Here is the sump that Banana boat built a while back,  its about 100 or so gallons

I will be adding a horizonal pane in the center section to divide that section into a refugium and coral frag grow out station.  both parts will have live rock lining the base. 

Here we see the lovely Mrs Briney who really drilled the tank since she is way more coordinated than me...  Honestly she drilled that 1/2 " glass in less than five minutes.  I would never had a chance to pull that off.  My son had to jump into the action

The frame is made of 4" box tubing with 1" square cross braces I gave it a couple brushed on coats of Redmen red on top of a coat of primer.  I would have loved to have media blasted instead of grinding the steel and powder coated instead of hand brushing but dollars are what they are...  I am guessing that the stand weighs a light 250 lbs

Sump and stand look great! Can't wait to see that beauty of a tank...

Nice job on recruiting some help, especially for the glass drilling! I still need to drill my brand new tank...it's a little nerve-racking.

Keep us updated!

the key to drilling is even pressure.  I have mild tremoring and can not keep that up for 1/2" thick glass.  In the past I have used a drill press and sort of rigged the press between the tank insides and out.  (that works great by the way)

I can stick weld if I really have to but wanted a much better job done.  The father-in-law is a wiz at most anything mechanical although grumpy to get to work sometimes LOL.  It turned out fine but I wish I could have been there to both help and have him add a couple things that I really would have liked on it.  But you have to take great help where and when you can get it  so no real complaints here!!

I just checked with the trucking web site and it says my tank is in Shelby scheduled to be here today. 

wish me luck

Well the tank got as close as Clyde (about five miles away) before they ran out of time on the shipping run.  I sat waiting from 8-4 to find this out. 

Well maybe tomorrow

That sucks, so close but so far. Well hopefully since it's so close it will be there first thing in morning.

Briney Dave said :

Well the tank got as close as Clyde (about five miles away) before they ran out of time on the shipping run.  I sat waiting from 8-4 to find this out. 

Well maybe tomorrow

I'd be less than happy at that news.  Glad to hear it's getting closer!  What a great gal to drill your sump.  She's clearly a "keeper"!    Looking forward to the build party.

Thanks!!  I think so too.  I was not pleased to be stuck at school and  not  knowing if its safe to even go up town for a burger only to find out they called the office number and left a message that they were done for the day.  Not the end of the world just a bit aggrevating.   

I am going to have to remove one of the triple panes of the bubble trap  on the sump and reinstall it.  I did not catch that is not straight up and down so the divider I want to put in will not fit right.

I have the time so I am going to do it right. 

the shipper claims that the tank will be here between 10-2 (sounds like the cable guy LOL)

RJS8540 said :

Welcome back Dave. I look forward to seeing some of your trip photo's. The thought of the waves at low tide and the corals popping above the water would be a site in itself.

If it helps on the build, these are the Saturdays I'm off 7-3, 7-17 and 7-31. Not that I'd ask you to postpone anything for me but I'd love to be there when its done.

 

Darn Holiday weekend changed my Saturday rotation. It turns out I'll be off Sat 7/10 and 7/24.

RJS8540 said :

RJS8540 said :

Welcome back Dave. I look forward to seeing some of your trip photo's. The thought of the waves at low tide and the corals popping above the water would be a site in itself.

If it helps on the build, these are the Saturdays I'm off 7-3, 7-17 and 7-31. Not that I'd ask you to postpone anything for me but I'd love to be there when its done.

 

Darn Holiday weekend changed my Saturday rotation. It turns out I'll be off Sat 7/10 and 7/24.

Disregard my last post. I'm off the 3rd, 17th and 31st.

Well, the tank finally got here today.  I had a vision of how I was going to get it into my room, but not it clearly will not work.  My plan was to slide the tank off the truck to directly on my stand (lifted by rolling floor jacks) and roll it into my room.  But the door way can not be removed like I thought it could and still keep the fire rating when we put it back. 

the tank is sitting in bulk storage right now so its safe but what we do from here ???  For the life of me I am just not sure where 950 lbs of infexible glass stopped making sense to me but,  well here we are.

