Tank Buying Advice

[Scorchreef]

Hi Everyone,
I just moved to Boston (and managed to move my 29g nanocube with me). That was a fun drive to say the least. I am in the market for an upgrade, but don't know the area that well and thought some locals could put their two cents in. The plan is to build a 65ish gal 36x24x18 peninsula style tank with a 30x18x18 sump. Still haven't decided if throwing starphire glass on that is worth it or not (depends on who's making it and how thick the glass is I guess). The only place i've seen that readily advertises something like this is glasscages.com, but there is also a lot of bad talk about them.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

 

[JohnK]

Hi and welcome.

Not much for custom builders in this area so glass cages is probably the closest, but as you said they get very mixed feedback. I have seem some of their tanks that were very solidly built but with slightly sloppy silicone work. I have also heard some horror stories both locally and on the net of tanks blowing seams and whatnot. From what I have heard one thing that's been known to happen with them is that they will build a tank to order, then ship it on the next shipment before the silicone is fully cured (several weeks) and they then don't do a good job of cautioning the customer to wait before setting it up. Not personal experience, but that's what I have heard through the grapevine.

That is an awsome size/shape of a tank you're planning. Well worth the trouble of getting one custom made. Opinions seem to vary on starfire with a tank that size. With really big tanks and thick glass it probably makes a lot more difference than with more moderate sized tanks and thinner glass. Are you thinking rimless or braced? (rimless = thicker glass and more $$)

 

[Flame Angel]

Welcome Aboard! Check out the forum header for local meetings and speakers. Some of our sponsors give discounts to paid members, so you may want to check that out as well.

Good luck and say hello if your able to make a meeting.

 

[s_kelley]

Welcome aboard! Sounds like a great project you are starting. Make sure to take plenty of pictures.
I have not had a custom tank built before but have had good luck with glasscages regular tanks, ive had a bunch.
My current tank is a 60g rimless deep blue and I have been very happy with it.

 

[thomb]

I have a 145G Elos (Starfire or the Italian equivalent) - so the glass is 3/4" thick - I just did a temporary move back to normal glass (1/2" - 90g) and the difference is very - um - very clear
When the glass is perfectly clean (and it does show growth more than the regular glass) - I've bumped into it because you don't see it.

One thing I've noticed is, the 20K bulbs seem far less blue on the Starfire than it is on the regular glass.

Sounds like a cool setup - I've always liked the looks of a shallow, cube'esque tank - especially something 3 side visible - only thing better would be 4 side

 

[MURedhawk]

Check out the MarineLand drilled 65g. I have one and so far 7 months into owning it - it has been nice. Unless you are getting a huge tank, then star fire glass is really tough to notice the difference. (Much less noticeable than SD vs HD on TV.)

 

[Scorchreef]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Here is the rough plan:

Tank: 36x24x18 (possible starphire on 3 sides) beananimal overflow
Stand: make it myself, lots-o-wood
Sump: 30x18x18 w/refug (hopefully buy it cheap but odd size so might need to change)
Lighting: 2x Ecotech Radion Gen 2 (the main cost of the whole setup)
Powerhead: MP40 (future upgrade to 2nd opposite wall MP40 when I recover from building this tank)
Skimmer: Undecided between Diablo DCS-150 and RLSS R6-i
Heaters: 2x 150w maybe Eheim
Return: Undecided between Eheim 1260 and Reef Octopus DC-3500
Reactor: BRS w/ GFO
Dosing: BRS 2-part
Controller: RKE

I'm a very strong proponent of putting the money upfront for quality items. I feel that while its sometimes more expensive it saves you headaches and heartbreaks down the road. But not everything always needs to be cutting edge or the "hot" namebrand (even though I know I have a lot of that in the list above). But I hope to get this whole project moving soon because i'm ready to move past my nano-cube.

 

[JohnK]

Sounds like a sweet plan. I have the RLSS R6i and without hesitation I'll say it's the nicest working skimmer I've ever run, and I've run a bunch of different, good quality skimmers in my day. I also run the RO DC 10500 (on a low setting) as a return and I'm very happy with that as well, but I will caution you that the flow gets cut down quite a bit using 3/4" plumbing.

Not sure if it would fit your needs, but I have an old sump that's pretty close to those dimensions. IIRC it's @ 30x17x16. LMK if you might be interested and I'll dig it up and send you some pics, I'd sell it for a fair price.