Spikes "6P Reef" 40B build

[SpikesReef]

I have put off starting a build thread because I knew that this build was going to take me a LONG time. It has been over a year since I purchased my DeepBlue 40 breeder from the LFS. I joined my local reef club around the same time and have been soaking up information as much as possible. I have spent the last 14 months or so reading everything I can find about reefing in my spare time.

I bought a 60g hexagon tank about 4 years ago when I saw my friends reef tank, needless to say I had done zero research before making the purchase, filling it with rock, sand, water and eventually adding 5 green chromis. It came with a canister filter and a cheap LED. I became paranoid when I discovered what I thought was bryopsis growing on the rocks (among other things) and decided to sell the tank.

I decided to do things a little differently this time (well...a lot). I was familiar with reef2reef from my first half hearted attempt at a reef and I started here to look for inspiration and information. This is a very supporting community and I could not have begun my journey had it not been for you awesome people on this forum.

A little background. I am a commercial glazier so I have lots of experience working with glass. When I saw the price of the type of tank I wanted, I decided that I was going to build the coast to coast and external overflow myself. I also made an intricate sump out of a 20L. I will show, in detail with lots of pictures, how I constructed everything. I run a business on the side after my 9-5 and go to school full time, so needless to say, this build has taken so long because I have been acquiring equipment gradually (student=im poor) and I don't have as much time as Id like to work on it.

I will update gradually with the different phases of this build.

The tank on its first day home.

 

[SpikesReef]

For those who haven't heard of it the 6P's stone for Proper Preparation Prevents tick Poor Performance.

 

[bknapp]

40B is a cool footprint for a smaller tank. Sounds like a fun build.

 

[Steadyreef42]

Looking forward to more pictures

 

[SpikesReef]

Cutting the glass for the overflow and sump!

 

[SpikesReef]

The first thing I did involving building the overflow was to make jigs out of 3/4 pine. I oversized them a bit so I could pump the silicone through the joints. I made sure everything was at true 90 degrees so that when I put it all together the glass would be square.

 

[SpikesReef]

I used horseshoe shims to raise the glass off of the bottom of the jig and bring it off the back of the jig. I also put 1/16" shims between the glass so I would have a gap to shoot the silicone through when constructing the overflows. This is the coast to coast internal over flow. The black shims are 1/4", blue is 1/16" and red is 1/8".

 

[Sm51498]

Very thorough work, should make for a great overflow. I'll be following along as I'm working on a 40 breeder build as well and I'm always looking to see what others are up to.

 

[SpikesReef]

When I placed the vertical part of the over flow I had 1/16" shims in place. I then clamped it to the back of the jig and removed the shims. This way the gap I desired was held without having the shims in the way. I taped off the joint holding 3/8" in some spots and 1/2" in others which gave me about a 1/4' coverage on each piece of glass, and a 1/2" finished silicone seam.

I used caulking spatulas to tool the silicone for a clean look. After I pulled the masking tape I used my finger to smooth it out a final time. I used Momentive RTV silicone. It has a very strong hold, but cures fast. Since the silicone skins over quickly any tooling and removal of tape needs to be done quickly. There is about 10 minutes before the silicone skins over- after that any smoothing or tooling will make caulk boogers.

 

[SpikesReef]

This is after I shot and tooled the silicone. I let it dry in place and later used a razor blade to remove any silicone that came out of the back side of the joint.

 

[SpikesReef]

Very thorough work, should make for a great overflow. I'll be following along as I'm working on a 40 breeder build as well and I'm always looking to see what others are up to.

Thanks for following along! I spent a lot of time planning and I try to do things meticulously. Still, in retro spect there was a few things that I didn't account for and had to come up with solutions. I will go into those details when I get further along in posting the build.

 

[SpikesReef]

I used the same method for the external overflow box. I had to use a jig with bottom, back and sides. In retrospect I would have made the box a bit bigger and used more horseshoe shims to keep space, as the silicone stuck to the box when I shot it. I waited until it was fully cured (week and a half to be safe), and I carefully cut it away before finally cutting the excess off the backside of the joints as I did with the coast to coast.

 

[SpikesReef]

you'll notice that the backside of the external overflow goes about 1/2" higher than the sides. This is because I will put a piece of black acrylic as a lid over it.

 

[SpikesReef]

To attach the coast 2 coast overflow, I played the tank on its back. I then used the horseshoe shims to make sure everything was square. I used masking tape to make clean lines when I shot the silicone. I kept a 1/4" gap from glass to tape against the tank and 1/8" on the overflow. This is all thats needed since it will be caulked from the inside of the coast to coast as well. I did not use a gap between the glass for this same reason. The extra strength wasn't needed because it would have a silicone bead on both sides. I completed the bead on the tank side and let it fully cure (2 weeks) before I stood the tank back on its bottom.

 

[SpikesReef]

In retro I would have made the length of the coast to coast shorter so I could just shoot the silicone through and tool both sides. I encountered a problem trying to caulk the inside:the tip of the tube wouldn't reach most places. I used vinyl tubing and a hose clamp to make an extension. This worked OK. I had used tubing that was too small at first and it not only wasted what was in the tube, the vinyl shot off the silicone tube like a rocket. I went back and got vinyl tubing that reached all the way to the base of the tube. A dozen flat razor blades and it was all cleaned up. I used my finger and some good old fashioned spit to smooth the bead inside of the coast to coast.

 

[SpikesReef]

I drilled the holes for water to pass to the external overflow before attaching the coast to coast. Another reason that I should have made the coast2coast shorter and shot the silicon through, you can see the edge of the glass on the coast to coast. This doesn't bother me and its secure so I am not concerned. If it really bothers me later Ill put black electrical tape on it!

 

[SpikesReef]

to drill the holes in the external overflow, I made a template using a hole saw for wood that was the same size as the 48mm hole saw I used for the glass. I clamped it in place and used lots of water as I drilled the holes in the glass.

 

[SpikesReef]

after all of the holes were drilled, I taped off where the external overflow as going to go and shot the outside of the box with silicone (momentive RTV). after that set for a few days, I taped off the inside of the overflow and siliconed it. all seams were again tooled with the caulking spatulas and smoothed one last time with some good old spit on the finger. I made the same mistake as the internal coast2coast, I siliconed the inside and outside separately which made the edge of the glass visible. This is much worse than the coast2coast because rather than seeing the glass on the side, you can see it through the tank on the back wall. This is the biggest mistake I made. In retrospect I would have taped the inside and outside, laid a fat bead of silicone and pressed the external overflow onto it- then tooled it clean. I took steps to help this eye sore later.

 

[SpikesReef]

This is how she sat after the silicone was cured for a week and a half. It looked really cool between the black silicone on the tank and the overflows, but I like the look of black back painted reefs once its all set up.

 

[SpikesReef]

you will notice I made the silicone bead on the bottom of the external overflow extra thick to give it a little more support, also I wasn't concerned with making the joints look perfect so I didn't tape- it is all going to be hidden by black paint (except for the bottom of the external overflow) so non of the slight mess would ever be seen once the tank is done.