The building manager is calling in a professional mover to get a quote or suggestions (not really sure which approach he will settle on)

On a big up note that tank looks amazing (its still in the crate but from what I can see LOL) : the glass is a mile thick compared to what I am used to and looks like a pool .   Once its on its stand and in place I will feel sooo much more at ease.

Heck,  I am not even sweeting the plumbing or temp storage of the corals compared to this issue.  

No matter what size project you are thinking of taking on, I might make the following suggestion.  make a cardboard full sized model of the tank and stand (seperate of course) take the two through the door,  set them in your spot and take a good look. 

pics later when the Mrs can give me one more lesson

MY, MY, MY, MY.  Oh Nooooooooooooooooo.  Can't believe it.  Good advice on the cardboard replica... advice I think I should heed.  Keep us posted.  You'll get it worked out.... and when you do... I'll be there (hopefully with RJ)!  Congratulations on your new arrival. 

a little sense of scale LOL  Olivia is about 4' down the lenght of it.  as you can see the Euro-braces are of modest width maybe about 8" wide or so as you can see compared with the 2x4 crate rails

Ian needed his five minutes of aquarium fame as well.   The closed loop holes seen in the bottom are 6 holes large enough for 1" sch 80 bulkheads (a bit larger than standard size) and two 1.5 " fittings as seen in the middle.

the built in over flow on the end is exceptional with three 1.5 drain holes also through the bottom.   

Briney Dave said :

Well, the tank finally got here today.  I had a vision of how I was going to get it into my room, but not it clearly will not work.  My plan was to slide the tank off the truck to directly on my stand (lifted by rolling floor jacks) and roll it into my room.  But the door way can not be removed like I thought it could and still keep the fire rating when we put it back. 

the tank is sitting in bulk storage right now so its safe but what we do from here ???  For the life of me I am just not sure where 950 lbs of infexible glass stopped making sense to me but,  well here we are.

The building manager is calling in a professional mover to get a quote or suggestions (not really sure which approach he will settle on)

On a big up note that tank looks amazing (its still in the crate but from what I can see LOL) : the glass is a mile thick compared to what I am used to and looks like a pool .   Once its on its stand and in place I will feel sooo much more at ease.

Heck,  I am not even sweeting the plumbing or temp storage of the corals compared to this issue.  

No matter what size project you are thinking of taking on, I might make the following suggestion.  make a cardboard full sized model of the tank and stand (seperate of course) take the two through the door,  set them in your spot and take a good look. 

pics later when the Mrs can give me one more lesson

If worst comes to worse you can always move the tank to my house!

with a bone bruse in your shoulder area you will not even be lifting the crate lid (which is not light in its own right ) LOL

I think if I put out one of my kids, I could take down a couple walls and it just might fit at my house. 

It would look great in my living room! Let me just get rid of the couch first LOL

its shape and weight gave our old fork lift some trouble.   a good bite would have been no troubles but so much of the weight is out in front of it that its a danger to lift without tipping. 

I was a bundle of nerves until it was on the shop floor to say the least.  Now, I feel the same way about trying to figure out how to get it into my room and on the stand

from there it will all be great

Glad to hear it finally made it! Bummer that your original plan isn't going to work out.

Will the tank make it through the doorway flipped on its side and on some rollers?

yea it will fit on its side but we want to build some sort of brace to rig up in the center to support the weight of the side pane.

Not sure how  to get it on its side though LOL

I am light hearted now that I have and a few days to calm down.  I am sure that when I meet with the crew later this week that we will be able to put a plan together that will work out. 

I got the right ozone system ordered and on its way.  I have also loaded up the stand to move to the lab later on this afternoon.  I still have no clue when I will make the big switch over.  I want to mock up all the plumbing on the table top to be sure that I don't have any missing parts.  I will bring in a load of 55's to have staged to hold water and live stock along with brute cans full of new water to make up the difference. 

loads to do