MuddyMudSkipper's 34G Solana Build

Hi Everybody! I'm the new guy here.

I had a 29G BioCube for about a year, then decided to level the aquarium stand with a full tank...

ProTip: When your tank is gushing all of its water on to the floor, if its just a crack, you can push the seam together and throw a ton of Gorilla Duct Tape on it, then caulk the inside

The next part of my journey was purchasing a 34G Solana cube tank, and then discovering they discontinued the stand. Fortunately I'm handy with woodworking, so I built a stand. Unfortunately, while cutting paper to lay out underneath the stand for clearcoating, I sliced my arm open with a box cutter and got stitches for the first time in 25 years

Anyhow, despite the above disasters, here is the current plan:

Tank is currently getting drilled for a 1" bulkhead drain and two 3/4" bulkhead returns. Under the stand is the EShopps wet/dry sump I had on the biocube. I may change this down the road, but its good for now.

Converting the biocube HQI lighting to a hanging pendant, possibly upgrading to Ecoxotic LEDs down the road.

Once I pick up my tank today, I'll take a bunch of pictures of everything and put them in the thread.

I lost 1 BT anemone (i had two) and 1 snowflake clown (RIP - really sucked :-/) in the tank flood but all things considered thats not too bad. I haven't lost any corals that I can tell. Some of them seem to be doing better even. I only have the old tank half full so as not to stress the duct tape/silicone caulk combo.

Anyhow, hope to show you guys some neat stuff!

 

lol, welcome to 3reef. That's gotta be one of the best intros ever. Tank breaking, almost hacking your arm off, and going for more!

Pics!

 

welcome

 

Well if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then self-deprecation is the sincerest form of honesty Hopefully somebody can learn from my mistakes.

As I like to say, if you can't fix it with duct tape, its BROKE.

Pics to follow shortly.

 

If somebody could tell me how to link to my attachments that would be great!

 

Welcome to 3reef,
I've been in your shoes, mine was a 120g with a crack along the bottom, waking up to your worst nightmare! When you say you put duct tape on the outside of your tank and caulked the inside? What type of caulking did you use? I dont know of any sealents or caulkings that can be used inside of a tank with water and inhabitants in it.

 

Liquid nails, and lots of it. Literally half a tube on it. Had no issues. The only two critters that died were in the sump and not getting enough flow.

Even my hollywood stunner chalice, which the first one melted when superglue got near it, has a rim of new growth all around it.

 

after researching it, def not reef safe. I would move your stuff to a qt setup or your new tank asap. jm2c

 

Why on earth wouldn't I want to keep everything HERE as long as possible:



It's so beautiful and reef friendly!

 

Attached is the tank, freshly back from the glass place that drilled it.

The details, for those who are interested:

two 3/4", threaded return lines (for loc-line fittings)
one 1", slip joint drain line

the drain line is centered on the back, and 3" from the edge of the tank on its outside diameter (OD).

The 3/4 inch return lines are each 3" from the outside edge of the tank, and 2.5" from the edge of the tank top to its OD.

I chose slightly more than the recommended 1.5x the diameter of a hole from any edge of the tank.

I plan on using a black acrylic overflow box on the back wall where the drain is.

Each return line will have its own ball valve, and will have a one-way valve just above the return pump so that when I power off for feeding it doesn't drain back into the sump. Same goes for power failures.

Right now I have a Sicce 1.5 pump, which is rated for roughly 360 gallons per hour at 4' of head. I may upgrade to the 2.0 or 3.0 if I find this is insufficient. I had it in my old tank running just 1 powerhead without an issue, so we'll see.