glass if you are patient and take your time. I have been very happy with the products and customer service I have received from glass-holes to this point. Here is a picture of my back panel with all the holes drilled.



So that is the progress I was able to make this weekend. I was hoping to actually silicone the tank together this weekend and start the curing process. I am targeting next weekend to build the tank now.